Rhetorical Strategies

Front 1

Intentionally wording something in
an unclear or vague manner to just hint at something,
not coming right out and saying it.

Back 1

Ambiguous Language

Front 2

We are encamped in nature, not domesticated. Hunger and thirst lead us on to eat and to drink; but bread and wine, mix and cook them how you will, leave us hungry and thirsty, after the stomach is full.
- Emerson

Back 2

Ambiguous Language

Front 3

- Comparison of elements that may or may not be alike, either using a simile or metaphor

Back 3

Analogy

Front 4

The idea behind the tuxedo is that men are all the same; so we might as well dress them that way. That's why a wedding is like the joining together of a beautiful, glowing bride and some guy. The tuxedo is a wedding safety device, created by women because they know that men are undependable. So in case the groom chickens out, everybody just
takes one step over, and she
marries the next guy.
(Jerry Seinfeld)

Back 4

Analogy

Front 5

When I turned my head reading some books in a library, I saw a girl-maybe 5 to 7 years old -and a lady who looked like her mother, choosing books to read, in front of the bookshelf beside the table at which I was reading. And the moment I was about to get my eyes back to the book, I heard a "Hello" sound, a female's phone voice. It was her, the lady who looked like the little girl's mom. Yes, she was speaking on her cell phone. But, I wasn't surprised that much because she was not the only person who phones in the library reading room. So I just decided to go back to my work. I was about to read my books again, and then at the moment, I saw the little girl jittering, embarrassed by her mom's acting. She scolded her mother and the mother got her voice down. Of course, I had not expected that she would go out to keep her phoning. It was a role-diversion. The daughter did the mom's role, and the mom acted like a little naughty child. Sometimes Children are better than adults.(Infinite 1)

Back 5

Anecdote

Front 6

Telling a story or tale to get a point across

Back 6

Anecdote

Front 7

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time (Jack London)

Back 7

ANTITHESIS

Front 8

- Showing direct opposition between things or wording something to go against something, be contrary, or even be reactionary. Using a sentence structure that plays upon the idea of contrast or difference.

Back 8

ANTITHESIS

Front 9

You get what
you put in,
and people get
what they deserve.
- Kid Rock

Back 9

Aphorism

Front 10

Saying or slogan that is short, almost cliché, but intended to state a widely accepted belief

Back 10

Aphorism

Front 11

- Citing support to back up your point, usually by incorporating research or some other credible source or argument

Back 11

Appeal to Authority

Front 12

The Harivansa says, "An abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning." Such was not my abode, for I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds; not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them.
- Thoreau

Back 12

Appeal to Authority

Front 13

We have a woman, a woman with a home, no matter how thin the walls, how lonely the prospect.
- Louis L’Amour

Back 13

Asyndeton

Front 14

- Leaving the conjunctions out of a list to achieve a more truncated, urgent, to-the-point effect

Back 14

Asyndeton

Front 15

Building an argument around
one central assertion that you
constantly refer back to and
augment throughout the essay

Back 15

Centralized Thesis

Front 16

People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.
- Bill Clinton

Back 16

CHIASMUS

Front 17

- Reversing word order in the second part of a sentence or phrase.

Back 17

CHIASMUS

Front 18

It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved, and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.
- D. Hammett

Back 18

COLLOQUIALISM

Front 19

Using informal diction in an almost “hard boiled” manner for effect.

Back 19

COLLOQUIALISM

Front 20

Sherlock Holmes and Watson were on a camping trip. They had gone to bed and were lying there looking up at the sky.
Holmes said, "Watson, look up. What do you see?"
"I see thousands of stars."
"And what does that mean to you?"
"I guess it means we will have another nice day tomorrow. What does it mean to you, Holmes?"
"To me, it means someone has stolen our tent."

Back 20

DEDUCTIVE Reasoning

Front 21

Presenting a set of
premises / facts, and
then drawing a conclusion
from them

Back 21

DEDUCTIVE Reasoning

Front 22

If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.
(Twain)

Back 22

DELAYED SENTENCE
Also known as a PERIODIC SENTENCE

Front 23

Saving the main idea of a sentence for the very end.

Back 23

DELAYED SENTENCE
Also known as a PERIODIC SENTENCE

Front 24

If you’re writing about the role acid rain plays in environmental destruction, you might put “The sky is crying…can’t you see the tears rolling down the street.” (S. R. Vaughn)

Back 24

EPIGRAPH

Front 25

Putting a quote at the top of the text to centralize your essay / writing or just grab the reader’s attention and get him or her thinking

Back 25

EPIGRAPH

Front 26

If, in my low moments, in word, deed or attitude, through some error of temper, taste, or tone, I have caused anyone discomfort, created pain, or revived someone's fears, that was not my truest self.
- Jesse Jackson, 1984

Back 26

ETHOS

Front 27

Appeal to one’s credibility or to a general sense
of morality in an argument.

Back 27

ETHOS

Front 28

Dr. House: Who were you going to kill in Bolivia? My old housekeeper?
Dr. Terzi: We don't kill anyone.
Dr. House: I'm sorry--who were you going to marginalize?

Back 28

EUPHMEMISM

Front 29

- Setting up or alluding to an event or, in nonfiction, an argument that will pop up later, but in such a way that the reader doesn’t feel awkward when he or she gets there.

Back 29

FORESHADOWING

Front 30

- Overstatement, or exaggeration intended to have an effect or prove a point

Back 30

HYPERBOLE

Front 31

I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far (Twain)

Back 31

HYPERBOLE

Front 32

Curse the blasted, jelly-boned swines, the slimy, the belly-wriggling invertebrates, the miserable sodding rotters, the flaming sods, the snivelling, dribbling, dithering, palsied pulse-less lot that make up England today. . . . God, how I hate them! God curse them, funkers (one who shrinks from responsibility). God blast them, wishwash. Extermine them, slime
- D. H. Lawrence

Back 32

INVECTIVE LANGUAGE

Front 33

- Language that is angry, insulting, highly emotional, highly charged, or just plain spirited and worked up

Back 33

INVECTIVE LANGUAGE

Front 34

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line. In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope I'll be safe at home!
- George Carlin

Back 34

JUXTAPOSITION

Front 35

- Placing two items, ideas, concepts in close proximity in the text to create an effect, evoke an attitude, or just get the reader thinking about their contrasting and/or comparative natures

Back 35

JUXTAPOSITION

Front 36

Keep an eye on your mother whom we both know doesn't have both oars in the water
- Jim Harrison

Back 36

LITOTES

Front 37

- Using
negative
statements to
prove a point, or
putting not in
front of
something,
for effect

Back 37

LITOTES

Front 38

Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them's making a poop, the other one's carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge
- Jerry Seinfeld

Back 38

LOGOS

Front 39

Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them's making a poop, the other one's carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge
- Jerry Seinfeld

Back 39

LOGOS

Front 40

- When an author weaves an image or idea or theme continually throughout a text

Back 40

Motif Throughout

Front 41

“He was a big man, wide-shouldered, with the lean, hard-boned face of the desert rider. There was no softness in him.”
- L’Amour

Back 41

NATURALISM

Front 42

- When an author tells it like it is, usually with vivid detail, but not in a flowery fashion

Back 42

NATURALISM

Front 43

A brilliant young woman I know was asked once to support her argument in favor of social welfare. She named the most powerful source imaginable: the look in a mother's face when she cannot feed her children. Can you look that hungry child in the eyes? See the blood on his feet from working barefoot in the cotton fields. Or do you ask his baby sister with her belly swollen from
hunger if she cares
about her daddy's
work ethics
(The Great Debaters)

Back 43

Pathos

Front 44

- Appealing to plain old emotion, trying to evoke sympathy or other similar emotions

Back 44

Pathos

Front 45

I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in one’s tender early years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable. First, then. I will say to you my young friends--and I say it beseechingly, urgingly--Always obey your parents, when they are present.
(Twain)

Back 45

Satire

Front 46

- When an author’s style is designed to critique an idea or method, but in a way that is critical

Back 46

Satire