Rhetorical terms

Question 1

Faulty casualty

Answer 1

Setting up a cause and effect relationship when none exists

Question 2

Sentimental Appeals

Answer 2

Appeal to the hearts of the readers

Question 3

Scare tactics

Answer 3

Frighten readers into agreeing with the speaker

Question 4

Faulty analogy

Answer 4

Misleading comparison between two things

Question 5

Equivocation

Answer 5

Lying by omission

Question 6

Slippery slope

Answer 6

Suggests bigger consequences from minor causes

Question 7

Straw Man argument

Answer 7

Make an opponents argument easier to attack (with over simplification)

Question 8

False dichotomy

Answer 8

Consideration of only two extremes when there are one or more intermediate possibilities

Question 9

Red Herring

Answer 9

Shift attention away from an important issue by introducing an issue that has no connection

Question 10

Bandwagon Appeals

Answer 10

Peer pressure (agree with the position because everyone else does)

Question 11

Dogmatism

Answer 11

Does not allow for discussion because the speaker presumes that his beliefs are beyond question

Question 12

Ad Hominem Argument

Answer 12

Criticizes an idea by pointing out something about the person who holds the idea

Question 13

Fallacy

Answer 13

A false or mistaken idea

Question 14

Argument for Authority

Answer 14

Tempts us to agree with the writer’s assumptions based on the authority of a famous person

Question 15

Hasty Generalization

Answer 15

Writer deliberately leads you to a conclusion by providing insufficient selective evidence

Question 16

Begging the question

Answer 16

Someone assumes that what the person claims to be proving are proven facts

Question 17

Appeal to Ignorance

Answer 17

Whatever has not been proven false must be true

Question 18

Diction

Answer 18

Word choice

Question 19

Syntax

Answer 19

Grammar/ sentence structure

Question 20

Style

Answer 20

He the author uses language to get his point across (manner of expression)

Question 21

Tone

Answer 21

Mood revealed by the style (how the author seems to be feeling)

Question 22

Point of view

Answer 22

Express a character’s opinion on the topic

Question 23

Rhetoric

Answer 23

Persuasive appeal

Question 24

Oxymoron

Answer 24

Contradiction of terms in one word

Question 25

Paradox

Answer 25

Contradiction of statements in a sentence

Question 26

Personification

Answer 26

Giving inanimate objects human abilities

Question 27

Anthropomorphism

Answer 27

Specific personification for animals

Question 28

Rhetorical question

Answer 28

Question whose answer is obvious

Question 29

Bombast

Answer 29

Language that is overly rhetorical

Question 30

Pun

Answer 30

A play on words

Question 31

Metonymy

Answer 31

One term is substituted for another closely associated

Question 32

Synecdoche

Answer 32

A part is used to signify the whole

Question 33

Logos

Answer 33

Reason and logic

Question 34

Ethos

Answer 34

Speakers credibility

Question 35

Pathos

Answer 35

Emotions, desires of audience

Question 36

Imagery

Answer 36

Figurative language that shows senses (vision, smell)

Question 37

Hyperbole

Answer 37

Exaggeration

Question 38

Extended metaphor

Answer 38

Metaphor that lasts longer than just one phrase or sentence

Question 39

Symbol

Answer 39

A word that represents something other than itself

Question 40

Denotation

Answer 40

A word’s literal significance

Question 41

Connotation

Answer 41

Vast range of meanings a word suggest

Question 42

Theme

Answer 42

The general idea in the text

Question 43

Aphorism

Answer 43

A statement of opinion

Question 44

Malapropism

Answer 44

The unintentional use of a word that resembles the word intended but has a very different meaning

Question 45

Circumlocution

Answer 45

Talking around a subject or a word

Question 46

Irony

Answer 46

Expecting something to happen and it doesn’t

Question 47

Verbal irony

Answer 47

Saying someone but meaning something else

Question 48

Non Sequitor

Answer 48

A statement that does not logically relate to what comes before it