Rhetorical Terms for Style Analysis

These flashcards cover key rhetorical terms and their definitions to aid in style analysis.

Abstract Language

Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things. For example: freedom, love, or democracy.

Allegory

A story in which characters and events represent qualities or concepts, revealing an abstraction or truth. For example: Animal Farm uses farm animals to depict the Russian Revolution.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables. For example: "Sally sells seashells by the seashore."

Allusion

An implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or part of another text. For example: "He is my kryptonite”

Anecdote

A usually short narrative of an interesting or biographical incident.

Antithesis

Opposition or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction. For example: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Circumlocution

The use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea. For example: "Instead of saying 'I need to go,' one might say 'I find it necessary to depart from this current location.'"

Concrete Language

Language that describes specific, observable things, people, or places.

Controlling Metaphor

A metaphor that runs through an entire work, determining its form.

Diction

The selection of words in oral or written discourse.

Ellipsis

The omission of one or more words that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete. For example: “He is taller than I (am.)”

Exemplification

A type of exposition where examples support a generalization.

Figurative Language

Language that describes by calling to mind sensations or responses, often non-literal.

Hyperbole

Conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect, not intended literally. For example: “I could sleep for a year. “

Idiom

A word or phrase that is used habitually with a particular meaning in a language. For example “kick the bucket" which means to die.”

Imagery

Instances of writing that enable a reader to create a visual image of what is described. For example: “the sunset painted the sky in hues of orange and purple.”

Dramatic Irony

When a reader is aware of a reality that differs from a character’s perception of reality. For example, in Oedipus, the audience knows Oedipus is the murderer he seeks.

Situational Irony

When an event turns out to be the opposite of what is expected.

Verbal Irony

The use of words to express something opposite of their literal meaning. For example: saying "Great weather we're having!" during a storm.

Juxtaposition

The act or instance of placing two or more things side by side. For example: It was a case of good versus evil.”

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things.

Metonymy

The rhetorical substitution of one thing for another based on their association. For example: “Since he was very young, he hoped to one day live in the White House.”

Onomatopoeia

The naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it. For example: bang, boom, hiss, etc.

Oxymoron

A rhetorical antithesis, the juxtaposition of two contradictory terms. For example: bittersweet, deafening silence.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory statement that is actually true. For example: We had to burn the village in order to save it (presumably from communism)

Parallelism

Sentence construction that places two or more equal grammatical constructions in close proximity. For example: "I came, I saw, I conquered."

Personification

Figurative language in which inanimate objects are endowed with human traits. For example: The wind whispered through the trees.

Rhetorical Purpose

The intention behind the choice of formal features of writing to create meaning. For example, appealing to emotions or establishing credibility.

Satire

Through exaggeration of mistaken beliefs, aims to correct deviations from normal conduct.

Simile

A figure of speech that uses 'like' or 'as' to make a comparison between two unlike things.

Synecdoche

The substitution of a part for the whole, or vice versa.