Rhetorical Devices
Verbal Irony
A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant, simply put...sarcasm (e.g. "Yeah, Quirrell was a great teacher. There was just that minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head!")
Rhetorical Question
A question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer (e.g. "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?")
Ethos
An appeal to credibility of the speaker or ethics of the audience (e.g. "I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system—that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard..")
Pathos
An appeal to emotion in the hopes of creating empathy (e.g. Hypothetical situation: A teenager tries to convince his parents to buy him a new car, as the old one continually breaks down, by saying if they cared about their child's safety they'd upgrade him.)
Logos
An appeal to logic or reason (e.g. "It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them...")
Hyperbole
Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. (e.g. "That year, 1967, the Dallas Cowboys had 137 rookies in training camp. Gil Brandt was signing everybody that could walk. Only five made the team that year, and I was one of the five.")
Parallelism
Phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other (e.g. "We've seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers.")
Repetition
Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis (e.g. "We resolve to be brave. We resolve to be good. We resolve to uphold the law according to our oath.")
Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds (e.g. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.")
Anecdote
a short and sometimes amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person meant to illustrate a point being made (e.g. "Oh, I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor. Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I had never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished.")
