Rhetorical Vocabulary

Core Concepts of Word Meaning

• Denotation: The literal or primary meaning of a word (think of a dictionary word).
• Connotation: An association that a word has in people's minds; an idea or feeling that a word invokes rather than its literal or primary meaning.
• Loaded Language: Words with strong positive or negative connotations used to influence an audience (for example, used to describe the British with positive words).

Narrative and Reference Devices

• Anecdote: Short, interesting, or funny renditions of an event or occurrence that may have happened.
  • Context and application: Conveys ideas or themes in speech ads, phrases, or connections related to the speaker, author, reader, or someone he or she purports to know.
• Allusion: A reference to a person or place, event, or literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize.

Direct Address and Persuasive Devices

• Apostrophe: When a speaker addresses a dead or absent person, an abstraction, or an inanimate object.
  • Mnemonic / conceptual hint: "Think post means after a person left."
• Rhetorical Question: A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.
  • Persuasive function: Rhetoric represents effective persuasive speaking, and a rhetorical question is asked to make a person think in a particular way.