Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
Direct Address
Addressing the audience using ‘you’ or calling them by their group name (‘Year 11s’, ‘Comrades’, ‘Brothers and Sisters’)
Alliteration
When several words close together have the same first letter.
Anecdotes
Personal stories
Facts
A thing that is known or proved to be true.
Flattery
Excessive and insincere praise.
Opinions
A statement that expresses a feeling, an attitude, a value judgment, or a belief.
Opponent (Counter-argument)
Presenting opposing arguments and disproving them.
Rhetorical Question
A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.
Repetition
Saying the same word, line, phrase or slogan multiple times.
Emotive Language
Language that presents intense feelings or that evokes an emotional response in the listener.
Exaggeration (Hyperbole)
Intentionally and metaphorically presenting something as much better or much worse than it really is.
Statistics
Persuasive data that supports your argument - usually presented as a percentage.
Satire
The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or lack of understanding.
Hypophora
Asking a rhetorical question and answering it immediately.
Pathos
Appealing to the emotions of the audience.
Ethos
Appealing to the audience’s ethics. Establishing yourself as credible.
Logos
Appeal to logic and reason, often by presenting facts, figures and a reasoned argument.
Anaphora
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
Opinions presented as facts
When opinions are presented using bare assertions and declarative sentences so they seem like fact and indisputable.
