List of Rhetorical Terms allusion -- a brief reference to a person, event, place, work of art, etc. A mention of any Biblical story is an allusion. anaphora-- the same expression is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences MLK s I Have a Dream speech is a great example. I have a dream that Is repeated often. antithesis-- a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee apostrophe-- a figure of speech in which an absent person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object is directly addressed In the school cafeteria: Oh, Mom! Peanut Butter and Jelly again for lunch? colloquialism-- an expression used in informal conversation but not accepted universally in formal speech or writing Y all, that movie was tight. conceit-- an elaborate and surprising or very clever figure of speech comparing two dissimilar things Shakespeare comparing a girl to a summer s day in a sonnet. He makes a seemingly effortless and beautiful comparison, but probably the two didn t lend themselves to comparison before he made it cool. dystopia-- an imaginary future world in which present tendencies are carried out to their intensely unpleasant culminations Hunger Games, Divergent, Brave New World euphemism-- an indirect reference to something distasteful, untoward, or indelicate in order to make the subject more acceptable I need to visit the Ladies Room/powder my nose. foreshadowing-- the use of clues by the author to prepare readers for events that will happen in a story Abigail smearing chicken blood on her face at the beginning of the movie prepares them for her bloodthirstiness later on. hyperbole-- a figure of speech involving great exaggeration I ve told you 1000 times that I absolutely despise tomatoes!
idiom-- an expression peculiar to a particular language that means something different from the literal meaning of the words sawing logs, it s raining cats and dogs, jumped the gun imagery-- the sensory details which provide vividness in a literary work and tend to arouse emotion in a reader that abstract language does not This is any language that involves the five senses in an novel descriptions that help you picture something or someone. invective-- a violent verbal attack Think of The Lost Boys in the movie Hook. They have invective wars. juxtaposition-- the placing of a word or phrase directly against another word or phrase without any transitional word connecting the two halves Remember the two scenes in The Crucible movie put right next to each other: Samuel Sewall is assured that he won t have to take the testimony of any distracted or mad people. Then the camera cuts to Sarah Good being brought in to the court and condemned (the schizophrenic beggar woman). metaphor-- a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things This class is a breeze. metonymy-- a figure of speech in which a term is substituted for another with which it is closely associated The White House put out a statement today. The White House didn t; the President did. But they re closely associated, so we don t bat an eye when we hear this. motif -- a theme, device, event, or character that is developed through nuance and repetition These aren t symbols; rather, they are repeating ideas or images that help us grasp the larger theme onomatopoeia-- the use of words to represent sounds Moo, Blliiinggg, Bam, etc. Descriptions of sounds that make a passage more meaningful is also considered onomatopoeia. oxymoron-- a self-contradictory combination of words or smaller verbal units Pretty ugly, Biggie Smalls, Jumbo shrimp. paradox-- a statement, often metaphorical, that seems to be self-contradictory but that has valid meaning
Love is War. parallelism-- the use of phrases or sentences which are similar in structure She likes to go to the park, to the movies, and to the grocery store. persona-- the mask or voice of the author or the author s creation in a particular work Mark Twain was Samuel Clemens s persona. pun-- a play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meaning If it makes you groan but laugh a little on the inside, it s probably punny. repetition-- a poetic device in which a sound, word, or phrase is repeated for style and emphasis We know what this is. We have heard about repetition over and over and over again. rhetorical question-- offered for its rhetorical effect and not requiring a reply or intended to induce a reply Do you need an example of this? rhetoric-- language use that creates and organizes arguments and argumentative devices and delivers these in an effective style of expression So pretty much everything we deal with in this class is an example of either analysis of someone else s rhetorical devices or creating our own rhetorical pieces. synecdoche- a type of figurative language in which the whole is used for the part or the part for the whole Can you give me a hand with this? I am substituting your hand for your entire body. Similarly, Use your head is synecdoche because I really just mean your brain, but I am referring to your entire head instead. synesthesia-- the description of one kind of sensation in terms of another Your shirt is loud. tone-- the author s attitude, either stated or implied, toward his or her subject matter and toward the audience Sometimes a satirical tone can be hard to detect without some background knowledge. understatement-- a strategy of restraint in which something of importance is deliberately treated with a lesser degree of intensity or authority than would usually be appropriate to such a subject
Person A: My wife left me, I got my foot run over by a train, and my mom is in jail. It hasn t been the best day. List of Fallacies NOTE: We will come up with our own examples of these fallacies in class. For examples of some of these fallacies, read Love is a Fallacy on my website. It s a short and funny story, and it s helpful in describing/differentiating some of these fallacies more fully. Dicto Simpliciter-assuming that something true in general is true in every possible case Post Hoc-assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one Bandwagon-the claim, as evidence for an idea, that many people believe it, or used to believe it, or do it Non Sequitur-something that just does not follow Poisoning the Well/Ad Hominem-attacking the person instead of attacking his argument Hypothesis Contrary to Fact-arguing from something that might have happened but didn t False Analogy-claiming that two situations are highly similar, when they aren't Appeal to Anonymous Authority- An appeal to an authority is made, but the authority is not named Straw Man-attacking an exaggerated or caricatured version of your opponent's position Slippery Slope-The fallacy here is the assumption that something is wrong because it is right next to something that is wrong. Or, it is wrong because it could slide towards something that is wrong Appeal to Fear-saying an opponent must be wrong, because if he is right, then bad things would ensue Argument by Rhetorical Question-asking a question in a way that leads to a particular answer Argument by Emotive Language-using emotionally loaded words to sway the audience's sentiments instead of their minds Begging the Question/Circular Reasoning-reasoning in a circle. The thing to be proved is used as one of your assumptions Argument by Half-Truth-Suppressing evidence that might support the other side. This is hard to detect, of course. You have to ask questions. Appeal to Force-threats, or even violence
Hasty Generalization-drawing a broad conclusion from a small number of perhaps unrepresentative cases Contradictory Premises-The premises of the argument contradict each other so there can be no argument Red Herring-this is sometimes used to avoid having to defend a claim, or to avoid making good on a promise. In general, there is something you are not supposed to notice Argument by Question-asking your opponent a question which does not have a snappy answer. (Or anyway, no snappy answer that the audience has the background to understand.) Your opponent has a choice: he can look weak or he can look long-winded. Ad Misericordiam/Appeal to Pity-trying to make people feel sorry for one rather than using logic to sway them