List of Rhetorical Terms

allusion-- a brief reference to a person, event, place, work of art, etc.

A mention of any Biblical story is an allusion.

anaphora-- the same expression is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences

MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech is a great example. “I have a dream that…” Is repeated often.

antithesis-- a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

apostrophe-- a figure of speech in which an absent person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object
is directly addressed

In the school cafeteria: Oh, Mom! Peanut Butter and Jelly again for lunch?

colloquialism-- an expression used in informal conversation but not accepted universally in formal
speech or writing

Y’all, that movie was tight.

conceit-- an elaborate and surprising or very clever figure of speech comparing two dissimilar things

Shakespeare comparing a girl to a summer’s day in a sonnet. He makes a seemingly effortless and
beautiful comparison, but probably the two didn’t lend themselves to comparison before he made it
cool.

dystopia-- an imaginary future world in which present tendencies are carried out to their intensely
unpleasant culminations

Hunger Games, Divergent, Brave New World

euphemism-- an indirect reference to something distasteful, untoward, or indelicate in order to make

the subject more acceptable

I need to visit the Ladies’ Room/powder my nose.

foreshadowing-- the use of clues by the author to prepare readers for events that will happen in a story

Abigail smearing chicken blood on her face at the beginning of the movie prepares them for her
“bloodthirstiness” later on.

hyperbole-- a figure of speech involving great exaggeration

I’ve told you 1000 times that I absolutely despise tomatoes!

idiom-- an expression peculiar to a particular language that means something different from the literal
meaning of the words

“sawing logs,” “it’s raining cats and dogs,” “jumped the gun”

imagery-- the sensory details which provide vividness in a literary work and tend to arouse emotion in a
reader that abstract language does not

This is any language that involves the five senses in an novel… descriptions that help you picture
something or someone.

invective-- a violent verbal attack

Think of The Lost Boys in the movie Hook. They have invective wars.

juxtaposition-- the placing of a word or phrase directly against another word or phrase without any
transitional word connecting the two halves

Remember the two scenes in The Crucible movie put right next to each other: Samuel Sewall is assured
that he won’t have to take the testimony of any “distracted” or “mad” people. Then the camera cuts to
Sarah Good being brought in to the court and condemned (the schizophrenic beggar woman).

metaphor-- a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things

This class is a breeze.

metonymy-- a figure of speech in which a term is substituted for another with which it is closely
associated

The White House put out a statement today. The White House didn’t; the President did. But they’re
closely associated, so we don’t bat an eye when we hear this.

motif -- a theme, device, event, or character that is developed through nuance and repetition

These aren’t symbols; rather, they are repeating ideas or images that help us grasp the larger theme

onomatopoeia-- the use of words to represent sounds

“Moo,” “Blliiinggg,” “Bam,” etc. Descriptions of sounds that make a passage more meaningful is also
considered onomatopoeia.

oxymoron-- a self-contradictory combination of words or smaller verbal units

“Pretty ugly,” “Biggie Smalls,” “Jumbo shrimp.”

paradox-- a statement, often metaphorical, that seems to be self-contradictory but that has valid
meaning
Love is War.

parallelism-- the use of phrases or sentences which are similar in structure

She likes to go to the park, to the movies, and to the grocery store.

persona-- the mask or voice of the author or the author’s creation in a particular work

Mark Twain was Samuel Clemens’s persona.

pun-- a play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meaning

If it makes you groan but laugh a little on the inside, it’s probably punny.

repetition-- a poetic device in which a sound, word, or phrase is repeated for style and emphasis

We know what this is. We have heard about repetition over and over and over again.

rhetorical question-- offered for its rhetorical effect and not requiring a reply or intended to induce a
reply

Do you need an example of this?

rhetoric-- language use that creates and organizes arguments and argumentative devices and delivers
these in an effective style of expression

So pretty much everything we deal with in this class is an example of either analysis of someone else’s
rhetorical devices or creating our own rhetorical pieces.

synecdoche- a type of figurative language in which the whole is used for the part or the part for the
whole

“Can you give me a hand with this?” I am substituting your hand for your entire body. Similarly, “Use
your head” is synecdoche because I really just mean your brain, but I am referring to your entire head
instead.

synesthesia-- the description of one kind of sensation in terms of another

Your shirt is loud.

tone-- the author’s attitude, either stated or implied, toward his or her subject matter and toward the
audience

Sometimes a satirical tone can be hard to detect without some background knowledge.

understatement-- a strategy of restraint in which something of importance is deliberately treated with a

lesser degree of intensity or authority than would usually be appropriate to such a subject
Person A: My wife left me, I got my foot run over by a train, and my mom is in jail. It hasn’t been the
best day.

List of Fallacies

NOTE: We will come up with our own examples of these fallacies in class. For examples of some of
these fallacies, read “Love is a Fallacy” on my website. It’s a short and funny story, and it’s helpful in
describing/differentiating some of these fallacies more fully.

Dicto Simpliciter-assuming that something true in general is true in every possible case

Post Hoc-assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one

Bandwagon-the claim, as evidence for an idea, that many people believe it, or used to believe it, or do
it

Non Sequitur-something that just does not follow

Poisoning the Well/Ad Hominem-attacking the person instead of attacking his argument

Hypothesis Contrary to Fact-arguing from something that might have happened but didn’t

False Analogy-claiming that two situations are highly similar, when they aren't

Appeal to Anonymous Authority- An appeal to an authority is made, but the authority is not named

Straw Man-attacking an exaggerated or caricatured version of your opponent's position

Slippery Slope-The fallacy here is the assumption that something is wrong because it is right next to
something that is wrong. Or, it is wrong because it could slide towards something that is wrong

Appeal to Fear-saying an opponent must be wrong, because if he is right, then bad things would ensue

Argument by Rhetorical Question-asking a question in a way that leads to a particular answer

Argument by Emotive Language-using emotionally loaded words to sway the audience's sentiments
instead of their minds

Begging the Question/Circular Reasoning-reasoning in a circle. The thing to be proved is used as one
of your assumptions

Argument by Half-Truth-Suppressing evidence that might support the other side. This is hard to
detect, of course. You have to ask questions.

Appeal to Force-threats, or even violence

Hasty Generalization-drawing a broad conclusion from a small number of perhaps unrepresentative
cases

Contradictory Premises-The premises of the argument contradict each other so there can be no
argument

Red Herring-this is sometimes used to avoid having to defend a claim, or to avoid making good on a
promise. In general, there is something you are not supposed to notice

Argument by Question-asking your opponent a question which does not have a snappy answer. (Or
anyway, no snappy answer that the audience has the background to understand.) Your opponent has
a choice: he can look weak or he can look long-winded.

Ad Misericordiam/Appeal to Pity-trying to make people feel sorry for one rather than using logic to
sway them