Rhetoric and Elements of Styles

Question 1

What is Rhetoric?

Answer 1

Rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing persuasively

Question 2

What is Logos?

Answer 2

Logos is an appeal to reason and logic. Objective Evidence, Hard Facts, and Statistics, etc.

Question 3

What is Ethos?

Answer 3

Ethos is an appeal to the speaker’s credibility.-whether he or she is to be believed on the basis of his or her character and expertise. Ex. Used in court cases

Question 4

What is Pathos?

Answer 4

Pathos is an appeal to the emotions, values, or desires of the audience. Ex. The defendant is not guilty because of his traumatic experience as a child

Question 5

What is Style?

Answer 5

Style is the manner of expression. It describes how the author uses language to get her point across (e.g, pedantic, scientific, and emotive).

Question 6

What is Tone?

Answer 6

The tone is the attitude, mood, or sentiments revealed by the style. Tone describes how the authors seems to be feeling (e.g optimistic, ironic, and playful)

Question 7

What is a Theme?

Answer 7

A theme is a stance revealed by the style and the tone of the writing. The author’s point of view expresses his or her position on the topic discussed.

Question 8

What is Diction?

Answer 8

“Word Choice”

Question 9

What is Denotation?

Answer 9

Denotation refers to a word’s primary or literal significance.

Question 10

What is Connotation?

Answer 10

Connotation refers to the vast range of other meanings that a word suggests. Meaning, in this case, is derived from the context.

Question 11

What is Syntax?

Answer 11

Grammar and Sentence Structure

Question 12

What is Figurative Language?

Answer 12

Figurative language is strictly defined as speech or writing that departs from literal meaning to achieve a special effect or meaning.

Question 13

What is Imagery?

Answer 13

Imagery is figurative language that is used to convey a sensory perception (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, or gustatory)

Question 14

What is Hyperbole?

Answer 14

Hyperbole is overstatement or exaggeration; it is the use of figurative language that significantly exaggerates the facts for effect. Most commonly for comic effect.

Question 15

What is an Understatement?

Answer 15

Understatement is figurative language that presents the facts in a way that makes them appear much less significant than they really are. Understatement is almost used for comic effect.

Question 16

What is a Simile?

Answer 16

A simile is a comparison between two unlike objects, in which the two parts are connected with a term such as like or as.
“The bird’s are like black arrows flying across the sky”

Question 17

What is a Metaphor?

Answer 17

A metaphor is a simile without a connecting term such as like or as.
“The birds are black arrows flying across the sky.”

Question 18

What is an Extended Metaphor?

Answer 18

An extended metaphor is a metaphor that lasts for longer than just one phrase or sentence.

Question 19

What is Symbolism?

Answer 19

A symbol is a concrete object that represents an abstract idea.
“The Christin soldiers paused to remember the lamb.”

Question 20

What is Personification?

Answer 20

Personification is the figurative device in which inanimate objects or concepts are given the thoughts, feelings, or actions of a human. It can enhance our emotional response because we usually attribute more emotional significance to other humans than to things or concepts.

Question 21

What is Anthropomorphism?

Answer 21

Anthropomorphism occurs when non-human objects are given the physical shape of a human, e.g., the legs of a table, the face of a clock, the arms of a tree.

Question 22

What is Metonymy?

Answer 22

Metonymy is where one term is substituted for another term with which it is closely associated.
“The sailors drank a glass of hearty red.”

Question 23

What is Synecdoche?

Answer 23

A synecdoche is a form of metonymy that’s restricted to cases in which a part is used to signify the whole.
“All hands on deck!” (Optional, you can say all synecdoche is Metonymy)

Question 24

What is Malapropism?

Answer 24

Malapropism is the intentional use of a word that resembles the word intended but that has a very different meaning. Develops ethos and makes the writer seem witty and comedic
“He was a man of a great statue”

Question 25

What is Circumlocution?

Answer 25

Circumlocution has two meanings, “talking around a subject” and “talking around a word”. Ex. Run around the way of saying things. When talking around a word, the point is that circumlocution is often an effective means for communicating points of view.

Question 26

What is a Euphemism?

Answer 26

Euphemism is a word or words that are used to avoid employing an unpleasant or offensive term.

Question 27

What is an Oxymoron?

Answer 27

An oxymoron is when two seemingly contradictory words (or sometimes brief phrases) are paired together. On the surface level, this is might be true, but look deeper, and the contradiction can be resolved.
“Jumbo Shrimp”

Question 28

What is a Paradox?

Answer 28

A paradox contains two elements that cannot both be true at the same time (although usually, each one could be true on its own).

Question 29

What is a rhetorical question?

Answer 29

A rhetorical question is a question whose answer is obvious; these types of questions do not need to be answered- usually aren’t. Rhetorical questions attempt to prove something without actually presenting an argument; sometimes they’re used as a form of irony in which something is stated, but its opposite is meant.

Question 30

What is Bombast?

Answer 30

Bombast (adjective=bombastic) is language that is overly rhetorical (pompous), especially when considered in context. Ex. graduation speeches

Question 31

What is a Pun?

Answer 31

A pun is a play on words. In general, a pun either plays on the multiple meanings of a word or replaces one word with another that is similar in sound but very different in meaning. Puns are almost always used for comic effect.

Question 32

What is Aphorism?

Answer 32

An aphorism is a concise, pithy statement of an opinion or a general truth. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.Also known as Proverb/Adage, Maxim, or Motto.

Question 33

What is Irony?

Answer 33

Irony refers to the relationship between the text and the audience’s expectations. If the audience anticipates certain events or dialogue, and alternative events to dialogue occur, you’re likely dealing with irony.

Question 34

What is Verbal Irony?

Answer 34

Verbal irony refers to the process of starting something but meaning the opposite of what is stated. The author might use common saying or emotional experience to build up the audience’s expectations. In written irony, context is important while in spoken irony intonation is important.

Question 35

What is Sarcasm?

Answer 35

Sarcasm is simply verbal irony used with intent to injure. Sarcasm is in the mind of the beholder.

Question 36

Whats is Situational Irony?

Answer 36

Situational Irony refers to a circumstance that runs contrary to what was expected.

Question 37

What is Satire?

Answer 37

Satire is portrayed in a way that’s deliberately distorted to achieve a comic effect. Implicit in most satire is the author’s desire to critique what is being mocked.

Question 38

Satire vs. Parody vs. Lampoon vs. Caricature

Answer 38

Satire: A social or political criticism that relies heavily on irony, sarcasm, and often humor.
Parody: Imitation for comic effect
Lampoon: Sharp ridicule of the behavior or character of a person or institution
Caricature: A ludicrous exaggeration of the defects of persons or things.

Question 39

What is a Theme?

Answer 39

The theme is an argument contained in the text; the theme may be stated explicitly or only suggested. A theme is not just an idea; it is an idea that is developed, often over a large course of a chapter or an entire book. Usually, one can identify a central theme and several minor ones.