ADV American Lit Rhetorical Devices
Terms
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- Address
-
what person it is written in
(I, he, she, you, we, they) - analogy
- metaphor or similie, comparison
- anecdote
- story
- allusion
- reference to something related but in an external context, requires previous knowledge
- aphorism
- "principle expressed tersely in a few telling words or any general truth conveyed in a short and pithy sentence"
- appeal to emotion, logic, audience, authority
- pathos tactic
- appositive
- renamer
- apology
- formal justification or defense
- apostrophe
- a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply
- Atmosphere (or mood)
- the feelings evoked in audience/reader by the language, ideas, etc.
- Cacophony
- a harsh, unpleasant sound in verse or prose or speech
- Claim
- an assertion of a fact or a demand as a right
- concession
- Figure wherein a rhetor concedes a disputed point or leaves a disputed point to the audience to decided
- dialect
- way it is written, slant, accent, prononciation, word choice,
- dialogue
- speech
- double entendre
- an idea or saying that can be interpreted in two different ways
- epithet
- a descriptive word about a person or thing.
- euphemism
- substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant
- Metonymy
- A figure of speech that uses a representative term to stand for a larger thing or idea
- mood
- the feeling or atmosphere evoked in a scene
- narrator
- the character who tells the story
- Onomatopoeia
- the verbal sound mimics the sound of the actual sound
- paradox
- a statement that seems contradictory, but which is actually true
- Parallelism
- one or more phrases or clauses that follow the same grammatical structure
- Persona
- a characterized figure who may stand in for the author but who does not necessarily share the author’s values
- Rhetorical question
- A question asked for dramatic effect. It may or may not demand an answer
- Speaker
- in poetry, fiction and drama not the voice of the writer, but the voice of the character, or persona, whose voice we hear
- Style
- the diction, syntax, imagery, content, and structure that make up a writer’s unique manner of writing
- Synecdoche
- figurative language in which a part of detail of something is used to stand for the whole
- Tone
- the speaker or writer's attitude toward self, subject matter and/or audience portrayed through language (NOT INFO!)
- Interrupted or suspended, word order
- (s/v/⬦/o: I ran, slowly but methodically, to the store.
- Periodic sentence
- a sentence that presents its main idea at the end of the sentence, for emphasis
- Loose sentence
- a sentence that presents its main idea at the beginning of the sentence followed by modifying phrases and clauses
- Ad Hominem
- Discrediting the argument because of the person
- Argument from authority (Ad verecundiam)
-
1. The official-sounding (or -looking) expert 2.A doctor (of education) recommends a medical treatment
3. Have to apply the same rules of vetting, including appropriateness of expertise
4. Using an authority (Bible, Jefferson) to support dozens of sometimes contradictory positions–not necessarily true to the source - Tautology/Circular Reasoning
- using conclusions to prove premises
- Argument from ignorance
- Any conclusion can be reached regarding unanswerable questions
- false dilemma
- Conclusions based on wrongly limited options
- Slippery slope/Thin edge of the wedge
- Relatively minor events steam-roll to greater effects
- straw man
- Substituting a false or exaggerated claim for the opponent’s actual argument and then attacking those claims as though they fully represent the opponent’s position
- Genetic fallacy
- Discrediting an argument based on its origin
- Attributing the values of the parts to the whole
- The combination of correct parts does not, necessarily, create a correct whole
- Inconsistency
- Presenting contradictory positions
- Over-generalizing
- Drawing conclusions from scant or insufficient evidence
- Oversimplification
-
1.Ignoring the central and more complex aspects of an argument.
2.Claim an either/or situation when in fact other alternatives also exist. - Tu Quoque (Thou, also)
- Reversing an argument onto an opponent
- Cause and effect (Post Hoc ergo propter hoc)
- B follows A, therefore A causes B
- False analogy
- A leading to B is just like C leading to D
- Statistics don’t lie
- Statistical evidence can be manipulated or misinterpreted
- Appeal to the crowd (ad populim)
-
1. Snob appeal, mob appeal
2. Only the best use x. Everyone uses x.
3. Use of myth or symbol–wrapped in flag and cross
4. Attribution to the anonymous “they†(Holocaust) - Slippery slope
- Predicting grave consequences as inevitable although they not necessarily certain