Second Rhetorical Terms Set

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

Story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas and qualities

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

Reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something

Question 3

Anaphora

Answer 3

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent

Question 4

Apostrophe

Answer 4

Calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for inspiration it is called an invocation

Question 5

Chiasmus

Answer 5

In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed

Question 6

Colloquialism

Answer 6

A word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations

Question 7

Elegy

Answer 7

A poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died

Question 8

Epithet

Answer 8

An adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality

Question 9

Farce

Answer 9

A type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in sill, far-fetched situations

Question 10

Verbal Irony

Answer 10

Occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else

Question 11

Situational Irony

Answer 11

Takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen

Question 12

Dramatic Irony

Answer 12

Is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better

Question 13

Juxtaposition

Answer 13

Poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit

Question 14

Litotes

Answer 14

A form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form

Question 15

Loose Sentence

Answer 15

One in which the main clause comes first, followed by further dependent grammatical units

Question 16

Metonymy

Answer 16

A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it

Question 17

Parable

Answer 17

A relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life

Question 18

Koan

Answer 18

A paradox used in Zen Buddhism to gain intuitive knowledge

Question 19

Stream of Consciousness

Answer 19

A style of writing that portrays the inner workings of a character’s mind

Question 20

Tone

Answer 20

The attitude of a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization