Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
Ad Hominem
An attack on the person rather than the issues at hand. Common in elections.
Active Voice
Any sentence with an active verb.
I planted the seeds. “Planted” is the active verb.
Preferred in writing.
Alliteration
Repetition of a phonetic sound at the beginning of several words in a sentence.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Allusion
A reference that recalls another work, another time in history, another famous person, etc.
Anadiplosis
The last word of the clause begins the next clause.
The furies pursued the men. The men were chased by their nightmares. The nightmares awakened everyone in the room.
Analogy
A relational comparison of or similarity between two objects or ideas.
Anaphora
The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive poetic lines, prose sentences, clauses, or paragraphs.
Anastrophe
Reversal of the natural order of words in a sentence or line of poetry.
The poisoned apple she ate to her gave cramps of a serious nature.
Antithesis
An observation or claim that is in opposition to your claim or an author’s claim.
Aphorism
A brief statement of an opinion or elemental truth.
Apostrophe
Prayer-like, this is a direct address to someone who is not present, to a deity or muse, or to some other power.
Appositive
Also called a noun phrase.
Modifies the noun next to it.
Argument from Ignorance
An argument that something is true because it has never been proven false.
Asyndeton
The deliberate omission of conjunctions from a series of related independent clauses.
Bandwagon
Also called vox populi.
“Everyone’s doing it”
Begging the question
When a speaker states a claim that includes a word or phrase that needs to be defined before the argument can proceed.
Cause and Effect
Causality fallacy or false cause
Ex- superstitions
Chiasmus
ABBA syntactical structure rather than the more common parallel ABAB structure.
Complex sentence
Sentence structure
A dependent clause and an independent clause
Compound sentence
Sentence structure
Two independent clauses
Compound-complex sentence
A combination of a compound and a complex sentence.
Connotation
The associations or moods that accompany a word.
Declarative sentence
A basic statement or an assertion
Decuctive
A form of logical argumentation that uses claims or premises
Looks like geometry proofs.
Denotation
The dictionary meaning.
Dependent clause
Contains a noun and a verb, but is set up with a subordinate conjunction, which makes the clause an incomplete thought.
Because the rabbit refused to come out of the hat…
Dialect
A regional speech pattern
A form of regionalism in writing
Often referred to as “colloquial language”
Diction
The particular words an author uses in any essay
Distractor
A possible answer that seems to be correct, but is either wrong or is not as good as other answers
Ellipsis
Three dots that indicate that words have been left out of a quotation
Also can be used to create suspense
Epanalepsis
Repeated the opening word or phrase at the end of the sentence to emphasize a statement or idea.
Common sense is not so common.
Epistrophe
Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words
Ethos
An appeal to credibility
Etymology
The study of the origin of words and their historical uses
Euphemism
To use a safer or nicer word for something others find inappropriate or unappealing
Exclamatory sentence
A sentence that conveys excitement or force
Fallacy
A failure of logical reasoning
False analogy
An argument using an inappropriate metaphor.
To help understand one thing in an argument we compare it to something else that is not at all relevant
False dilemma
Either/or fallacy
The suggestion made in the argument that the problem or debate has two solutions.
Fallacy of the excluded middle
Gerund
A verb ending in -ing that serves as a noun
Hyperbole
An exaggeration that bolsters an argument
Imagery
Evoking one of the 5 senses
Imperative sentence
A command
Independent clause
A clause that can stand alone as a sentence.
Must have a noun and a verb
Inductive
A form of logical argumentation that requires the use of examples
Infinitive
The word “to” plus a verb, usually functioning as a noun and often as a predicate in a sentence
Interrogative sentence
A question
Irony
The use of words to express something other than and often the opposite of the literal meaning. Verbal irony (sarcasm) Situational irony (a contrast between what happens and what was expected) Dramatic irony (a contrast between what the character believes to be true and what the reader knows to be true)
Jargon
A pattern of speech and vocabulary associated with a particular group of people
Juxtaposition
Making one idea more dramatic by placing it next to its opposite
Logos
An appeal to reason
Loose sentence
An independent clause followed by all sorts of debris, usually dependent clauses
Malapropism
One word is mistakenly substituted for another that sounds similar
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which what is unknown is compared to something that is known in order to better gauge its importance
Metonymy
The name of one thing is substituted for another with which it is closely associated.
The crown spoke with authority about the gathering crisis over bread and cheese
Non sequitur
“It does not follow”
An argument by misdirection; logically irrelevant
Object
A noun toward which thought, feeling, or action is directed
Onomatopoeia
A sound imitates the thing or action associated with it
Oxymoron
Two words that together create a sense of opposition
Paradox
A truth or a group of sentences that defy our intuition
Parallelism (parallel syntax)
A pattern of language that creates a rhythm of repetition often combined with some other language of repetition
Parentheticals
Phrases, sentences, and words inside parentheses
Participle
A verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed
Passive voice
The opposite of active voice
Something happens to someone
Pathos
An appeal to emotions
Periodic sentence
A sentence with several dependent clauses that precede the independent clause
Personification
Giving human attributes to non-human things
Phrase
A grouping of words that define or clarify
No verb
Point of view
The perspective from which the writer chooses to present his or her story or essay
Poisoning the well
A person or character is introduced with language that suggests that he is not at all reliable before the listener/reader knows anything about him
Polysyndeton
The use of consecutive coordinating conjunctions even when they are not needed
Predicate
The verb that conveys the meaning or carries the action of the sentence
Predicate adjective
An adjective that follows a linking verb and modifies the subject of the sentence
Predicate nominative
A noun or pronoun that uses a linking verb to unite, describe or rename the noun in the subject of the sentence
Premise
Claim
A statement of truth, at least to the person making the argument
Prompt
The paragraph or language that defines the essay task
Pun
A play on words
Red herring
An argument that distracts the reader by raising issues irrelevant to the case
Repetition
Calls the reader’s attention to a particular word, phrase, or image for emphasis of meaning
Rhetorical question
A question whose answer is assumed.
Designed to force the reader to respond in a predetermined manner
Rhetorical shift
The author of an essay significantly alters his or her diction, syntax, or both
Simile
When what is unknown is compared to something that is known using the word “like”, “as”, or “than”
Simple sentence
An independent clause
Slippery slope (domino theory)
Fallacy arguing that one thing inevitably leads to another
Stem
A question on the multiple choice section
Straw man
When an arguer defines his opponent’s position when the opponent is not present and defines it in a manner that is easy to attack
Subject
The noun that is the basic focus of the sentence
Subordinate conjunction
A conjunction that makes an independent clause into a dependent clause
Syllogism
Three-part argument construction in which two premises lead to a truth
All human beings are mortal. Heather is a human being. Therefore, Heather is mortal.
Synecdoche
A part is used for the whole
All hands on deck.
Syntax
The study of the rules of grammar that define the formation of sentences
Synthesis
To unite or synthesize a variety of sources to achieve a common end
Theme
The basic message or meaning conveyed through elements of character and conflict
Thesis
The writer’s statement of purpose
Tricolon
A sentence with three equally distinct and equally long parts
Separated by commas
Understatement
Creates exaggeration by showing restraint
Zeugma
Two or more elements in a sentence are tied together by the same verb or noun
