STYLISTIC AND RHETORICAL FEATURES A GLOSSARY These devices are useful as it is how something is said, not what is said that usually wins over an audience. The writer must get her message across to the intended audience and do it in such a way that both the message and its importance are understood. ALLUSION a reference, sometimes indirect, to a person, place, theory etc which the reader is assumed to have some knowledge of. E.g. Plan ahead, it wasn t raining when Noah built the ark. AMPLIFICATION a restatement with additional detail of words or expressions. It allows the writer to call attention to, emphasize, and expand a word or idea to make sure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the discussion. E.g. This orchard, this lovely, shady orchard, is the main reason I bought this property. ANALOGY a parallel case with one or more points of resemblance. This is often used by writers to help the reader to understand a complex or abstract point. ANECDOTE a short story used to illustrate a point, often used by a writer as a way of introducing his topic. ANTITHESIS establishes a clear contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. E.g. Worth makes the man, and want of it, the fellow. AUDIENCE the readership whom the writer is addressing, the people who are being targeted by the article. E.g. Young people, the elderly, an intelligent, sophisticated and articulate readership etc. BATHOS anti-climax, designed to shock or amuse. E.g. The Queen stepped graciously out of her gleaming limousine, walked up the red carpet in suitably regal style then gave a huge yawn, bored with the day s proceedings.
CLICHÉ new era. a stereotyped expression which is overused. E.g. the dawn of a COLLOQUIALISM word or phrase chiefly found in everyday speech, as opposed to writing. The use of colloquialism is one of the hallmarks of an informal style of writing. E.g. kids for children or magic for wonderful. CONNOTATION the various secondary meanings and overtones of a word; what associations it carries. DENOTATION the dictionary meaning of a word, what it literally denotes. DIALECT the accent, vocabulary peculiar to a certain region. E.g. Newfoundlanders using boy in place of eh both markers of dialect. DICTION/LEVEL OF USAGE the choice of words including: jargon, cliché, vernacular, colloquial, slang, euphemism, formal, informal, archaic, dialect. EMOTIVE LANGUAGE language deliberately designed to arouse the emotions (often to be found in tabloid newspapers). E.g. Murderers described as beasts or people who might have unusual views on something being described as raving lunatics etc. EMPHATIC WORDS words being used for the purpose of emphasis. E.g. Even, so, too, indeed, only, most etc. EUPHEMISM a deliberate softening of a harsh truth. E.g. The old man passed away. (rather than died ) EXEMPLUM or fictitious. citing an example; using an illustrative story, either true EXPLETIVE a single word or short phrase usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to the words immediately proximate to the expletive. E.g. But the lake was not, in fact, drained before April. He, without doubt, can be trusted with a cookie.
FIGURES OF SPEECH/FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE literary devices used by writers to create special effects. The most commonly used are: alliteration, hyperbole, litotes, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, paradox, personification, pun, simile, synecdoche. FLASHBACK an incident in a story that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier. HUMOUR pun etc. created by the use of understatement, irony, euphemism, HYPERBOLE use of intentional exaggeration to create an effect. E.g. In her excited state she imagined she heard thousands of fans beating on the door, ready to die if they did not set eyes on their idol. IMAGERY figurative or descriptive language which builds a mental picture of a person, place or idea. IRONY(verbal) a device where words conveying a meaning different from the apparent meaning are used, sometimes to emphasize a point or a situation. LAYOUT OF TEXT font style, size of lettering, use of italics, bold type, block capitals, underlining, centering of text: these are all useful techniques used to attract the reader s attention to a particular piece of writing. LITOTES a deliberate understatement, often designed to create a comic or sarcastic effect. E.g. In the middle of a furious argument, a third party might enter and say, Did I detect a slight difference of opinion here? PARADOX miserable. an apparent contradiction. E.g. Riches make men PARENTHESES/DASHES these are for extra information (an aside, something humorous etc.) which is clearly not part of the main statement. They are used for the same purpose as a pair of commas but are more decisive. E.g. Every time I try to think of a good rhetorical example, I rack my brains but you guessed nothing happens. PARODY a humorous imitation of a literary work or style.
PUN a deliberate playing on two possible meanings of one word. This device is usually used to create a comic effect. E.g. A bicycle can t stand alone because it is two-tired. PUNCTUATION a system of marking written text to illustrate pauses or logical relationships. E.g. Brackets, comma, colon, dashes, inverted commas, semi-colon. PURPOSE the reason(s) for which the text has been written. Some of the main purposes of writing are: to inform, to persuade, to entertain, to convey a personal experience, to rouse to action. QUOTATION MARKS to indicate a foreign word that has been imported into the English language. E.g. glastnost. To show the deliberate use of a slang or colloquial expression in an otherwise formal piece of writing. E.g. Given the monumental impact of pesticides on our food systems, it is difficult to believe that everything will be hunky-dory. To indicate an expression from which the writer wishes to disassociate himself. E.g. He was a so-called member of the ruling classes. RHETORICAL QUESTION this is a device used to indicate a question to which no answer is expected: the answer is implied in the question. SENTENCE STRUCTURE the use of parallel constructions, balanced sentences, sentence variety in length, periodic sentences. PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION: E.g. In this lash and spill of water, in the slow grinding of rock and cliff, in the perpetual slide of mountain and forest, in the impact of whirlpool and winter ice, the river is forever mad, ravenous, and lonely. BALANCED SENTENCES: E.g. His speech became longer and longer; my eyes became heavier and heavier. SENTENCE VARIETY IN LENGTH: varied sentence length prevents monotony, and can also be used to support the meaning. For example, a child frightened of a dog may be described by the author using short sentences, suggesting the child s hesitation. PERIODIC SENTENCE: a sentence in which the normal grammatical order of subject, verb, object has been inverted, usually to place emphasis on the initial or end words(s). E.g. On the warm grey stone, gently waving its wings in the sunshine, was a huge yellow and black butterfly.
STYLE there are a number of features that would go under the collective heading of style. See tone, figurative language etc. SYNTAX this means the relationship between the word order within a sentence. The normal word order within a sentence would follow the pattern: subject, verb, object. TENSES the three main tenses are the present, the past, and the future. If the writer suddenly switches tenses, he is doing so for a particular reason. TONE this is the emotional feel of the passage, the unspoken voice of the writer. E.g. amused, mocking, angry, indignant, sympathetic, approving, cynical, scathing, indifferent. NB. A tone can also be neutral, as in an informative passage where the writer is not conveying any particular point of view. UNDERSTATEMENT the device of presenting something as less significant than it really is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact. WORD CHOICE effects. the selection of individual words to create specific