rhetorical terms

Allegory

Using a character or story element to symbolically represent an abstract idea or moral truth

Alliteration

The repetition of sounds to reinforce meaning, unify ideas, or supply a musical sound

Allusion

Reference to a commonly known piece of literature, art, or history

Ambiguity

Multiple meanings or uncertainty

Analogy

An extended comparison used to illuminate or dramatize the unfamiliar

Anaphora

The use of repetition . . . beginning several clauses with the same word

Anecdote

A short narrative example

Annotation

Taking notes directly on a text

Antithesis

The use of parallel structure to call attention to opposites: Some like it hot; some like it cold

Assertion

A statement of claim or thesis

Assumption

A belief regarded as true

Audience

The listener, reader, or viewer of a text.

Background

Providing context for the argument

Causal Argument

Showing that A causes B, B causes C, and so on.

Chiasmus or Inversion

Reversal of terms for emphasis. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Clause

Contains a subject and verb (Is it independent or dependent / subordinate?)

Colloquialism

Slang or informal writing

Complex sentence

Includes at least one independent and one dependent clause

Compound sentence

Includes more than one independent clause

Concession

Acknowledging that the opposing argument may be partially true

Connotation

the associations words carry (lean for example seems more positive than scrawny)

Counterargument

Addressing the opposing argument

Deduction

Applying a general truth to a specific case

Definition

an argument that determines if the topic fits the definition; for example, is affirmative action discrimination?

Denotation

The literal or dictionary definition

Diction

Word choice

Didactic

An instructive or moralistic tone

Emotional appeal

Writer tries to generate fear, envy, anger, or pity to convince readers to accept a claim

Ethos

An appeal to ethics or character

Euphemism

A less offensive substitute for a word. (To pass away rather than to die.)

Example

Definition by providing specific examples

Extended metaphor

Developed at length

Fact

Can be proven with evidence or testimony

Figurative langugage or figure of speech

Compares dissimilar things (metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole)

Genre

Category such as prose, poetry, drama, fiction, science fiction, tragedy …

Hyperbole

Use of overstatement for special effect

Imagery

Description relating to the five senses

Induction

Making a generalization based on specific details

Inference

A conclusion drawn from the information presented

Irony

Language that suggests a meaning in contrast to the literal meaning of the words

Juxtaposition

Placing dissimilar items or ideas close together for comparison or contrast

Logos

Appeal to logic

Loose sentence or periodic sentence

Main clause is not presented until the end.

Metaphor

Comparison of two unlike things

Metonymy

A substituted name (The White House declared rather than The President said, for example.)

Narrative

A story with a beginning, middle, and end

Occasion

The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written

Oxymoron

Contradictory terms such as Jumbo Shrimp or Cruel Kindness

Paradox

Seems contradictory but is true (Fair is foul, and foul is fair … )

Parellelism

Use of similar grammatical structures: in the classroom, on the playground, and at the mall.

Parody

A writer imitates something familiar in a different form to make a comic point

Pathos

Evoking pride, pity or sorrow …

Persona

Greek for "mask" or the face the speaker shows to his or her argument.

Personification

Human attributes are given to concepts, animals or objects

Point of view (POV)

1st person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient

Premise

A statement regarded as true on which other claims are based

Purpose

The goal of the speaker.

Qualifiers (use to qualify an argument)

Words or phrases that limit the scope of an point: usually, in a few cases, under the circumstances

Rebuttal

Gives voice to possible objections

Refutation

A denial of the opposing argument

Repetition

May be used well for emphasis

Rhetorical question

The answer is assumed and the question is used merely for effect

Rogerian argument

Carl Rogers says audiences respond best when they don't feel threatened & can find common ground

Satire

Uses wit to expose human failings

Simile

Comparison using like or as

Syllogism

Deductive logic: All human beings are mortal.Socrates is a human being. Socrates is mortal.

Syntax

The arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Thesis (open or closed)

A sentence that states the main point

Trope

Artful diction; from the Greek word for "turning," a figure of speech such as metaphor, simile, or hyperbole.

Understatement

A figure of speech in which something is presented as less than it actually is (also litotes or the opposite of hyperbole).