Rhetoric exam

Question 1

Of studies

Answer 1

• He discusses the purpose of studies and looks at the different ways to study
• Overall purpose is to persuade readers to utilise studies
• He speaks at great lengths of the values of studies to advise readers to use it to their advantage

Question 2

illustration

Answer 2

• ‘Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.’
• illustration to explain statement by means of specific examples
• Studies are utilised for personal use
• ‘delight’ = enjoy studying
• ‘ornament’ = decoration to improve themselves
• ‘ability’ = show able to do something

Question 3

Definition of parallelism

Answer 3

• amplification through synonymia, making ideas salient by repeating in a different way
• Donne calls this parallelism

Question 4

Deviation from parallelism

Answer 4

• Jakobson’s term parallelism if one of a pair, the other being deviation
• divergence from a norm, by breaking a pattern of parallelism that has already been established in the text

Question 5

Example of?

• ‘Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business.’

Answer 5

• Parallelism
• Omits ‘the chief’ in the second and third parts in order to avoid repetition
  Three prepositional phrases (pps) all start with a verb +preposition +noun (ellipsis of the noun in the last sentence) with the addition of the determiner ‘the’ +noun.
• The phrase ‘their chief use for delight’ the verb ‘to use’ takes three complements- privateness, discourse and judgement all are nouns

Question 6

Example of?

• ‘To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar.’

Answer 6

• Parallelism
• Calls us not to spend too much time in studies, to use them often for ornament and to make judgement wholly by their rules, but to study for a feasible use and not entirely believe what the books say without relating to the reality.
• Three absolute sentences make up a long sentence
• The verb ‘to spend’ takes three complements- studies, ornaments and rules are all nouns.

Question 7

Example of?

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

Answer 7

• Parallelism
• The verb ‘to read’ takes three complements- contradict, believe and find all verbs
• The aim of reading and acquiring knowledge must not be to aggressively refute other’s views or accept the writers views as gospel truth