Rhetorical Strategies

Question 1

Abstract

Answer 1

Designating qualities or characteristics apart from specific objects or events; opposite of concrete

Question 2

Allegory

Answer 2

A narrative, either in verse or prose, in which character, action, and sometimes setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of the story

Question 3

Alliteration

Answer 3

The repetition of initial identical consonant sounds or any vowel sounds in successive or closely associated syllables, especially stressed syllables

Question 4

Allusion

Answer 4

A brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art

Question 5

Analogy

Answer 5

A process of reasoning that assumes if two subjects share a number of specific observable qualities then they may be expected to share qualities that have not been observed; the process of drawing a comparison between two things based on a partial similarity of like features

Question 6

Anaphora

Answer 6

A device of repetition in which the same expression is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences

Question 7

Anastrophe

Answer 7

The inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sentence. Anastrophe is deliberate rather than accidental and is used to secure rhythm or to gain emphasis or euphony. YODA

Question 8

Antecedent

Answer 8

The word to which a pronoun refers (whose place it takes)

Question 9

Anticipating Audience Response

Answer 9

A rhetorical technique often used to convince an audience, involving anticipation and statement of the arguments that one’s opponent is likely to give, and then answering these arguments even before the opponent has had a chance to voice them

Question 10

Antithesis

Answer 10

A figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in “Man proposes, God disposes.” A balancing of one term against another for emphasis.

Question 11

Aphorism

Answer 11

A concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words; later applied to statements of general principle briefly given in a variety of practical fields, such as law, politics, and art.

Question 12

Apostrophe

Answer 12

A figure of speech in which someone (usually, but not always absent), some abstract quality, or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present.

Question 13

Attitude

Answer 13

The authors attitude, closely linked with the tone of a piece, can also be the underlying feeling behind a tone. For example: a tone might be one of anger, but the attitude behind the tone would be one of concern or fear about a situation. The mother screamed at the small child, “Don’t touch that hot stove!”

Question 14

Call to Action

Answer 14

Writing that urges people to action or promotes change.

Question 15

Characterization

Answer 15

The techniques a writer uses to create and reveal fictional personalities in a work of literature, by describing the character’s appearance, actions, thoughts, and feelings.

Question 16

Chiasmus

Answer 16

A type of balance in which the second part is balanced against the first but with the part reversed; a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. Compare to ANASTROPHE

Question 17

Classification and Division

Answer 17

Classification is a method of sorting, grouping, collecting, and analyzing things by categories based on features shared by all members of a class or group. Division is a method of breaking down an entire whole into separate parts or sorting a group of items into nonoverlapping categories.

Question 18

Cliché

Answer 18

A timeworn expression that through overuse has lost its power to evoke concrete images

Question 19

Coinage

Answer 19

A word or phrase made, invented, or fabricated.

Question 20

Colloquial Expressions

Answer 20

Words or phrases characteristic or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing

Question 21

Doublespeak

Answer 21

Language used to distort and manipulate rather than to communicate

Question 22

Ellipsis

Answer 22

The omission of a word or words necessary for complete construction, but understood in the context. (I love English as much as she.)

Question 23

Enthymeme

Answer 23

An argument or truncated syllogism in which one of the propositions, usually a premise, is understood but not stated; a rhetorical syllogism which is probable and persuasive but may not be valid.

Question 24

Ethnocentricity

Answer 24

The belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own group and culture

Question 25

Euphemism

Answer 25

The substitutions of an inoffensive, indirect, or agreeable expression for a word or phrase perceived as socially unacceptable or unnecessarily harsh.

Question 26

Idiom

Answer 26

A use of words, a grammatic construction peculiar to a given language, or an expression that cannot be translated literally into a second language.

Question 27

Lending Credence

Answer 27

When a writer or speaker of lends her opponent some credit for the opponent’s ideas. Often done to persuade the audience that the writer or speaker is fair and has done his or her homework, thereby strengthening his or her own argument.

Question 28

Litotes

Answer 28

A form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite. Example: “She was not unmindful.”

Question 29

Logical Fallacies

Answer 29

Methods of pseudo-reasoning that may occur accidentally or may be intentionally contrived to lend plausibility to an unsound argument. Examples include ad hominem, begging the question, false analogy, non sequitur, red herring, slippery slope, and Straw Man.

Question 30

Loose Sentence

Answer 30

A sentence grammatically complete at some point (or points) before the end; the opposite of a PERIODIC SENTENCE. A complex loose sentence consists of an independent clause followed by a dependent clause.

Question 31

Lyrical Drama

Answer 31

A term used for a dramatic poem in which the form of drama is used to express lyric themes (author’s own emotions or ideas of life) instead of relying on a story as the basis of the action. (So, like rap lyrics?)

Question 32

Metonymy

Answer 32

A figure of speech characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself. Example: Replacing “the King” with “the Crown.”

Question 33

Periodic Sentence

Answer 33

A sentence not grammatically complete before its end; the opposite of a LOOSE SENTENCE. The characteristic of a periodic sentence is that its construction is such as constantly to throw the mind forward to the idea that will complete the meaning; sometimes designed to arouse interest and curiosity, to hold an idea in suspense before its final revelation is made.

Question 34

Polysyndeton

Answer 34

The repetition of conjunctions in close succession for rhetorical effect

Question 35

Process Analysis

Answer 35

A method of clarifying the nature of something by explaining how it works in separate, easy-to-understand steps.

Question 36

Rhetorical Strategies

Answer 36

The modes of discourse: compare/contrast, process analysis, definition, narration, cause/effect, or argumentation/persuasion.

OR

Everything that the student knows about analysis: literary devices, persuasive elements, and the modes of discourse.

Question 37

Spin

Answer 37

In politics, harmful situations sometimes played in the media as philanthropic endeavors.

Example: President Bush’s “Spin Doctors” coined the title, “Operation Iraqi Freedom” for the war in Iraq.

Question 38

Style

Answer 38

The author’s characteristic manner of expression; includes the types of words used, their placement, and distinctive features of tone, imagery, figurative language, sound, and rhythm.

Question 39

Syllogism

Answer 39

A formula for presenting an argument logically; affords a method of demonstrating the logic of an argument through analysis. It consists of three divisions: a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

Question 40

Synecdoche

Answer 40

A type of figurative language in which the whole is used for the part or the part used for the whole.

Examples: “The dying year” for “autumn,” and “Wall Street” for the entire financial affairs of all the United States.

Question 41

Voice

Answer 41

The implied personality the author chooses to adopt; may reflect a persona to project views quite different from the author’s.