Rhetorical Strategies and Stylistic Devices Flashcards
Complete the summer homework for AP English!
Jargon
The specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession
Ex: LOL is a form of internet jargon
Irony
The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; or, incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs( situational, verbal, dramatic)
Ex: a music teacher with a deaf child.
Juxtaposition
Placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast
Ex: Romeo and Tybalt are two examples of juxtaposition in literature.
Litotes
A type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite( describing a particularly horrific scene by saying, “It was not a pretty picture.”)
Ex: He’s not the brightest student.
Logos
Appeal to reason or logic
Ex: Since women receive only 75% of a man’s dollar, it is obvious that subordinate women’s rights are still in place.
Maxim
A concise statement, often offering advice; an adage.
Ex: All that glitters is not gold.
Metonymy
Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it( “The pen [writing] is mightier than the sword [war/fighting] )
Ex: Lend me your ears!(“ears” meaning attention)
Mood
The emotional atmosphere of a work.
Ex: whimsical, morbid, dark, calm, serene, happy, uplifting, comical, confused, content, anxious, disappointed, dreamy.
Non sequitir
An inference that does not follow logically from the premises( literally, “does not follow”)
Ex: She has the new iphone; she must be rich.
Paradox
An apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth(“Whoever loses his life, shall find it”)
Ex: We fight in the dark, to serve the light.
Parallel structure
Using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.
Ex: Finn wanted to write essays quickly, effectively, and creatively.
Parody
A humorous imitation of a serious work( Weird Al Yankovich’s songs and Scary movie series are examples)
Ex: Vampires Suck in response to Twilight.
Pathos
The quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity.
Ex: We’re all going to die if we don’t find a water source!
Personification
Endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics.
Ex: The volcano has been asleep for over a hundred years.
Polysyndeton
The use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural.
Ex: We lived and laughed and loved and left.
Rhetorical question
A question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer.
Ex: Are you blind?
Satire
The use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in social institutions( Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s travels, The Simpsons, etc)
Ex: Political cartoons show flawed policy decisions and personalities of elected officials.
Sibilance
Having, containing, or producing the sound of or a sound resembling that of the s or the h in sash. “And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain.”
Ex: Six slippery salmon.
Synecdoche
Using one part of an object to represent the entire object (for example, referring to the car simply as “wheels”.)
Ex: law to policemen/ white hair to elderly/ pigskin to football
Tautology
Needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding(“Widow woman”, “free gift”)
Ex: frozen ice, sad misfortune, morning sunrise
Trope
An artful deviation from the ordinary or principal signification of a word( hyperbole, metaphor, and personification are some examples.)
Ex: irony, metonymy, litotes, oxymorons, puns, synecdoche, and Zeugma
Vernacular
The everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving nonstandard usage.
Ex: Scottish sometimes use words that are unrecognizable by english speakers although English is their national language.
Antimetabole
The words in one phrase or clause are replicated, exactly or closely, in reverse grammatical order in the next phrase or clause.
Ex: It’s not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning.
Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant letters (or sounds) in two or more different words across successive sentences, clauses, or phrase.
Ex: Sally sought seashells at the seashore.
