A.p. Language And Composition, Rhetorical Terms And Glossary Test 1

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Humor

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Anything that causes laughter or amusement; up until the end of the Renaissance, humor meant a person's temperment

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Hyperbole

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Deliberate exaggeration i order to create humor or emphasis (Example: He was so hungry he could have eaten a horse.)

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Imagery

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Words or phrases that use a collection of images to appeal to one or more of the 5 senses i order to create a mental picture

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Induction

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The process that moves from a given series of specifics to a generalization

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Inference

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A conclusion one can draw from the presented details

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Invective

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A verbally abusive attack

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Jargon

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The special language of a profession or group. The term Jargon usually has a pejorative Associations with the implications that jargon is evasive, tedious, and unintelligible to outsiders. The writings of the lawyer and the literary critic are both susceptible to jargon.

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Logos

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When a writer tries to persuade the audience based on statistics, facts, and reasons. The process of reasoning.

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Mode

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The method or form of a literary work; the manner in which a work of literature is written

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Mood

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Similar to tone, mood is the primary emotional attitude of a work (the feeling of the work; the atmosphere). Syntax is also a determiner of mood because sentence strength, length, and complexity affect pacing.

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Narration

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The telling of a story in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama; one of the four modes of discourse

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Objectivity

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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 judgement.

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Oversimplification

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When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issues in an argument.

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Oxymoron

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A figure of speech composed of contradictory words or phrases, such as "wise fool," bitter-sweet, "pretty ugly," "jumbo shrimp," "cold fire"

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Pacing

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The movement of a literary piece from one point or one section to another

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Parable

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A short tale that teaches a moral; similar to but shorter than an allegory

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Paradox

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A statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have a rational meaning, as in this question from Henry David Thoreau; "I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."

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Parallelism

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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 2 or 3 modifiers ina row to describe the same noun or verb; it may take the form of 2 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 2 or more subordinate clauses that modify the same noun or verb. Or, parallel structure may be a complex bend of single-word, phrase, and clause parallelism all in the same sentence. Ex ( from Churchill): "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields."

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Parody

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A work that ridicules the style of another work by imitating and exaggerating its elements. It can be utterly mocking or gently humorous. It depends on allusions and exaggerated and distorts the original style and content.

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Pathos

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When a writer tries to persuade the audience by appealing to their emotions. The aspects of a literary work that elicit sorrow or pity from the audience. An appeal to emotion that can be used as a means to persuade. Over-emotionalism can be the result of an excess of pathos.

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Pedantic

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A term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing. It is scholarly and academic and often overly difficult and distant.

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Persuasion

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A form of argumentation, one of the 4 modes of discourse; language intended to convince through appeals to reason or emotion.

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Regionalism

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An element in literature that conveys a realistic portrayal of a specific geographical locale, using the locale and its influences as a major part of the plot

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Repetition

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Word or phrase used 2 or more times in close proximity

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Rhetorical modes

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Exposition, description, narration, argumentation

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Rhetorical Question

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

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Sarcasm

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

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Satire

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

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Speaker

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

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Stereotype

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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.

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Style

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An author's characteristic manner of expression - his or her diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contributes to style

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Subjectivity

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A personal presentation of evens and characters, influenced by the author's feelings and opinions

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Syllogism

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A form of reasoning in which 2 statements are made a d a conclusion is drawn from them. A syllogism is the format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, adn a conclusion. Ex: Major Premise: All tragedies end unhappily. Minor Premise: Hamlet is a tragedy. Conclusion: Hamlet ends unhappily.

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Synecdoche

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A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent a whole, such as using "boards" to mean a stage or "wheels" to mean a car - or "All hands on deck."

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Syntax

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

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Theme

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The central idea or "message" of a literary work

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Thesis

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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 the thesis.

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Tone

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

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Transition

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

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Understatement

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

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Voice

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Refers to 2 different areas of writing. One refers to the relationship between a sentence's subject and verb (active and passive voice). The 2nd refers to the total "sound" of a writer's style.