Rhetorical Choices: Terms and Definitions

1. AD HOMINEM ARGUMENT: From the Latin meaning "to or against the man" this is an argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason, to feeling rather than intellect.

2. ALLITERATION: Repeating the first letter sounds in a sentence

3. ALLUSIONS: Reference to a person or story other would know

4. ANALOGY: A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way

5. ANAPHORA: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

6. ANADIPLOSIS: Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause

7. ANASTROPHE: A literacy technique in which the normal order of words is reserved in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter (EX. Strong in the force, you are. —Yoda, Star Wars)

8. ANECDOTE: A short and amusing, personal, or interesting story about a real incident or person; a short story used to humanize a person

9. APHORISM: A short abrupt statement of known authorship, which express a general truth or a moral principle

10. APOSTROPHE: A figure of speech that directly addresses someone or something that cannot answer

11. CALL TO ACTION: Writing that urges people to action or promotes change

12. CHARACTERIZATION: The process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character

13. CHARGED DICTION: Language that contains implications beyond the meanings of words, and is often used to persuade or convey a specific way of thinking through causing STRONG EMOTIONS

14. CHIASMUS: A sentence that uses inverted parallelism

15. COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE: Slang or common language that is informal

16. COMPLETE SENTENCE: A sentence that has a subject and a predicate.

17. CONNOTATION: The non-literal, associative meaning of a word

18. CONFLICT: A struggle between opposing forces

19. DECLARATIVE SENTENCE: A sentence that makes a statement

20. DENOTATION: The dictionary definition of a word

21. DICTION: Word choice

22. DIDACTIC: Intended to teach, usually has moral instruction as an ulterior motive

23. ELEVATED LANGUAGE: A dignified way of writing and speaking; a speaker or writer usually employs formal language in such writing to create an elevated tone. It is free of slang terms, idioms, etc. and the OPPOSITE of COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE

24. HISTORICAL EXAMPLES: Event in the past with testimonies from many people

25. HYPERBOLE: Exaggeration the truth for humor or emphasis

26. IMAGERY: Language that appeals to the senses

27. IRONY: A contrast between expectation and reality

28. JOKES: Humorous incidents that ridicule people

29. JUXTAPOSITION: Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

30. KAIROS: The right time to deliver a message to an audience in order to persuade them

31. METAPHOR: A comparison without using like or as

32. LOOSE SENTENCE: A type of sentence in which the independent clause comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses (MAIN IDEA comes FIRST!)

33. PARALLELISM: Parallel structure; words, verb, and/or phrases match

34. PARAGRAPHS WITH ONE IDEA: Writers can make short or long paragraphs, as long as they prove one idea

35. PERIODIC SENTENCE: A sentence where the dependent clause is first; the independent clause comes at the end of the sentence (MAIN IDEA comes LAST!)

36. PERSONIFICATION: Giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea

37. REFERENCING THE PAST: Referring to something that has occurred before, in order to cause an emotion, demonstrate a connection, or show a pattern

38. RHETORICAL APPEALS: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

39. RHETORICAL QUESTION: A question that makes a point and does not expect an answer

40. SIMILE: A comparison using "like" or "as"

41. SYLLOGISM: A format or formal argument that consist of a premise major and minor premise and a conclusion

42. SYMBOLISM: An object that represents an idea or concept

43. SUSPENSE: A feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story that keep readers interested in the plot of a story

44. TONE: A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels

45. UNDERSTATEMENT: Figurative language that presents the facts in a way that makes them appear much less significant than they really are

46. USING FEAR: A fallacy in which a person attempts to create support for an idea by attempting to increase FEAR towards an alternative