Rhetoric

• The art of speaking, writing and communicating effectively.

• Rhetoric is a tool writers and speakers use in order to influence the judgment or feelings of the readers and listeners.

Def: Extending a Extending a metaphor through an metaphor through an entire narrativeentire narrative so that objects,  so that objects, persons, and actions in the text persons, and actions in the text

are are equated with meanings that lie equated with meanings that lie outside the text. outside the text. 

Ex: Avatar, Pilgrim’s Progress, Lord of the Avatar, Pilgrim’s Progress, Lord of the FliesFlies

Def: REPETITION of similar sounds

at the beginning of a phrase

(usually CONSONANTS)

Ex: She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

Ex: Now, if you don’t win, I don’t want to hear any sour grape remarks.

(This refers to one of Aesop’s fables.)

Def: literary, historical, religious, or mythological REFERENCE

Ex: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck upwhat is planted

Def: REPITION of the same WORDS/PHRASES at the beginning of clauses

Def: CONTRASTING ideas presented in balanced grammatical structure

Ex: one SMALL STEP for man,

one GIANT LEAP for mankind.

Def: Def: short, witty short, witty life life lesson lesson

OROR

statement statement designed to designed to make a point make a point

of of a commonly a commonly held beliefheld belief

Ex: “Children should be seen, not heard.”

Ex: Mirror, Mirror, on the wall – Who is the fairest of them all?

Def: Speaking to someone NOT present, or to an OBJECT

Def: REPETITION of similar VOWEL sounds in the middle of words

Ex: Tilting at the windmills .

Def: CONJUNCTIONS are OMITTED

Ex. I came, I saw, I conquered

NOTNOT withwith conjunctionsconjunctions

Def: figure of speech where first half of terms are REVERSED in the second half.

Ex: “He thinks I am but a fool.

A fool, perhaps I am.”

Def: SLANG in a certain region, or informal/ unprofessional diction.

Ex: YA’LL

Things Stuff

Def: IMPLIED, underlying

meaning of a word

Def: DICTIONARY DEFINITION of a

word

Def: REPETITION of CONSONANT SOUNDS at the end of words

Ex: pitter-patter splish-splash

Def: WORD CHOICE

High level, low level, emotional, vehement, etc.

Def: KINDER way of expressing something UNPLEASANT

I need to poop!

I need to use the bathroom!

OR

Def: EXTREME EXAGGERATION

Look, there’s an allusion too!

Def: SENSORY DETAIL to evoke feeling or emotion or to describe; the 5 senses

Ex: “Her cheeks were rosy and so was my love – bursting with fragrance and softness.”

AN IMPLIED DIFFERENCE.

VERBAL: Difference between what is said and what is meant

SITUATIONAL: Difference between what you are led to expect and what actually happens

DRAMATIC: Difference between what one character knows and what the audience knows (We know something the character does not know.)

Clarification: If I say, “Gee, I really wish it would snow,” and it starts snowing immediately, that is apropos (too perfect). It is NOT ironic. (There is no DIFFERENCE between what I wanted and what happened.)

Def: UNDERSTATEMENT by negating the opposite.

I am not a tiny man.

Your temperature is not quite normal.

ETHOS: authority/ shared values

LOGOS: logicPATHOS:

emotion

Direct: A sea of troubles. OR

Indirect: His depression was vast, swelled by troubles that perpetually crested and fell.

Def: comparison WITHOUT USING LIKE OR AS

Def: A CLOSELY ASSOCIATED object represents something

Instead of “king of fast food,” CROWN of fast food.

Narration

Description

Exposition

(cause/effect) (comparison/contrast)

Argumentation

Way info. is presented:

Def: sounds!

Def: CONTRADICTING description

Jumbo shrimp

Mighty weakness

Cold heat

Pitiful privilege

Def: statement that SEEMS completely contradictory but really is TRUE

Ex: Standing is more tiring than walking

Differs from oxymoron: Oxymoron is descriptive phrase

peaceful warParadox is whole idea

War is peace.

Def: giving object/animal some HUMAN features

Ex: Pillsbury Dough Boy—He laughs, he cooks, he shops, he talks, he acts entirely human.

Def: Making object/ animal act like a HUMAN

Ex: As the turtle retreated into her shell, she cried.

(She still acts like a turtle, but she has human features too.)

Def: question asked merely for effect, NOT expected to be answered

"Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?"

(H. L. Mencken)

Def: Usually hurtful or personally attacking. Such as CRITICAL PRAISE.

Def: human failings/ negative societal attitudes are RIDICULED, sometimes by false agreement or praise.

He is as pretty as your mom.

Def: comparison using LIKE OR AS

Def: person, place, or thing that REPRESENTSsomething

Ex: Golden Arches represent

McDonald’s

Def: PART of an object represents the WHOLE

I GOT NEW WHEELS I GOT A NEW CAR

The way words and sentences are arranged.

Sentences can be short and choppy or long and flowing. Pay close attention to the

punctuation.

Def: author’s FEELINGS/ Tone of voice in his piece of writing