Glossary 4 Flashcards
The art of effective communication
Rhetoric
The relationships in a piece of writing or a speech among the speaker/writer, the event(s) or experiences that inspired the subject (exigence), the audience, the message, the author’s purpose, and the appeals, tools, and techniques used to achieve that purpose. Context (history, environment, background information, culture) surround and influence every part of the triangle.
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Question not asked for information but for effect
Rhetorical Question
Example: “The angry parent asked the child, ‘Are you finished interrupting me?’”
Rhetorical Question
Impact: initiate a wider examination of a subject, allow ideas to resonate for dramatic effect, or indicate the speaker’s position
Rhetorical Question
Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature. Does not rely on traditional themes and structures
Romanticism
Example: “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,”
Romanticism
A generally bitter comment that is ironically or satirically worded.
Sarcasm
Example: “Zombies eat brains. You’re safe.”
Sarcasm
Impact: conveys a writer and/or character ’s true feelings of frustration, anger, and even derision, though veiled by the presence of humor and wording that is inconsistent with what is intended.
Sarcasm
A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect. It targets human vices and follies, or social institutions and conventions.
Satire
Example: political cartoons
Satire
Impact: urges readers to confront these problems and consider how they impact society, often leaving a lasting impression that words alone might not achieve.
Satire
A sentence is group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.
Sentence
A word or group of words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning
Appositive
Example: “Bob, the lumber yard worker, spoke with Judy, an accountant from the city.”
Appositive
Impact: helps the reader understand the subject,person,etc. more; a “bonus fact”
Appositive
A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.
Clause
sentence in which two parallel elements are set off against each other like equal weights on a scale. Both parts are parallel grammatically
Balanced sentence
Example: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
Balanced sentence
Impact: impacts the effectiveness of an argument in academic writing by fostering clarity and coherence
Balanced sentence
Contains at least two independent clauses but no dependent clauses
Compound sentence
Example: “She is busy enough, but she agrees to join the team meeting.”
Compound sentence
Contains only one independent clause and at least one dependent clause
Complex sentence
Example: “If it’s true, it’s true”
Complex sentence
When the writer begins with an independent clause, then adds subordinate elements.
Cumulative sentence
Example: “He doubted whether he could ever again appear before an audience, his confidence broken, his limbs shaking, his collar wet with perspiration.”
Cumulative sentence
When the main idea is not completed until the end of the sentence. The writer begins with subordinate elements and postpones the main clause
Periodic sentence
Example:““Far and wide, on each side, through the meadows and the woods, and along the banks of small rivulets which sparkled and danced in the beams of the morning sun, there extended beautiful scenery.” – Ivredell Jones, The Lost Gold Mine.”
Periodic sentence
Contains only one independent clause
Simple sentence
Example: “I want to go home.”
Simple sentence
States an idea. It does not give a command or request, nor does it ask a question
Declarative sentence
Example: “The ball is round.”
Declarative sentence
Issues a command
Imperative sentence
Example: “Kick the ball.”
Imperative sentence
Sentences incorporating interrogative pronouns (what, which, who, whom, and whose)
Interrogative sentence
Example: “To whom did you kick the ball?”
Interrogative sentence
The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes. Style may be conscious or unconscious
Style
Anything that represents or stands for something else. Usually a symbol is something concrete such as an object, actions, character…that represents something more abstract
Symbol
Example:Whale in Moby Dick, the river and the jungle in Heart of Darkness, and the Raven in “The Raven.”
Symbol
Impact: allows authors to express complex ideas beneath the surface of their narratives.
Symbol
Grammatical arrangement of words
Syntax/sentence variety
The central idea or message of a work
Theme
The sentence or groups of sentences that directly expresses the author’s opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition. It should be short and clear.
Theme
Example: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” - Pride and Prejudice
Thesis
Impact: Introduces the audience to the purpose of main idea of a text
Thesis
A writer’s attitude toward his subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language and organization.
Tone
Example: “I’m so glad that jerk was fired; now I won’t have to deal with him anymore.” Vs. “It’s terrible that Tony was let go; he was such a great colleague!”
Tone
Impact: reflects the writer’s attitude toward the subject and the audience, helping to shape readers’ perceptions
Tone
The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous.
Understatement
Example: “The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.”
Understatement
Impact: help communicate complex ideas or provoke thought and emotion by deliberately minimizing certain elements
Understatement
