RAD as in super cool obi

Flashcards covering rhetorical and literary devices.

Alliteration*

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.

Allusion*

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.

Ambiguity*

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence or passage.

Analogy*

A comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things. Often, an analogy uses something simple or familiar to explain something unfamiliar or complex.

Anaphora*

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.

Anecdote*

A brief story used to illustrate a point or claim.

Antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order.

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

Aphorism*

A terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth and moral principle.

Archaic Diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words.

Argument*

A process of reasoned inquiry. A persuasive discourse resulting in a coherent and consideration movement from a claim to a conclusion.

Assertion

A statement that presents a claim or thesis.

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunction between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

Audience*

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text.

Claim*

Also called an assertion or proposition, a claim states the argument's main idea or position. A claim differs from a topic or subject in that a claim has to be arguable.

Closed Thesis

A closed thesis is a statement of the main idea of the argument that also previews the major points the writer intends to make.

Colloquialism*

Words or phrases that have a conversational feel and are not generally used in formal written English.

Connotation*

Meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation. Connotations are often positive or negative, and they often greatly affect the author's tone.

Context*

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.

Cumulative Sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.

Denotation*

The strict, literal dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude or color.

Diction*

A speaker's choice of words. Analysis of diction looks at these choices and what they add to the speaker's message.

Emphasis*

Allows the writer to place importance on a particular idea.

Ethos*

Speakers appeal to ethos to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic. Ethos is established by both who you are and what you say.

Euphemism*

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

Figurative Language*

Nonliteral language, sometimes referred to as tropes or metaphorical language, often evoking strong imagery.

Hyperbole*

Deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect; an overstatement to make a point.

Imagery*

A description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds. Imagery may use literal or figurative language to appeal to the senses.

Irony*

A figure of speech that occurs when a speaker or character says one thing but means something else, or when what is said is the opposite of what is expected, creating a noticeable incongruity.

Jargon*

Specialized terminology used by a particular group of people. Obscure and often pretentious language.

Juxtaposition*

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences.

Logos*

Speakers appeal to logos, or reason, by offering clear, rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back them up.

Metaphor*

Figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as.

Metonymy

Figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it or emblematic of it.

Modifier

An adjective, adverb, phrase, or clause that modifies a noun, pronoun, or verb. The purpose of a modifier is usually to describe, focus, or qualify.

Mood*

The feeling or atmosphere created by a text.

Narration*

In classical oration, the factual and background information, establishing why a subject or problem needs addressing; it precedes the confirmation, or laying out of evidence to support claims made in the argument.

Nominalization

The process of changing a verb into a noun.

Occasion

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

Open thesis

An open thesis is one that does not list all of the points the writer intends to cover in an essay.

Oxymoron*

A paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words.

Paradox*

A statement or situation that is seemingly contradictory on the surface, but delivers an ironic truth.

Parallelism*

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Pathos*

Greeks for suffering or experience. Speakers appeal to pathos to emotionally motivate their audience. More specific appeals to pathos might play on the audience's values, desires, and hopes, on the one hand, or fears and prejudices, on the other.

Periodic sentence

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.

Persona*

Greek for mask. The face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience.

Personification*

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea.

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of multiple conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

Propaganda

The spread of ideas and information to further a cause. In its negative sense, propaganda is the use of rumors, lies, disinformation, and scare tactics in order to damage or promote a cause.

Purpose*

The goal the speaker wants to achieve.

Rhetoric*

The art of finding ways of persuading an audience.

Rhetorical Appeals*

Rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. The three major appeals are to ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion).

Rhetorical Question*

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.

Satire*

The use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual.

Scheme

Artful syntax; a deviation from the normal order of words. Common schemes include parallelism, juxtaposition, antithesis, and antimetabole.

Simile*

A figure of speech used to explain or clarify an idea by comparing it explicitly to something else, using the words like, as, or as though.

Speaker

The person or group who creates a text.

Stance

A speaker's attitude toward the audience (differing from tone, the speaker's attitude toward the subject).

Style*

A writer's specific way of saying things. Style includes arrangement of ideas, word choice, syntax, and figurative language.

Subject

The topic of a text. What the text is about.

Symbol

Something that represents or stands for something else.

Synecdoche

Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.

Syntax*

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

Theme*

A writer's thoughts on a topic. It is not JUST the topic, but what the author develops in terms of what he believes about the topic.

Tone*

A speaker's attitude toward the subject conveyed by the speaker's stylistic and rhetorical choices.

Trope

Artful diction; a figure of speech such as metaphor, simile, hyperbole, metonymy, or synecdoche.

Understatement*

A figure of speech in which something is presented as less important, dire, urgent, good, and so on, than it actually is, often for satiric or comical effect.

Vernacular*

The speech patterns of a particular group of people or region.

Voice*

The unique flavor of a piece based upon the author. An author adds his or her voice to a piece by creating a tone with diction, syntax, imagery, etc.

Wit

In rhetoric, the use of laughter, humor, irony, and satire in the confirmation or refutation of an argument.

Zeugma

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings.