Rhetorical Vocabulary

Front 1

Alliteration

Back 1

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words in a sequence

Hint 1

Let us go forth to lead the land we love

Front 2

Allusion

Back 2

Brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art

Hint 2

Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah

Front 3

Anaphora

Back 3

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines

Hint 3

Not as call to bear arms, through arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are

Front 4

Antimetabole

Back 4

Repetition of words in reverse order

Hint 4

Ask not what your country can do for you---ask what you can do for your country

Front 5

Antithesis

Back 5

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction

Hint 5

We shall support any friend, oppose any foe

Front 6

Archaic Diction

Back 6

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words

Hint 6

Beliefs for which our forebears fought

Front 7

Asyndeton

Back 7

Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

Hint 7

We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to ensure the survival and the success of liberty

Front 8

Cumulative Sentence

Back 8

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence, and then builds and adds on

Hint 8

But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--- both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter the uncertain balance of terror that that stays the hand of mankind's final war

Front 9

Hortative Sentence

Back 9

Sentence that exhorts, advises, calls to action

Hint 9

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us

Front 10

Imperative Sentence

Back 10

Sentence used to command, enjoin, implore, or entreat

Hint 10

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man

Front 11

Inversion

Back 11

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order)

Hint 11

United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do

Front 12

Juxtaposition

Back 12

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

Hint 12

We are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth...that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans---born in this century.[Emphasis added]

Front 13

Metaphor

Back 13

Figure of speech that says one thing is another in order to explain by comparison

Hint 13

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion

Front 14

Metonym

Back 14

Using a single feature to represent the whole

Hint 14

In your hands, fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course

Front 15

Oxymoron

Back 15

Paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another

Hint 15

But this peaceful revolution

Front 16

Parallelism

Back 16

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

Hint 16

Let both sides explore... let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals... let both sides seek to invoke... let both sides unite to heed

Front 17

Periodic sentence

Back 17

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end

Hint 17

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support

Front 18

Personification

Back 18

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object of idea

Hint 18

With history the final judge of our deeds

Front 19

Rhetorical Question

Back 19

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer

Hint 19

Will you join in that historic effect?

Front 20

Zeugma

Back 20

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way but producing different, often incongruous,meanings

Hint 20

Now the trumpet summons us again--- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--- but a call to bear the burden