Rhetorical Terms List 2 Flashcards
Figures of Speech
expressions, such as similes, metaphors, and personifications, that make imaginative, rather than literal, comparisons or associations.
Figurative Language
language that contains figures of speech, such as similes and metaphors, in order to create associations that are imaginative rather than literal.
Generalization
when a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable. Sweeping generalizations occur when a writer asserts that a claim applies to all instances instead of some.
Genre
a type of literary work, such as a novel or poem; there are also subgenres, such as science fiction or sonnet, within the larger genres.
Humor
anything that causes laughter or amusement; up until the end of the Renaissance, humor meant a person’s temperament.
Hyperbole
exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect.
“My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow; An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes and on thine forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest.” - Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"
Image
a word or words, either figurative or literal, used to describe a sensory experience or an object perceived by the sense. An image is always a concrete representation.
Imagery
words or phrases that use a collection of images to appeal to one or more of the five senses in order to create a mental picture.
Inference
a conclusion one can draw from the presented details.
Invective
a verbally abusive attack.
Irony
expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; the words say one thing but mean another.
*Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)
Jargon
the special language of a profession or group. The term usually has pejorative associations, with the implication that jargon is evasive, tedious, and unintelligible to outsiders. The writings of the lawyer and the literary critic are both susceptible to jargon.
Logic
the process of reasoning.
Logical Fallacy
a mistake in reasoning.
Metaphor
a figure of speech in which one thing is referred to as another; implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.
*Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. - Shakespeare, Macbeth
- . . . while he learned the language (that meager and fragile thread . . . by which the little surface corners and edges of men’s secret and solitary lives may be joined for an instant now and then before sinking back into the darkness. . . ) - Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
- From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. - W. Churchill
Mood
similar to tone, it is the primary emotional attitude of a work (the feeling of the work; the atmosphere). Syntax is also a determiner of this term because sentence strength, length, and complexity affect pacing.
Narration
the telling of a story in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama; one of the four modes of discourse.
Objectivity
an impersonal presentation of events and characters. It is a writer’s attempt to remove himself or herself from any subjective, personal involvement in a story. Hard news journalism is frequently prized for its objectivity, although even fictional stories can be told without a writer rendering personal judgment.
Oversimplification
when a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issues in an argument.
Paradox
an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it.
”What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.” - George Bernard Shaw
Parallelism
the technique of arranging words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures by placing them side by side and making them similar in form. Parallel structure may be as simple as listing two or three modifiers in a row to describe the same noun or verb; it may take the form of two or more of the same type of phrases (prepositional, participial, gerund, appositive) that modify the same noun or verb; it may also take the form of two or more subordinate clauses that modify the same noun or verb. Or, parallel structure may be a complex blend of singe-word, phrase, and clause parallelism all in the same sentence.
Example (from Churchill): “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields.”
Pathos
an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion. . Over-emotionalism can be the result of an excess of pathos.
Pedantic
a term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing. It is scholarly and academic and often overly difficult and distant.
Persuasion
a form of argumentation, one of the four modes of discourse; language intended to convince through appeals to reason or emotion.
Red Herring
when a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue.
