Grammar Rules Flashcards
Ad Hominem
appealing to personal considerataions rather than reason.
alliteration
use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word. for example ‘stellar students synthesize sweet sentences.’
anaphora
When the same word or phrase is used at the beginning of a series of sentences.
For example: In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most famous speech, he said “I have a dream” eight different times.
As a literary device, it also gives emphasis and rhythm to lines like these of Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” with the repetition of “it was” eight more times in one sentence.
anastrophe
When the words in a sentence or phrase are deliberately mixed up. For example: “Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.”
Most famous exp[onent of this technique is Yoda.
antithesis
This is the complete opposite of something. Though the counterculture was strong in America in 1968, voters elected Richard Nixon, the [term] of a hippie
apostrophe
This is a punctuation mark used in contractions to replace missing letters. The contraction “we’ll” stands for “we will,” with the [term] replacing “wi.” It can also show possession, as in “Mary’s car.” The [term] indicates the car belongs to Mary.
In addition to being a punctuation mark, it can can also be a literary device in which the speaker of a poem talks to someone who is not there. A famous example of this is Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” in which he addresses the deceased Abraham Lincoln: “O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells.”
apposition
The term to describe when you put two things right next to each other. Although it can be used to talk about the positioning of objects or words close to each other it’s usually found in scientific and technical writing.
archaism
A word that’s so old-fashioned that hardly anyone uses it anymore. Forsooth, you’ll encounter many archaisms when you read Shakespeare — or when you go to the local Renaissance Faire
assonance
when a bunch of words in a row share similar sounds (like the “oo” sound in the quote).
“Blue cartoons play through the boob tube” is an example
asyndeton
elimination of conjunctions like “and” or “but.” This rhetorical device works to make a speech more dramatic and effective by speeding up its rhythm and pace.
Public speakers use this when they want to emphasize the gravity or drama of their topics. Abraham Lincoln used asyndeton when he talked about “a government of the people, by the people, for the people…” without including the conjunction “and.” A list of items or characteristics that’s not slowed down or divided by the usual conjunction feels more immediate and momentous, particularly in spoken rhetoric.
bathos
If something starts out serious and then turns trivial, that’s [term]. If you’re watching a serious drama about Poland’s transition to capitalism and it suddenly ends in a giddy car chase, you might remark on the film’s unexpected [term]
cacophony
This is a mishmash of unpleasant sounds, often at loud volume. It’s what you’d hear if you gave instruments to a group of four-year-olds and asked them to play one of Beethoven’s symphonies.
Chiasmus
inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
This is a literary device using repetition to create compelling statements, including many famous quotations, such as John F. Kennedy’s famous call to action: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” The roots of this word come from the Greek letter chi, which is roughly a cross shape, and chiasmus does involve a crossing over of terms, as in the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.“
colloquialism
an expression that seeks to imitate informal speech
dialectic
arrving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments
discourse
extended verbal expression in speech or writing
epigraph
a quotation at the beginning of some piece of writing
epithet
descriptive word or phrase
eponym
the name derived from a person (real or imaginary)
eristic
the art of legocial disputation (especially if specious)
euphemism
an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one
euphony
any pleasing and harmonious sounds
hyperbole
extravagant expression
hypothesis
a message expressing an opinion based on inomplete evidence
invective
abusive language used to express blame or censure
irony
incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
jargon
technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject
litotes
understatement for rhetorical effect
maxim
a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits
metaphor
a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
metonymy
substituting the name of a feature for the name of the thing
non sequitur
a conclusion that does not follow from the premises
onomatopoeia
using words that imitate the sound they denote
oxymoron
conjoined contradictory terms
paradox
a statement that contradicts itself
parallelism
similarity by virtue of corresponding
parenthesis
a message that departs from the main subject
parody
a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style
personification
representing an abstract quality or idea as a human
pleonasm
using more words than necessary
rebuttal
the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument
repetition
the continued use of the same word or word pattern
simile
a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
syllogism
reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
synecdoche
using part of something to refer to the whole thing
tautology
a statement that is necessarily true
thesis
an unproved statement advanced as a premise in an argument
trope
language used in a nonliteral sense
understatement
something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast
zeugma
rhetorical use of a word to govern two or more words
