Rhetorical Terms Flashcards
Hyperbole
An exaggeration for effect
Personification
The giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects
Aphorism
A brief statement of a principle; and adage (“The early bird gets the worm”)
Oxymoron
Juxtaposed words with seemingly contradictory meanings
Colloquialism
Word or phrase characteristics of or appropriate to familiar conversations rather than formal speech or writing
Allegory
A representation of abstract or spiritual meaning in concrete or material forms; A symbolic narrative (Animal Farm, The Pilgrim’s Progress)
Euphemism
An indirect expression of unpleasant information in such a way as to lessen its impact – for example, saying a person’s position was eliminated, rather than saying that the person was fired
Apostrophe
Digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea (“Oh death, where is they staying?”)
Invective
Vehement or violent denunciation, censure, or reproach
Paradox
A statement then seems untrue on the surface, but is true nevertheless. (“Self impose limits are the way to experience freedom.” , “To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.”)
Irony
Writing or speaking that implies the contrary of what is actually written or spoken
Types: situational, dramatic, verbal
Onomatopoeia
A literary device in which the sound of the word is related to its meaning (“buzz” , “moan”)
Figure of speech
An expression that uses language in a non-literal way, such as a metaphor, simile, synecdoche, or in a structured or unusual way, such as anaphora or chaismus, or that employs sounds, such as alliteration or assonance, to achieve a rhetorical effect
Genre
A piece of writing classified by type - for example, letter, narrative, editorial, or eulogy
Rhetorical modes
Describe the variety, conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing. Four of the most common rhetorical modes and their purposes are exposition, argumentation, description, and narration
Allusion
A reference in a written or spoken text to another text or particular body of knowledge
Imagery
Language that evokes particular sensations (the five senses) or emotionally rich experiences in a reader
Syntax
The order of words in a sentence
Types of sentences
Simple, compound, complex, compound – complex
Style
The choices that writers or speakers make in language for effect
Antecedent
A word, phrase, or clause that is replaced by pronoun or other substitute later, or occasionally earlier, in the same or another, usually subsequent, sentence.
In “Jane lost a glove and she can’t find it”, “Jane” is the antecedent of “she”, and “glove” is the antecedent of “it”
Clause
A syntactic construction containing a subject and a predicate and forming a part of a sentence or constituting a whole, simple sentence
Loose sentence
Ascendance the ads modifying elements after the subject, verb, and complement.
“She struck the ball extremely high and very far.”
Periodic sentence
A sentence with modifying elements included before the verb and/or complement.
“Into the great heavens of the sky, extremely high and far, she struck the ball.”
Chaismus
Reversal in the order of words of two otherwise parallel phrases.
“He went to the country, to the town went she.”
“One should eat to live, not live to eat.”
Subject complement
A word or group of words, usually an adjective or noun, used in the predicate part of a sentence that describes or renames the subject of the sentence as “sleepy” in “the travelers became sleepy”, or “embarrassment” in “the fans were in embarrassment”.
Predicate adjective
A type of subject complement that follows a linking verb and describe the subject of a sentence.
“The dancers were tall, slender, and graceful.”
Predicate noun/ nominative
A type of subject complement that follows a linking verb and rename subject of the sentence.
“My favorite holidays are Christmas and Easter.”
Didactic
Intended for instruction; instructive; teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson. Often taken negatively
Metonymy
A figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of an object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is a part, as “scepter” for “sovereignty”, or “the bottle” for “strong drink “, or “count heads/noses” for “count people”.
Homily
A sermon, or tedious moralizing lesson
Synecdoche
Figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the hole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in “ten sail” for “ten ships” or “a Croesus” for “a rich man”.
Parody
Humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of writing or literature:
“His hilarious parody of Hamlet’s soliloquy.”
Sarcasm
The use of mockery or bitter irony
Satire
The use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc
Syllogism
A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, minor premise, and conclusion; for example, “all humans are mortal”, being the major premise, “I am a human”, the minor premise, and “therefore, I am mortal”, the conclusion
Connotation
The set of associations implied by a word in addition to its literal meaning
Denotation
The most specific or direct meaning of a word, in contrast with its figurative or associated meanings
Generic conventions
Features shown by texts that allow them to be put in a specific genre
