Rhetorical Terms Quiz 1

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. In some ____________, for example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction lie hope or freedom. The allegorical meaning usually deal with moral truth or a generalization about human existence.

Question 2

Allegory Example

Answer 2

“Animal Farm” George Orwell

Question 3

Alliteration

Answer 3

The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonants in tow or more neighboring words The repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage.

Question 4

Alliteration Example

Answer 4

She sells sea shells by the sea shore

Question 5

Allusion

Answer 5

A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably common known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. ____________ can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. There are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layer of allusion.

Question 6

Ambiguity

Answer 6

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.

Question 7

Analogy

Answer 7

A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. An ____________ can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something more familiar. _________ can also make writing more vivid, imaginative, or intellectually engaging.

Question 8

Analogy Example

Answer 8

“He that voluntarily continues ignorance is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces, as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks.” – Samuel Johnson

Question 9

Anaphora

Answer 9

One of the devices of repetition, in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences.

Question 10

Anaphora Example

Answer 10

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”

“They are masters who instruct us without rod or ferule, without angry words, without clothes or money.” – Richard de Bury

Question 11

Anecdote

Answer 11

A short narrative detailing particulars of an interesting episode or event. The term most frequently refer to an incident in the life of a person.

Question 12

Antecedent

Answer 12

The world, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Question 13

Antithesis

Answer 13

Figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed, usually through parallel structure; a contrasting of opposing ideas in adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences. __________ creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas.

Question 14

Antithesis Example

Answer 14

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” – Jim Elliot
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” – Neil Armstrong

Question 15

Aphorism

Answer 15

A terse statement of know authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle. Can be a memorable summation of the author’s point

Question 16

Apostrophe

Answer 16

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no long be held back.

Question 17

Apostrophe Example

Answer 17

“Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: /England hath need of thee.”

Question 18

Asyndeton

Answer 18

consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. This can give the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account

Question 19

Asyndeton Example

Answer 19

On his returned he received medals, honors, treasures, titles, fame.
They spent the day wondering, searching, thinking, understanding.

Question 20

Atmosphere

Answer 20

The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author’s choice of objects that are described.

Question 21

Chiasmus

Answer 21

Is a figure of speech in which two successive phrases or clauses are parallel in syntax, but reverse the order of analogous words.

Question 22

Clause

Answer 22

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. An independent, or main, ________ expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent, or subordinate _______ cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied b an independent ________

Question 23

Colloquial/colloquialism

Answer 23

The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing and can include local/regional dialects

Question 24

Coherence

Answer 24

A principle demanding that the parts of any composition be arranged so that the meaning of the whole may be immediately clear and intelligible.

Question 25

Conceit

Answer 25

A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.

Question 26

Connotation

Answer 26

The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. May involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes.

Question 27

Allusion Example

Answer 27

“Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark” - Richard Cushing

Question 28

Chiasmus Example

Answer 28

“The land was ours before we were the land’s” – Robert Frost
“Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure” – Lord Byron