Rhetorical analysis terms

Active voice

the subject of a sentence performs the action expressed by the verb, making sentences clearer and more direct. 

“I am doing my homework”

Passive voice

the subject receives the action of the verb, rather than performing it, and is often marked by a form of "to be" followed by the past participle of the main verb. 

“My homework is being done”

Allegory

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Ex: Parables, dystopian literature

Antithesis/Juxtaposition

A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

Ex: Foil characters

Apostrophe

A direct address to someone or something that is not present, or cannot respond.

Ex: Macbeth referring to dagger

Asyndeton

A rhetorical device that omits conjunctions between phrases or clauses, creating a concise and impactful statement.

Ex: I ran, I jumped, I walked

Colloquialism/Idioms

Informal, regional, or nonstandard words or phrases used in everyday conversation .

Ex: Ain’t, y’all or expressions, often specific to a language or culture.

Phrases whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words.

Ex: It’s raining cats and dogs, break a leg, etc.

Euphemism

A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

Ex: died - passed away, fired - let go

Dysphemism

A derogatory or unpleasant term used instead of a pleasant or neutral one.

Ex: loony bin for mental hospital, geezer, kicked the can

Imperative Sentence/Verb

An imperative sentence is a type of sentence that expresses a command, request, or instruction.

Ex: Close the door, Be quiet

An imperative verb is the verb in an imperative sentence that gives the command or instruction. 

Ex: Clean, Close, Stop

Parallelism

The repetition of a grammatical structure across several clauses or sentences to create a rhythmic flow, emphasize ideas, and enhance clarity and memorability. 

Ex: "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

Polysyndeton

Rhetorical device that involves the deliberate and repeated use of conjunctions (like "and," "but," or "or") in a series of words, phrases, or clauses, often where they could be omitted. 

Ex: I laughed and cried and hugged. Makes basically a long run on sentence.

Tricolon

A rhetorical device that uses a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses for emphasis and memorability, often creating a sense of completeness or impact.

Ex. “Live, Laugh, Love”, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness”

Telegraphic sentence

Short, simple sentences characterized by the omission of grammatical function words (like "the," "a," "is") and the inclusion of only the most important content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives). 

5 words or less.

Said in early stage of language learning (children) Ex: Dog bark, More food. My dog ran away.

Involved sentence

taking part in or having a connection to something, or alternatively, being complicated or intricate. 

Literally has the word involved in it.

Ex: I was involved in the club before quitting.

Inverted sentence

Occurs when the typical subject-verb order is reversed, with the verb coming before the subject.

Ex: On the mat sat the cat, The dishes done by Molly. Are they happy?

Anaphora

The use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition, such as do in I like it and so do they.

RHETORIC: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

Ex: MLK Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech - I have a dream that one day…., I have a dream that my four little children… (repetition of “I have a dream…”)

I thought I saw something. I thought it was there. I thought I heard it.

Anadiplosis

A literary device where the last word or phrase of one sentence, clause, or line is repeated at the beginning of the next.

Ex: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.