Rhetorical Terms

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Abstract Language

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Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people, or places.

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Ad Hominem

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Latin for "against the man." When a writer personally attacks his or her opponents instead of their arguments.

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Allegory

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A story, fictional or nonfictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts. The interaction of these characters, things, and events is meant to reveal an abstraction or a truth. The characters and other elements may be symbolic of the ideas referred to.

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The Crucible

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Alliteration

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The repetition of identical consonant sounds, or vowel sounds in successive words or syllables that repeat.

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Allusion

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An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text) with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.

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Ambiguity

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An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.

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Analogy

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An analogy is a comparison to a directly parallel case.

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Anaphora

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Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row.

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Anecdote

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A brief recounting of a relevant episode.

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Annotation

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Explanatory notes added to text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographical data.

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Antithesis

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A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses.

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Assonance

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Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity.

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Asyndeton

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Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. Asyndeton takes the form of X, Y, Z as opposed to X, Y, and Z.

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Authority

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Arguments that draw on recognized experts or persons with highly relative experience.

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Backing

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Support or evidence for a claim in an argument.

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Balance

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Construction in which both halves of the sentence are about the same length and importance.

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Begging the Question

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Often called Circular Reasoning, begging the question occurs when the believablility of the evidence depends on the believablility of the claim.

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Casual Relationship

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One thing results from another

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Chiasmus

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Arrangement of repeated thought in the pattern of X Y Y X.

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Common Knowledge

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Shared beliefs or assumptions

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Concrete Language

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Language that describes specific observable things, people, or places, rather than ideas or qualities.

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Connotation

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Implied meaning of a word

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Consonance

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Repetition of a consonant sound in 2+ words in close proximity

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Conventional

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Following certain conventions, or traditional techniques of writing

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Cumulative

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Sentence beginning with the maim idea then expanding on it

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Deconstruction

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A critical approach that debunks single definitions of meaning based on the instability of language. "Not a dismantling of the structure of a text, but a demonstration that it has already dismantled itself."

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Diction

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Word choice

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Didactic

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Fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking

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Dramatic Irony

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When the reader is aware of an inconsistency between a character's perception of a situation and the truth of that situation

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Either-Or Reasoning

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When the writer reduces an argument to two polar opposites and ignores thr alternatives

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Elliptical

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Sentence structure that leaves something out of the second half

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...

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Emotional Appeal

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When the author appeals to the reader's emotions

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Epigraph

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A quotation or aphorism suggestive of theme

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Equivocation

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The same word in two senses in an argument

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Ethical Appeal

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Persuasion through the image of self in the text

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Example

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An individual instance representative of a general pattern

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Explication

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Interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text

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Exposition

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Background info

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False Analogy

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Two cases are not sufficiently parallel to lead the readers to accept the claim of connection

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Fiction

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Product of a writer's imagination

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Figurative Language

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A word/words that are inaccurate literally but describe by calling to mind sensations or responses

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Simile or metaphor

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Freight Train

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3+ short independent clauses joined by conjunctions

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Generalization

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A claim based on ine isolated example

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Hyperbole

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Conscious exaggeration

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Image

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Words used to describe sensory experiences

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Imagery

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The use of images to create one impression

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Inversion

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Verb followed by subject

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Irony

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When the reader is aware of a reality that differs from the perception of it

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Logic

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Implied comparison when one thing is called another

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Metaphor

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Comparison of two things

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Mood

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Atmosphere created diction and syntax

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Moral

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Lesson learned

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Negative-Positive

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Sentence that begins by stating what is false and ends by stating what is true

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Non-Sequitur

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Latin for "it does not follow" two statements that dont connect logically

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Objectivity

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Removing yourself from the subject

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Onomatopoeia

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Spelled how it sounds

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Oversimplification

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The complexity of an argument is obscured or denied

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Oxymoron

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Two contradicting words

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Jumbo shrimp

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Paradox

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A true yet seemingly contradictory statement

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Parallelism

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Sentences with similar structure

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Parody

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Exaggerated imitation for humorous purposes

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Pathos

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Appeal to emotion

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Periodic

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The main idea at the end of a sentence

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Persona

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A fictional voice adopted by the author

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Personification

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Animate characteristics to inanimate objects

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Point of View

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Perspective from which a story is told

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Polysyndeton

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Sentence using a conjuction to separate items X and Y and Z

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Post hoc, ergo propter hoc

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Lating for "after this, therefore because of this" the first caused the second but the sequence is not the cause

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Red Herring

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An irrelevant issue used to draw attention from the real issue

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Refutation

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When a writer musters relevant opposing arguments

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Repetition

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Word/phrase used 2+ times

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Rhetoric

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The art of effective communication

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Satire

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A work revealing a critical attitude about a topic

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Sarcasm

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Verbal irony

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Simile

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Comparison using like or as

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Straight Man

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Arguing against a claim no one holds or is weak

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Style

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Choice in diction tone and syntax

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Symbol

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Something that stands for an idea or event

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Syntactic Fluency

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Varied sentence structure

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Syntactic Permutation

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Complex sentence structure

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Theme

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Central idea of a work

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Tone

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A writer's attitude towards their subject matter

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Tricolon

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Sentence with three parts of equal importance or length

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Unity

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All the parts relate to a central idea

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Verbal Irony

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When the reader is aware of a discrepancy between literal meaning and real meaning

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Anachronism

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Something out of order in time

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Conceit

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Elaborate/strained metaphor

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Epigram

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Concise or witty saying

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Dounle Entendre

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Two meanings

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Exhorative

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Innate by argument

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Metonomy

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Figure of speech using the name of an object to represent what its associated with

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Loose Sentence

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A grammatically correct sentence before its end

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Acumulative sentence

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Panegyriz

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Formal or elaborate praise

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Platitude

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Trite remark

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Epithet

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Adjective or phrase describing a prominent figure or person

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Euphemism

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Desirous language to describe a vulgar idea

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Passed away

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Inductive Reasoning

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General conclusion from specific instances

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Synecdoche

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Figure of speech used to represent a whole

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Invective

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Emotionally violent denunciation

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Pedantic

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Overly scholarly language

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Undertatement

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Opposite of a hyperbole

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Apostrophe

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Talking to something that isnt there