Persuasive Devices Flashcards
Anaphora
– The repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of subsequent sentences
– ‘How could you lie to your mother? How could you
lie to us all?’
Anadiplosis
– The repetition of the word from the end of one sentence to the beginning of the next
– ‘WhenI sleep, I sleep forever!’
Antistrophe
– The repetition of the same words at the end of consecutive phrases, clauses, sentences, and
paragraphs
– ‘When I was a child, I spake as a
child, I understood as a child’.
Tricolon
– A series of three parallel words, phrases, or
clauses
– ‘You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at down, and chuckled at catastrophe’.
Rhetorical question
– A question that is asked for mere effect, rather
than a question that needs to be answered
– ‘Why would you want millions pf people to
suffer?’
Chiasmus
– The repetition and/or reversal of words or
grammatical structure across two phrases. The
concepts must be related
– ‘He brought the living from the dead, and the dead from the living.’
Anecdote
– A brief narrative describing an interesting or amusing event.
Emotive language
– Language aimed at evoking emotion in your
reader
– ‘The innocent victim was mercilessly
beaten.’
Hyperbole
– Exaggerated statements or claims
– ‘I ate so much I couldn’t move for three days.’
Meiosis
– Understatement – ‘the tornado was slightly uncomfortable.’
Declarative
– These sentences are used to state information
– ‘I won’t be going to the party tomorrow.’
Imperative
– These sentences give commands or make requests
– ‘Open the window.’
Interrogative
– These sentences ask questions
– ‘Why did you break the vase?’
Exclamatory
– These sentences express emotion
– ‘I’m so angry with her!’
Counter argument
– You consider the possible argument against your point of view and oppose it.
