rhetorical terms/strategies

Abstract — difficult to understand, expressing a quality apart from an object, dealing with a subject in its ___ aspects; it is opposite of concrete.  Example:  the word poem is concrete, poetry is abstract.

Allegory — is a narrative, either in verse or prose, in which character, action, and sometimes setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of a story.  The underlying meaning usually has a moral, social, religious, or political significance, and the characters are often personifications of abstract ideas such as charity, hope, greed, and so on. The Scarlet Letter is an example, as in Animal Farm.

Alliteration- is the repetition of initial identical consonant sounds or any vowel sounds in successive or closely associated syllables, especially stressed syllables.

Allusion- is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art. Allusions are often biblical or mythological.

Anadiplosis – The repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next.

Analogy- is a process of reasoning that assumes if two subjects share a number of specific observable qualities then they may be expected to share qualities that have not been observed; the process of drawing a comparison between two things based on a partial similarity of like features. 

Anaphora- is one of the devices of repetition in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences.  It is one of the most obvious of the devices used in the poetry of Walt Whitman, as these opening lines from one of his poems shows:

Anastrophe- An anastrophe is the inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Eliot’s “one-night cheap hotels,”

Antecedent- The word to which a pronoun refers (whose place it takes) is the __ of the pronoun. For example: Mrs. Rice is my English teacher this year; I hope that she won’t give the class too much work. She refers to the antecedent Mrs. Rice.

Anticipating Audience Response- is a rhetorical technique often used to convince an audience of anticipating and stating the arguments that one’s opponent is likely to give and then answering theses arguments even before the opponent has had a chance to voice them. 

Antithesis- A figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in “Man proposes, God disposes.” is a balancing of one term against another for emphasis. True antithesis structure demands that there be not only an opposition of idea but that the opposition in different parts is manifested through similar grammatical structure. 

Aphorism- is a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words. The opening sentence of Hippocrates’ Aphorism is a justly famous example: “Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult.”  The term aphorism usually implies specific authorship and compact, telling expression. Benjamin Franklin was famous for them as well: “There are no gains without pains.”

Apostrophe- is a figure of speech in which someone (usually, but not always absent), some abstract, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as through present. 

Appositive Phrase - type of noun phrase that follows the noun or pronoun it modifies and amplifies or restricts its meaning.  For example:  Our department head, a careful reader and outspoken critic, will review the memo before it is circulated. (italicized phrase is an appositive)

Arrangement – this refers to the organization of a text. The following terms are all different ways for a writer to arrange/organize his/her text for an intended purpose

Narration – telling a story or recounting a series of events. It can be based on personal experience or on knowledge gained from reading or observation. Chronology usually governs narration which includes concrete detail, point of view and sometimes dialogue. Writers often use narration as a way to enter into their topics.

Description – is closely allied with narration because both include many specific details. However, description emphasizes the senses by painting a picture of how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes or feels. Description is used to establish a mood or atmosphere. 

Process Analysis – explains how something works, how to do something, or how something was done. We use this when we explain how to bake bread or set up an Excel spreadsheet, how to improve a difficult situation or assemble a treadmill. Think of self-help books (i.e. Raising Chickens for Dummies). The key to process analysis is clarity; it’s important to explain a subject clearly and logically with transitions that mark the sequence of major steps, stages, or phases of the process. 

Exemplification – providing a series of examples – facts, specific cases, or instances – turns a general idea into a concrete one; this makes your argument both clearer and more persuasive. A writer might use one extended example or a series of related ones to illustrate a point. Overall, this type of writing tries to prove a point with examples. 

Comparison/Contrast – juxtaposing two things to highlight their similarities and differences. Often required on exams where you have to discuss the subtle differences or similarities in the method, style or purpose of two texts. 

Cause and Effect – Analyzing the causes that lead to a certain effect or, conversely, the effects that result from a cause is a powerful foundation for argument. Writers are concerned with why things happen (causes) and what happens as a result (effects). Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is a perfect example. 

Asyndeton – omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses or words

Attitude- can also be the underlying feeling behind a tone.

Call to action- writing that urges people to take action or promotes change.

Characterization- the techniques a writer uses to create and reveal fictional personalities in a work of literature, by describing the character’s appearance, actions, thoughts, and feelings.

Chiasmus- is a type of balance in which the second part is balanced against the first but with the part reversed, as in Coleridge’s line, “Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike” or “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Classification- is a method of sorting, grouping, collecting, and analyzing things by categories based on features shared by all members of a class or group.

Division- is a method of breaking down of an entire whole into separate parts or sorting a group of items into non-overlapping categories.

Cliché- a timeworn expression that through overuse has lost its power to evoke concrete images. For Example: “gentle as a lamb,” smart as a whip” and “please as punch.”

Coinage- is a word or phrase made, invented or fabricated.  For example:  Bushonomics; gynormous; man-crush

Colloquial Expression- they are words or phrases, characteristics or appropriate ordinary or familiar conversations rather than formal speech writing. Informal, conversational language.

Comparison/ Contrast- a rhetorical technique for pointing out similarities or differences. Writers may use a point by-point method to interweave points of comparison or contrast between two things or a subject-by-subject method to discuss similarities and differences.

Compound/Complex Sentences- contains two or more independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause. 

Conceit- an elaborate and surprising figure of speech comparing two very dissimilar things. It usually involves intellectual cleverness and ingenuity. An elaborate or strained metaphor.

Concrete- pertains to actual things, instances, or experiences: opposite of abstract.

Defensive/ Offensive- a method of argument in which the speaker or writer defends her own views (defensive) and/or attacks the views of others (offensive).

Definition- is a method of specifying the basic nature of any phenomenon, idea, or things. Dictionaries place the subject to be defined in the context of the general class to which it belongs and gives distinguishing features that differentiate it from other things in its class.

Denotation- is the specific, exact meaning of a word, independent of its emotion, coloration or association.

Connotation - the emotions or implications that words may carry, as distinguished from their denotative meanings.

Diction- is the choice of words in a work of literature and an element of style important to the work’s effectiveness.

Doublespeak- Language use to distort and manipulate rather than to communicate.

Downplaying/ Intensifying- are methods of drawing attention and diversion to the work’s effectiveness.

Ellipsis – omission of a word or words necessary for complete construction but understood in the context.  (I love English as much as she.)  The word does is understood, hence the nominative she is correct!  Ellipsis can include the omission of a noun, verb, etc.  

Emotional Appeal  (Pathos) – exploiting readers’ feelings of pity or fear to make a case:  this fallacy draws solely on the readers’ emotions and not on logic.  A case may be made that appealing to one’s audience’s emotions is the most legitimate or logically sound of all the fallacies.

Epistrophe— repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses

Ethical Appeal (ethos) — ability to convince your readers that you are a reliable, intelligent person who knows what you’re talking about and cares about the issues. 

Ethnocentricity — s the belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own group and culture.

Euphemism — the substitutions of an inoffensive, indirect, or agreeable expression for a word or phrase perceived as socially unacceptable or unnecessarily harsh.

Exigence — An issue, problem, or situation that causes or prompts someone to write or speak. 

Assonance — repetition of vowel sounds

Exposition — writing that seeks to clarify, explain, or inform using one or several of the following methods:  process analysis, definition, classification and division, comparison and contrast, and cause-and-effect analysis.

Figurative language — the use of words outside their literal or usual meanings, used to add freshness and suggest associations and comparisons that create effective images:  includes elements of speech such as hyperbole, irony, metaphor, personification, and simile.

Hyperbole — a FIGURE OF SPEECH in which conscious exaggeration is used without the intent of literal persuasion. It may be used to heighten effect, or it may be used to produce comic effect.

Imagery — the use of language to convey sensory experience, most often through the use of pictorial images through figurative language

Idiom — a use of words, a grammatical construction peculiar to a given language, or an expression that cannot be translated literally into a second language

Irony — is a mode of speech in which words express a meaning opposite to the intended meaning. 

Jargon —  usually refers to a specialized language providing a shorthand method of quick communication between people in the same field. Often used to disguise the inner working of a particular trade or profession from public scrutiny.

Juxtapose — placing two ideas side by side or close together. Sometimes the two ideas are completely different.

Lending Credence — in arguing her point, a writer or speaker should always lend her opponent some credit for the opponent’s ideas. In this way the writer or speaker persuades her audience that she is fair and has done her homework, thereby strengthening her own argument. 

Litotes — a form of UNDERSTATEMENT in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite. To say “She was not unmindful” when one means that “She gave careful attention” is to employ this strategy

Logical Fallacies — methods of pseudoreasoning that may occur accidentally or may be intentionally contrived to lend plausibility to an unsound argument. 

Logical Reasoning (Logos) — idea that there are principles governing 

correct or reliable inferences. 

Loose sentence — a sentence grammatically complete at some point (or points) before the end; the opposite of a PERIDODIC SENTENCE.places main clause @ beginning

Lyrical Drama — a term used for a dramatic poem in which the form of drama is used to express lyric themes (author’s own emotions or ideas of life) instead of relying on a story as the bases of the action.

Metaphor — a figure of speech involving an implied comparison.

Metonymy — a figure of speech characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself. In this way, we commonly speak of the king as “the crown,” an object closely associated with kingship thus being made to stand for “king” or “Washington” stands for America’s government. 

Mood — the overall atmosphere of a work

Motif — in literature, recurrent images, words, objects, phrases, or actions that tend to unify the work are called ____.

Narration — the story of events and/or experiences that tell what happened.

Onomatopoeia — the use of words that by their sound suggest their meaning. Words include “hiss,” “buzz,” “sizzle” and “whirr.”

Oxymoron — A self contradictory combination of words or smaller verbal units.  Examples: jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, military intelligence, etc. 

Paradox — a self contradictory statement or situation.  It’s a logical process, in which the facts appear to be opposed to themselves.  It is a rhetorical device used to secure attention and secure emphasis. Ex. “A rich man is no richer than a beggar.”

Paralepsis — emphasizing a point by seeming to pass over it. 

Parallelism — repeated syntactical similarities introduced for rhetorical effect. dictates that coordinate ideas should have coordinate presentation. For example, “I like to fish and swimming,” is not ___. The sentence should read, “I like to fish and swim.” Another correct construction would be “I like fishing and swimming.”

Periodic Sentence — a sentence that delays the completion of its main clause until the end, creating suspense or emphasis. Here are some examples: "Unable to join the others at the dance because of my sprained ankle, I went to a movie". 

Personification — is attributing human characteristics to nonhuman things

Point of View — term used in analysis and criticism for fiction to describe the way in which the reader is presented with the materials of the story or, regarded from another angle, the vantage point from which the author presents the actions of the story.

Polysyndeton — repetition of conjunctions in close succession for rhetorical effect: “Here and there and everywhere.”

Process analysis — a method of clarifying the nature of something by explaining how it works in separate, easy-to-understand steps. Giving directions to baking a pie or to fixing an air conditioning system would be an example

Pun — the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. 

Repetition — a rhetorical device reiterating a word or phrase, or rewording the same idea to secure emphasis.

Rhetorical Question — asked solely to produce an effect and not to elicit a reply such as, “When will genetic engineering fulfill its promise?

Satire — a technique that ridicules both people and societal institutions using irony, exaggeration, reversal and paradox.

Simile — a figure of speech involving a comparison using like or as. For example: “She is as lovely as a summer’s day.”

Simple sentence — a complete sentence that is neither compound nor complex. 

Spin (redefining) — harmful situations are sometimes presented in the media as philanthropic endeavors. Instead of labeling the war on Iraq as “Murdering an Evil Leader” or “The War on Iraq”, President Bush’s “spin doctors” coined the title, “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. 

Style — the author’s characteristic manner of expression. __ includes the types of words used, their placement, and distinctive features of tone, imagery, figurative language, sound, and rhythm. 

Syllogism — a formula for presenting an argument logically. a method of demonstrating the logic of an argument through analysis. In its simplest form, it consists of three divisions: a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

Major Premise: All public libraries should serve the people.

Minor Premise: This is a public library.
Conclusion: Therefore, this library should serve the people.

Symbol — something concrete (such as an object, person, place, or event that stands for or represents something abstract) such as an idea, quality, concept, or condition. The American flag → of our country’s freedom.

Synecdoche — a type of figurative language in which the whole is used for the part and the part used for the whole. In “the dying year,” the whole is used to stand for a part, “autumn,” the use of “Wall Street” to refer to the money market or financial affairs of the entire U.S. is an example of the second – using a part to stand for the whole (or the specific to stand for the general). “Nice set of wheels.” Wheels is the part that stands for the whole (car). 

Syntax — the pattern or structure of the word order in a sentence or phrase: the study of   grammatical structure.

Tone — the voice the writer has chosen to project to relate to readers. For example, serious, lighthearted, etc.

Understatement — a form of speech which contains an expression of less strength than what would be expected

Voice — implied personality the author chooses to adopt.