Rhetorical Terms List 3

Question 0

Rhetoric

Answer 0

the art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse; rhetoric focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement, and style in order to create felicitous and appropriate discourse.

Question 1

Repetition

Answer 1

word or phrase used two or more times in close proximity.

Question 2

Rhetorical modes

Answer 2

exposition, description, narration, argumentation

Question 3

Rhetorical Question

Answer 3

one that does not expect an explicit answer. It is used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience.

Question 4

Sarcasm

Answer 4

harsh, caustic personal remarks to or about someone; less subtle than irony

Question 5

Satire

Answer 5

a work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. It doesn’t simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). It targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals.

Question 6

Setting

Answer 6

time and place of a literary work

Question 7

Simile

Answer 7

a figure of speech that uses like, as, or as if to make a direct comparison between two essentially different objects, actions, or qualities; for example, “The sky looked like an artist’s canvas.”

Question 8

Speaker

Answer 8

the voice of a work; an author may speak as himself or herself or as a fictitious persona.

Question 9

Stereotype

Answer 9

a character who represents a trait that is usually attributed to a particular social or racial group and who lacks individuality; a conventional patter, expression or idea.

Question 10

Style

Answer 10

an author’s characteristic manner of expression - his or her diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to style.

Question 11

Subjectivity

Answer 11

a personal presentation of events and characters, influenced by the author’s feelings and opinions.

Question 12

Symbolism

Answer 12

the use of symbols or anything that is meant to be taken both literally and as representative of a higher and more complex significance.

Question 13

Syntax

Answer 13

the grammatical structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence. It includes length of sentence, kinds of sentences (questions, exclamations, declarative sentences, rhetorical questions, simple, complex, or compound).

Question 14

Thesis

Answer 14

the main idea of a piece of writing. It presents the author’s assertion or claim. The effectiveness of a presentation is often based on how well the writer presents, develops, and supports this.

Question 15

Tone

Answer 15

the characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject, and audience (anger, sarcastic, loving, didactic, emotional, etc.)

Question 16

Transition

Answer 16

a word or phrase that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph.

Question 17

Understatement

Answer 17

the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.

Question 18

Voice

Answer 18

refers to two different areas of writing. One refers to the relationship between a sentence’s subject and verb (active and passive voice). The second refers to the total “sound” of a writer’s style.