Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
1
Q
Latin for “against the man”; when a writer personally attacks his or her opponents instead of their arguments
A
Ad hominem (logical fallacy)
2
Q
A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor; a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions
A
Allegory
3
Q
Repetition of the same sound beginning several words in sequence
A
Alliteration
4
Q
A brief reference to something literary, mythological, or historical
A
Allusion
5
Q
A partial similarity of features on which a comparison may be based
A
Analogy
6
Q
Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines
A
Anaphora
7
Q
Reversal of the usual, logical, or normal order of the parts of a sentence
A
Anastrophe
8
Q
A short narrative account of an amusing, curious, revealing, or otherwise interesting event
A
Anecdote
9
Q
One who deceives, opposes, or works against the main character of a story or poem
A
Antagonist
10
Q
Repetition of words in reverse order
A
Antimetabole
11
Q
The use of a word which conveys a sense opposite to its usual meaning
A
Antiphrasis
12
Q
Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction
A
Antithesis
13
Q
Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things
A
Abstract language
14
Q
The identification of a person by and epithet (an adjective or phrase describing someone) or other term that is not his name
A
Antonomasia
15
Q
A general truth or observation about life, usually stated concisely, and often witty and wise
A
Aphorism
16
Q
A sudden breaking off in the middle of a sentence, resulting from unwillingness or inability to proceed
A
Aposiopesis
17
Q
The act of speaking directly to an absent or imaginary person, or to some abstraction
A
Apostrophe
18
Q
A classification of writing; persuasive writing intended to convince the reader by proving the truth or establishing the falsity of an idea or proposition
A
Argumentation
19
Q
The repetition of vowel sound
A
Assonance
20
Q
Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words (FANBOYS)
A
Asyndeton
21
Q
French turn that means “vanguard “; often refers to literature or art that rejects traditional approaches in favor of innovations in style or content
A
Avant-garde
22
Q
A narrative folk song
A
Ballad
23
Q
Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of the subject or issue
A
Bias
24
Q
A German word meaning “novel of development”; it is a study of the maturation of a youthful character, typically brought through a series of social encounters that lead to self-awareness
A
Bildungsroman
25
A rhythmic flow, or sequence of sounds in writing and speaking; the natural rhythm of language caused by the alternation of accented and unaccented syllables
Cadence
26
A pause, or break, and in a line of poetry
Caesura
27
Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern of XYYX; they're often short, summarizing the main idea
Chiasmus
28
A word, phrase, or form of pronunciation that is acceptable in casual conversation but not in formal, written communication; considered more acceptable than slang
Colloquialism
29
A fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor
Conceit
30
A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding
Concession
31
Language describing the perceptible and material world; it appeals or engages the senses
Concrete language
32
An association that comes along with a particular word; does not relate to the word's actual meaning
Connotation
33
The repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within words
Consonance
34
Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and builds and adds on
Cumulative sentence
35
The specific, exact, and concrete meaning of a word; a word's literal meaning
Denotation
36
The classification of writing; writing intended to portray a sense of impression and to indicate mood; relays how something looks, tastes, smells, sounds, feels, or acts
Description
37
Latin term meaning "God out of a machine "; refers to an artificial device or coincidence used to bring about convenient and simple solution to a plot
Deus ex machina
38
Word choice; an element of style
Diction
39
From the Greek word meaning "to teach "; literature that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior
Didactic
40
A French phrase referring to a word or phrase with a "double meaning" [Joey from friends- how you doin?]
Double entendre
41
Genre of literature; a composition in prose or poetry presenting in pantomime and dialogue a story intended to be performed for an audience
Drama
42
The omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context (...)
Ellipsis
43
A moment of sudden revelation or insight
Epiphany
44
The name of someone so commonly associated with a specific characteristic or quality that the name itself stands for the attribute
Eponym
45
When the writer tries to persuade the audience to believe him and to gain their confidence based on his/her reputation and representation of him/ her throughout the text
Ethos (ethical appeal)
46
The study of the origin of words, an account of the history of a particular word
Etymology
47
The use of an indirect, mild, or vague word or expression for one thought to be coarse, offensive, or blunt (adds positive connotation)
Euphemism
48
A writers method of drawing us in
Exodium
49
The classification of writing; writing intended to explain, define, and interpret
Exposition
50
Deliberate and intentional departure from normal word meanings or word order so as to gain freshness and strength of expression; writing that employs one or more figures of speech
Figurative language
51
Expressive uses of language in which words are used in other than their literal senses so as to suggest or produce images in a readers' mind; helps gain freshness and strength of expression
Figure of speech
52
A narrative device that flashes back to the presentation of an incident that occurred prior to the opening scene of a literary work
Flashback
53
A person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent
Foil
54
Showing, indicating, or suggesting before hand; in literature, it provides a hint of what is going to occur later
Foreshadowing
55
A category of literary work; it can refer to a literary form (poetry, novel, drama, short story) or to the content or technique (tragedy, comedy)
Genre
56
The Greek word meaning "fault"; an error in judgment also known as the "tragic flaw"; a fatal weakness that causes the downfall of a protagonist in tragedy
Hamartia
57
Conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect
Hyperbole
58
The use of concrete language to represent actions, persons, objects, and ideas descriptively; the formation of mental images
Imagery
59
A term used to describe the so-called error of judging the meaning and success of a literary work in terms of the author's expressed purpose in writing it
Intentional fallacy
60
An intensely, highly emotional verbal attack
Invective
61
Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject – verb – object order)
Inversion
62
The fact of language when the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated (verbal) when the audience of a play or the reader of the piece know something that a character in the work itself does not (dramatic)
Irony
63
Language that is used or understood by select group of people
Jargon
64
A mournful complaint, an expression of sorrow, a lamentation denouncing evil; refers to any literary work which contains prophecies of destruction or complaints about the state of society and the world
Jeremiad
65
Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts
Juxtaposition
66
The unit of meaning in poetry; comparable to a sentence in prose
Line
67
A type of understatement in which something affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite
Litotes
68
An appeal to logic
Logos (logical appeal)
69
Direct comparison of two different things which suggests they're somehow the same
Metaphor
70
Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it
Metonymy
71
A reoccurring theme, idea, or subject in the literary work; the unifying thread in a work
Motif
72
Can anonymous tale emerging from the traditional beliefs of a culture or social unit
Myth
73
The classification of writing; writing intended to relate an event or series of events
Narration
74
A device used at the beginning of a work of fiction intended to arouse the interest of readers and make the eager to read further
Narrative hook
75
Turning a verb or an adjective into a noun
Nominalization
76
Latin for "it does not follow"; when one statement isn't logically connected to another
Non-sequitur
77
A word formed by the imitation of a sound
Onomatopoeia
78
The literary technique in which to contradictory words come together for special effect
Oxymoron
79
Story design to convey some religious principal, moral lesson, or general truth
Parable
80
Seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true, this rhetorical device is often used for emphasis or to attract attention to an issue or idea
Paradox
81
A humorous imitation of a serious work
Parody
82
Sentence construction which places in close proximity 2 or more equal grammatical constructions
Parallelism
83
Crediting inanimate objects with the emotion and traits of human beings
Pathetic fallacy
84
When a writer appeals to an audiences emotions to involve them in the story or argument
Pathos (emotional appeal)
85
Describing an excessive display of learning or scholarship
Pedantic
86
Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end
Periodic sentence
87
A Latin term meaning "mask"; it generally functions as a mask through which the author tells a story in a voice other than their own
Persona
88
Attribution of a life like quality to an inanimate object or idea
Personification
89
Verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, any emotions in a vivid and imaginative way
Poetry
90
A work in which the author takes a stand on a controversial subject; these works are often argumentative and provocative
Polemic
91
The narrative perspective from which a literary work is presented to the reader
Point of view
92
The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions
Polysyndeton
93
Information, ideas, or rumor spread to help or harm a person, group, movement, belief, institution, or nation. A negative term for writing design to sway opinion rather than present information
Propaganda
94
Every day writing using sentences and paragraphs
Prose
95
A play on words that have similar sounds but different meanings
Pun
96
Using the same words and phrases
Repetition
97
The art of effective communication, especially in persuasive discourse; in it's strictest sense, rhetoric adheres to the various principles developed since classical times for arranging facts and ideas in a clear, persuasive, ethical manner, although today it can refer to affective prose in general
Rhetoric
98
Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause-and-effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation
Rhetorical modes
99
Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer
Rhetorical question
100
The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words that are close together in a poem
Rhyme
101
Harsh, cutting language/tone design to ridicule
Sarcasm
102
A literary work that seeks to criticize and correct the behavior of human beings and their institutions by means of humor, wit, and ridicule
Satire
103
Artful syntax
Scheme
104
A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words like or as
Simile
105
A type of informal communication that is generally unacceptable for formal writing
Slang
106
A division in poetry often named for the number of lines it contains; comparable to a paragraph in prose
Stanza
107
The overall manner in which an individual writer expresses ideas
Style
108
The linking of one word with two other words in 2 strikingly different ways
Syllepsis
109
A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise
Syllogism
110
Something that represents something else
Symbol
111
A figure of speech whereby the part is substituted for the whole or the whole for the part
Synecdoche
112
Sentence structures utilized by the writer
Syntax
113
Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex
Synthesize
114
Needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding
Tautology
115
The central and dominating idea in a literary work, the message or moral implicit in any work of art
Theme
116
An author's attitude toward his or her subject, device used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work
Tone
117
A weakness in character or error in judgment that leads to the protagonist's destruction and/or death
Tragic flaw
118
Artful diction; any literary or rhetorical device which consists of the use of words other than there a literal sense; Greek word meaning "turn" or "turning"
Trope
119
Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way, but producing different, often incongruous meanings
Zeugma
120
Opposite of euphemism, harsh, negative, offensive language
Dysphemism
