Rhetorical Terms Flashcards
Diction
Word choice
Rhetoric
Study of all the tools of language used in speaking and in writing
Trope
Artful deviations from the ordinary or expected use of a word (connotation). This leads to an in depth look at a word in text context
Scheme
Artful deviation from the normal/ ordinary arrangement of words for creative effect and for enhanced interest/ voice
Mode
A type of writing- autobiographical/ cause and effect/ observation/ reflection/ evaluation/ persuasion/ argument
Parallelism
Similarity structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases or clauses
Isocolon
A series of similarly structured elements having the same length
Antithesis
Contrasting ideas placed side by side, often using parallel structure
Climatic
The arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance
Anticlimactic
An expectation is established, then something comes along which deflates the expectation
Juxtaposition
Placement of two items next to each other. ( ideas words phrases style items)
Anastrophe
Inversion of natural or expected word order
Parenthesis
Insertion of a verbal unit that interrupts normal syntactical flow
Apposition
Addition of an adjacent, coordinate, explanatory element
Polyptoton
Repeating the same root in different forms
Ellipsis
Omission of a word or words readily implied by context
Asyndeton
Omission of conjunction between a series of clauses
Polysyndeton
Opposite of asyndeton, a superabundance of conjunctions
Assonance
Repetition of similar vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of adjacent
Anaphora
Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses
Epistrophe
Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses
Anadiplosis
Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause
Chiasmus
Repetition of grammatical structures in reverse order in successive phrases or clauses
Rhetorical question
Asking a question for the purpose of asserting or denying something, not for an answer
Hypophora
Asking a question and immediately answering it in order to demonstrate authority
Epiplexis
Asking a question in order to reproach or upbraid, rather than to elicit information
Rhetorical or logical fallacies
A category of arguments with errors in reasoning; often presented as true; misleading arguments
Ad hominem
Attacks the person not the issue
Circular reasoning
Argument that restates or rewords rather than proves
Slippery slope
Assumes that because one thing is allowed, other, more grievous things will follow