Rhetoric Test Flashcards
Allusion
an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference
Example: She had the feeling she had a golden ticket: (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.)
Rhetorical Questions
A question asked without expecting an answer but for the sake of emphasis or effect
Example: Would it kill you to stop chewing your food with your mouth open?
Slippery Slope
an idea or course of action which will lead to something unacceptable, wrong, or disastrous
Example: If you don’t take honors courses, you won’t get into a good college.
Hasty Generalization
is a claim made on the basis of insufficient evidence.
Example: The car that just cut me off is from South Dakota, so all South Dakotans are jerks.
Juxtapositioning
the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect
Example: All’s fair in love and war
Personification
a type of metaphor that gives human characteristics to inanimate objects and animals, such as emotions and behaviors
Example: The sun kissed me while I was clicking a picture. The flowers danced to the wind.
Parallelism
parts of the sentence are grammatically the same, or are similar in construction
Example: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
What you see is what you get.
Epistrophe
the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences.
Example: such as Lincoln’s “of the people, by the people, for the people”
Anaphora
the repetition of words or phrases in a group of sentences, clauses, or poetic lines
Example: Be bold. Be brief. Be gone
Ethos, Logos, Pathos
Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, building up logical arguments.
Ethos appeals to the speaker’s status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them.
Pathos appeals to the emotions, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic
Example:
Ethos - If my years as a Marine taught me anything, it’s that caution is the best policy in this sort of situation.
Logos - a speaker claims that “teen pregnancy has decreased in the last five years” by citing studies that show a significant decrease in teenage pregnancy.
Pathos - If we don’t move soon, we’re all going to die!
Alliteration
when two or more words that start with the same sound are used repeatedly in a phrase or a sentence
Example:
Cream of the crop.
French fry.
Hit the hay.
Pecan pie.
Super-Size.
Hyperbole
extravagant exaggeration used to emphasize a point.
Example: “mile-high ice cream cones”
Oxymoron
a figure of speech that combines contradictory words with opposing meanings
Example: like “old news,” “deafening silence,” or “organized chaos.”
