Rhetorical Devices and Terms

Opening

The first part or beginning of a piece of writing.

Metaphor

The implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another unlike itself without the use of a verbal signal such as like or as. One thing is pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy between them.

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words or phrases.

Realism

The literary practice of attempting to describe life and nature without idealization and with attention to detail.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. However, genre is a flexible term; within these broad boundaries exist many subdivisions that are often called genres themselves. For example, prose can be divided into fiction (novels and short stories) or nonfiction (essays, biographies, autobiographies, etc.). Poetry can't be divided into lyric, dramatic, narrative, epic, etc. Drama can be divided into tragedy, comedy, melodrama, farce, etc. On the AP language exam, expect the majority of the passages to be from the following genres: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing.

Carpe Diem

"Seize the day"; the philosophy that one should enjoy life to the fullest; take advantage of or live for the moment.

Emotion

(Appeals to...) attempts to affect the listener's personal feelings (pathos)

Authority

(Appeals to...) either claims to be an expert or relies on infornatipn provided by experts (ethos)

Position

(Emphasis) placing important material in the key spots, the beginning or ends of paragraphs or larger units. Arrangement in climactic order, with the main point of an argument or the funniest joke last, can be particularly effective.

Repetition

(Emphasis) repeating of essential words, phrases, and ideas (Jacques adored expensive women and fast cars or was it fast women and expensive cars?).

Proportion

(Emphasis) saying more about the major issues and less about the minor ones

Catharsis

Purification or cleansing of the spirit of the viewer or reader through the emotions of pity and terror as a witness to a tragedy.

Anecdote

A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.

Perspective

A character's view of the situation or events in the story.

Aphorism

A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief. The writings of Benjamin Franklin contain many aphorisms, such as "Early to bed and early to rise/Make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

Simile

A direct comparison of one thing to another, usually using the words like or as to draw the connection.

Contradiction

A direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency

Conceit

A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. A conceit displays intellectual cleverness due to the unusual comparison being made.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole, such as "head of cattle" or "hands on deck."

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present; for example, the invocation to the muses usually found in epic poetry.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, as in "jumbo shrimp" or "deafening silence."

Metonymy

A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to name or designate something, as in, "The White House announced today ..."

Allusion

A figure of speech which makes brief, even casual reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object to create a resonance in the reader or to apply a symbolic meaning to the character or object of which the allusion consists. For example, in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, the surname of the protagonist, George Milton, is an allusion to John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, since by the end of the novel, George has lost the dream of having a little ranch of his own to share with his friend Lennie

Syllogism

A form of deduction. An extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument.

Narrative

A form of writing that tells a story.

Discourse

A formal discussion of a subject.

Exposition

A mode of discourse that, as its name indicates, exposes information, through explaining, defining, or interpreting its subject. Expository prose is to the realm of writing what the Ford automobile has been historically to the auto industry—useful, versatile, accessible to the average person, and heavy duty, for it is the mode of most research reports, critical analyses, examination answers, case histories, reviews, and term papers. In ex-position, writers employ a variety of techniques, such as definition, illustration, classification, comparison and contrast, analogy, and cause and effect reasoning. Exposition is not an exclusive mode; it is often blended with the other three to provide a more complete or convincing discussion of a subject.

Bildungsroman

A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character

Devices

A particular word pattern or combination of words used in a literary work to evoke a desired effect or arouse a desired reaction in the reader.

Foil

A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast.

Symbolism

A person, place, thing, event, or pattern in a literary work that designates itself and at the same time figuratively represents something else. The use of one object to suggest another hidden, object or idea.

Epistolary

A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters.

Epitaph

A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person

Reflective

A piece of writing that gives considered thought to something.

Parody

A satirical imitation of a work of art for purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.

Periodic Sentence

A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end. This independent clause is preceded by a phrase or clause that cannot stand alone. For example: "Ecstatic with my AP scores, I let out a loud shout of joy!" The effect of a periodic sentence is to add emphasis and structural variety.

Delayed Sentence

A sentence that withholds its main idea until the end. For example: Just as he bent to tie his shoe, a car hit him.

Sarcasm

A sharp caustic remark. A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually bitterly or harshly critical. For example, a coach saying to a player who misses the ball, "Nice catch."

Expletive

A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words. Commonly, expletives are set off by commas. Examples: in fact, of course, after all, certainly.

Irony

A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant. Irony is frequently humorous, and can be sarcastic when using words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean. (verbal, dramatic, and situational)

Eulogy

A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing; an oration in honor of a deceased person.

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory, but is actually true.

Analytical

A style of writing in which the subject is broken into its writing components and the components are subjected to detailed scrutiny.

Epiphany

A sudden or intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of something usually brought on by a simple or common occurrence or experience.

Loose sentence

A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. If a period were placed at the end of the independent clause, the clause would be a complete sentence. A work containing many loose sentences often seems informal, relaxed, and conversational.

Onomatopoeia

A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes, such as buzz or hiss.

Convention

An accepted manner, model, or tradition.

Claim

An assertion of something as fact; to demand as a right or as due.

Diction

An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect.

Utopia

An imaginary place of ideal perfection. The opposite of a dystopia.

Dystopia

An imaginary place where people live dehumanized, often fearful lives. The opposite of a utopia.

Hyperbole

An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language

Hamartia

Aristotle's term for the main character's tragic flaw or error in judgment.

Deus ex machina

As in Greek theater, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly.

+Damning the Source (Ad Hominem)

Attacking a person's ideas or opinions by discrediting him as a person (Napoleon was too short to be a distinguished general).

Introduction

Beginning of a written work that is likely to present the author's subject, focus (perhaps including the thesis), attitude toward it, and possibly the plan for organizing supporting materials. The length of the introduction is usually proportionate to the length of what follows; short essays may be introduced by a sentence or two; a book may require an entire introductory chapter. In any case, an introduction should be sufficiently forceful and interesting to let readers know what is to be discussed and also entice them to continue reading. An effective introduction may: 1. state the thesis or topic emphatically; 2. present a controversial or startling focus on the topic; 3. offer a witty or dramatic quotation, statement, metaphor, or analogy; 4. provide background information to help readers understand the subject, its history, or significance; 5. give a compelling anecdote or illustration from real life; 6. refer to an authority on the subject.

Closure

Bringing to an end or conclusion.

Mechanical devices

Capitalization, underlining (italics), exclamation points, conveying enthusiasm and excitement, as well as emphasis, as advertisers and new journalists well know. Tom Wolfe's title, Las Vegas (What ?) Las Vegas (Can't Hear You! Too Noisy) Las Vegas!!!!, illustrates this practice, as well as the fact that nothing exceeds like excess.

Antagonist

Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character, or protagonist.

+Oversimplification

Providing simplistic answers to complex problems (Ban handguns and stop organized crime).

Cliché

Commonplace expression that reveals the writer's lack of imagination to use fresher, more vivid language. If a person finds himself between a rock and a hard place, he might decide to use a cliché, come hell or high water, in hopes that it will hit his reader like a ton of bricks. Such expressions, though, fall on deaf ears and roll off the reader like water off a duck's back. A cliché is as dead as a mackerel; its excessive familiarity dulls the reader's responses.

Analogy

Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects. Metaphors and similes are both types of analogy.

Inductive

Conclusion or type of reasoning whereby observation or information about a part of a class is applied to the class as a whole. Contrast with deductive.

Summary

Condensation of main ideas from a given work that is usually much shorter than the original. Unlike a paraphrase, a summary seeks to reveal only the major points an author has made in a piece of writing.

Understatement

Deliberate expression of an idea or event as less important than it actually is or was.

Ellipsis

Deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context. While this can make clear, economical sentences, if the understood words are grammatically incompatible, the resulting sentence may be awkward. "And he to England shall along with you." - Shakespeare, Hamlet. Also the name of the punctuation mark (...) used to show an omission of words.

Polysyndeton

Deliberate use of many conjunctions. The effect of polysyndeton is to slow down the rhythm of the sentence. I said, "Who killed him?" and he said, "I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right," and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was all right and she was all right only she was of full of water.—Ernest Hemingway, "After the Storm"

Litote

Deliberate use of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis and intensity. For example, "She is not a bad cook." "Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance for the worse." - Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub

Nostalgia

Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time.

General and Specific

Ends of a continuum that designates the relative degree of Broadness or narrowness of a word, phrase or idea. General terms identify the class or category (e.g., house); specific terms restrict the class by naming its members (a Georgian mansion, a Dutch colonial, a brick ranch). To clarify relationships, things may be arranged in a series from general to specific: writers, twentieth-century authors, Southern novelists, William Faulkner

+Hasty Generalization

Erroneously applying information or knowledge of one or a limited number of representative instances to an entire, much larger category (Poor people on welfare cheat. Why, just yesterday I saw a Cadillac parked in front of the tenement at 9th and Main).

+Faulty Cause (Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc)

Erroneously citing a cause as an effect and vice versa (It always rains after I wash the car. Since I want to go to the beach, I won't wash it).

Logical Fallacies

Errors in reasoning and often occur in arguments.

Overstatement

Exaggerated language

Chiasmus

Figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed in the second. Chiasmus is similar to antimetabole in that it too involves a reversal of grammatical structures phrases or clauses, but it is unlike antimetabole in that it does not involve a repetition of word. Chiasmus and antimetabole can be used to reinforce antithesis. "His time is a moment, and a point his space." - Alexander Pope, Essay on Man

Thesis Statement

Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the point of view or discussion in the essay is based.

Language, formal, informal and, colloquial

Formal language is lofty, dignified, or impersonal; informal or colloquial language is similar to everyday speech. Slang and grammatical misusage found in oral language are generally considered colloquialisms.

Explication

From explication de texte. In literary theory, the close study and exposition of a text, paying attention to content, style, language, symbolism, and the relationships of the parts to the whole. It compares to close reading. It is not opinion, but observation based on what is visible to all in a text.

Doppelganger

Ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego.

Zeugma

Grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two or more direct objects. The linking shows a relationship between ideas more clearly. For example: Bob exceeded at sports; Jim at academics; Mark at eating.

Epideictic

Highly ceremonial or ritualized language

Satire

Humorous, witty criticism of people's foolish, thoughtless, or evil behavior. The satirist ridicules some aspect of human nature—or life in general—that should be changed. Depending on the severity of the author's attack, a satire can be mildly abrasive, such as Jordan's "That Lean and Hungry Look", or viciously scathing as Swift is in "A Modest Proposal." Usually (although not always), the satirist seeks to bring about reform through criticism.

Wit

In modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. A witty statement is humorous, while suggesting the speaker's verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. Wit usually uses terse language that makes a pointed statement. Historically, wit originally meant basic understanding. Its meaning evolved to include speed of understanding, and finally (in the early seventeenth century), it grew to mean quick perception including creative fancy.

Coherence

Indicates an orderly relationship among the parts in a whole essay or other literary work. Writing is coherent when the inter-connections among clauses, sentences, and paragraphs are clearly and logically related to the main subject under discussion. The writer may establish and maintain coherence through the use of transitional words or phrases (however; likewise), a consistent point of view, an ordered chronological or spatial presentation of information, appropriate pronoun references for nouns, or strategic repetition of important words or sentence structures.

Etymology

Information about the origin and history of words. Most dictionaries provide the etymologies of words in brackets or parentheses located before or after the definitions. In addition to furnishing clues about the current meanings of words, etymologies can show how the definitions have changed over time. Some words flaunt their origin: denim from its place of manufacture (Serge de Nimes), guy from Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up the British Parliament. Some have become more general (kleenex for any facial tissue), and others more specific (corn used to mean any grain). Some have taken a turn for the better and others for the worse: housewife and hussy, no longer sisters under the skin, have the same etymology. Consequently, etymologies give hints to the wondrous workings of the human mind, logical, psychological, quirky.

Propaganda

Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution.

Didactic

Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson.

Parenthesis

Inversion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence. One obvious way to use parenthesis is to use the punctuation, parentheses. However, there are other ways to insert a comment into a sentence. One might use commas or dashes, for example. The parenthetical remark, however, is off on a tangent, cut off from the thrust of the sentence and grammatically unrelated to the sentence. Those two spots are among the darkest of our whole civilization—pardon me, our whole culture (an important distinction, I've heard) which might sound like a hoax, or a contradiction, but that (by contradiction, I mean) is how the world moves: not like an arrow, but a boomerang.—Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Anastrophe

Inversion of the natural or usual word order. This deviation can emphasize a point or it can just sound awkward. It is most effective if the author rarely writes awkwardly, because then it draws special attention to the inverted phrase. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy, inaugural speech

Figurative Language

Language that implies or indicates some other, usually greater, meaning; not literal

Concrete

Language that presents images that are accessible to the senses: solid, visible, tangible, audible.

Focus

Pruning of verbal underbrush and unnecessary detail to accentuate the main features.

Retrospection

Looking back on things past.

Emphasis

Makes the most important ideas, characters, themes, or other elements stand out.

Description

Mode of discourse aimed at bringing something to life by telling how it looks, sounds, tastes, smells, feels, or acts. The writer tries to convey a sense impression, depict a mood, or both. Thus, the writer who conveys the heat of an August sidewalk; the sound, sight, and smell of the Atlantic breaking on the jagged coastline of Maine; or the bittersweetness of an abandoned love affair, enables readers to experience the situations. Description is a writer's spice; a little goes a long way. Except in extensively descriptive travel pieces, description is primarily used to enhance the other modes of discourse and is seldom an end in itself

Apology

Most commonly used as a synonym of the word defense, as in Sidney's Apology for Poetry.

Digression

Movement away from the main story or theme of a piece of writing. An author digresses by temporarily focusing attention on subplot or minor character.

Allegory

Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves; characters are usually personifications of abstract qualities.

Essay

Nonfiction composition on a central theme or subject, usually brief and written in prose. Essays come in varied modes—among them descriptive, narrative, analytic, argumentative—and moods, ranging from humorous to grim, whimsical to bitterly satiric. Essays are sometimes categorized as formal or informal, depending on the author's con-tent, style, and organization. Formal essays, written in formal language, tend to focus on a single significant idea supported with evidence carefully chosen and arranged, such as the Lewis Thomas essay "The Technology of Medicine". Informal essays sometimes have a less obvious structure than formal essays; the subject may seem less significant, even ordinary; the manner of presentation casual, personal, or humorous. Yet these distinctions blur. Although E. B. White's "Once More to the Lake" discusses a personal experience in conversation and humorous language, its apparently trivial subject, the vacation of a boy and his father in the Maine woods, takes on universal, existential significance.

Abstract

Not related to the concrete properties of an object; pertaining to ideas, concepts, or qualities, as opposed to physical attributes.

Narration

One of four modes of discourse that recounts an event or series of interrelated events. Jokes, fables, fairy tales, short stories, plays, novels, and other forms of literature are narrative if they tell a story. While some narrations provide only the basic who, what, when, where, and why of an occurrence in an essentially chronological arrangement, as in a newspaper account of a murder, others contain such features as plot, conflict, suspense, characterization, and description to intensify readers' interest. Whether as pared down as a nursery rhyme ("Lizzie Borden took an axe/ Gave her father forty whacks ..."), of intermediate length such as Poe's "The Telltale Heart," or as fullblown as Melville's Moby Dick, the relaying of what happened to someone or something is a form of narration.

Argumentation

One of the four modes of discourse, convince the reader of the truth or falseness of an idea. Writers sometimes accomplish this by appealing to readers' emotions as Orwell does in "Marrakech" or by appealing to readers' ethics as is the case in "None of This Is Fair" by Richard Rodriguez. Others, such as Andrew Hacker in "E.R.A.—R.I.P.," can argue for or against a volatile issue by appealing to the readers' sense of reason, though often in an argument these appeals are interrelated.

Synesthesia

One sensory experience is described in terms of another sensory experience (to create an effective yet mixed combination of senses) In "I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died," the use of a color to describe a sound, the buzz of a fly "with blue, uncertain stumbling buzz." -Emily Dickinson

Colloquial/Colloquialism

Ordinary language; the vernacular. For example, depending on where in the United States you live, a certain kind of sandwich may be called a sub, a grinder a hoagie, or a hero.

Isocolon

Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure, but also in length. For example, "An envious heart makes a treacherous ear" (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston).

Rhetorical Device

Particular use of word patterns and styles used to clarify, make associations, and focus the writing in a piece of literature. Some rhetorical devices are expletives, parallelism, metaphor, analogy, assonance, etc.

Aesthetic

Pertaining to the value of art for its own sake or for form.

Juxtaposition

Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose.

Elegy

Poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person. Perhaps the most famous elegy is Thomas Grey's poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

Antihero

Protagonist of a literary work who does not embody the traditional qualities of a hero (e.g., honor, bravery, kindness, intelligence); for example, the protagonists created by Byron in Don Juan and Childe Harold, and the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Paraphrase

Putting someone else's ideas into your own words. Not to be confused with a summary, which condenses the original material, a paraphrase is a restatement that may be as long as the original or longer. For example, someone reading the following from Pope's Essay on Criticism, "True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, /As those move easiest who have learned to dance," might summarize the author's idea by saying: Practice makes perfect. A paraphrase of the same passage would demand further elaboration: Writing is a skill acquired through training and practice, and luck has no part in successful composition. Students writing research papers frequently find that paraphrasing information from their sources eliminates successive, lengthy quotations, and may clarify the originals. Be sure to acknowledge the source of either quoted or paraphrased material to avoid plagiarism

Epigraph

Quote set at the beginning of a literary work or at its divisions to set the tone or suggest a theme.

Motif

Recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event

Parallelism

Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences equal in importance. It also adds balance, rhythm, and clarity to the sentence. For example, "I have always searched for, but never found the perfect painting for that wall."

In medias res

Refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, requiring filling in past details by exposition or flashback.

Conclusion

Refers to sentences, paragraphs, or longer sections of an essay that bring the work to a logical or psychologically satisfying end. Although a conclusion may: (a) summarize or restate the essay's main point, and thereby refresh the reader's memory, it may also end with (b) the most important point, or (c) a memorable example, anecdote, or quotation, or (d) identify the broader implications or ultimate development of the subject. Stylistically, it's best to end with a bang, not a whimper; Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" concludes with the impressive " ... and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." A vigorous conclusion grows organically from thematerial that precedes it and is not simply tacked on to get the essay over with.

Repetition

Repeating or repeated action

Epanalepsis

Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause. Like other schemes of repetition, epanalepsis often produces or expresses strong emotion. "Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer'd blows: Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power."- Shakespeare, King John.

Antanaclasis

Repetition of a word in two different senses. "Your argument is sound, nothing but sound" - Benjamin Franklin

Anadiplosis

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause. For example, "The crime was common, common be the pain." (Alexander Pope)

Polyptoton

Repetition of words derived from the same root. "But in this desert country they may see the land being rendered useless by overuse." -Krutch, Voice of the Desert

Antimetabole

Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order. "One should eat to live, not live to eat." Moliere, L'Avare

+Bifurcation(Either/Or Reasoning)

Restricting the complex aspects of a difficult problem to only one of two solutions (Marry me or you'll end up single forever).

Flashback

Retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of a narrative.

Appeals to...

Rhetorical arguments in which the speaker appeals to

Euphemism

Substitution of a milder or less direct expression for one that is harsh or blunt. For example, using "passed away" for "dead."

Anthimeria

Substitution of one part of speech for another. Verbing. "Me, dictionary-inq heavily, 'Where was the one they were watching?'" - Ernest Hemingway, Green Hills of Africa

Evidence

Supporting information that explains or proves a point. General comments or personal opinions that are not substantiated with evidence leave the reader wanting some proof of accuracy. Writers establish credibility by backing general statements with examples, facts, and figures that make evident their knowledge of the subject. We believe what Joan Didion says about Las Vegas weddings in "Marrying Absurd" because her specific examples show that she's been there and has understood the context.

Narrator

The "character" who "tells" the story.

Voice

The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of words of the story; the speaker, a "person" telling the story or poem.

Tone

The attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme. It reflects the narrator's attitude.

Semantics

The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another

Theme

The central or dominant idea or concern of a work; the main idea or meaning.

Protagonist

The chief character in a work of literature. One who is trying to overcome a conflict in some goal.

Style

The consideration of style has two purposes. (1) An evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices. Some authors' styles are so idiosyncratic that we can quickly recognize works by the same author (or a writer emulating that author's style). Compare, for example, Jonathan Swift to George Orwell or William Faulkner to Ernest Hemingway. We can analyze and describe an author's personal style and make judgments on how appropriate it is to the author's purpose. Styles can be called flowery, explicit, succinct, rambling, bombastic, commonplace, incisive, or laconic, to name only a few examples. (2) Classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors. By means ofsuch classification and comparison, one can see how an author's style reflects and helps to define a historical period, such as the Renaissance or the Victorian period, or a literary movement, such as the romantic, transcendental, or realist movement.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word; the direct and specific meaning.

Mood

The feeling or ambience resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator's attitude and point of view. The effect is created through descriptions of feelings or objects that establish a particular feeling such as gloom, fear, or hope.

Prose

The ordinary of form of written language without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.

Audience

The person(s) reached by a piece of writing

Speaker

The person—not necessarily the author—who is the voice of the poem or story

Asyndeton

The practice of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list, it gives a more extemporaneous effect and suggests the list may be incomplete. For example, "He was brave, fearless, afraid of nothing."

Analysis

The process in writing wherein one examines what the writer has done to create the effects she or he has gotten in a piece of writing.

Inference

The process of arriving at a conclusion from a hint, implication, or suggestion.

Deductive

The reasoning process by which a conclusion is drawn from set of premises and contains no more facts than these premises.

Anaphora

The regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses. For example, "We shall fight in the trenches. We shall fight on the oceans. We shall fight in the sky."

Epistrophe

The repetition of a word or words as the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds or any vowel sounds within a formal grouping, such as a poetic line or stanza, or in close proximity in prose.

Consonance

The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels, such as pitter-patter, splish-splash, and click-clack.

Imagery

The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses; we refer to visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory imagery. On a broader and deeper level, however, one image can represent more than one thing. For example, a rose may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman's cheeks. An author, therefore, may use complex imagery while simultaneously employing other figures of speech, especially metaphor and simile. In addition, this term can apply to the total of all the images in a work.

Literal

The strict meaning of a word or words: not figurative or exaggerated.

Setting

The time and place of the action in a story, poem, or play.

Trope

The use of a word in a figurative sense with a decided change or extension in its literal meaning.

Invective

The use of angry and insulting language in satirical writing.

Pathos

The use of or appeal to emotional or sentimental elements to determine a character's actions or persuade to an argument, rather than reason or ethics.

Ethos

The use of or appeal to moral elements of right and wrong to determine a character's actions or persuade to an argument, rather than thought or emotion.

Logos

The use of or appeal to reason to determine a character's actions or persuade to an argument, rather than ethics or emotions.

Point of view

The view the reader gets of the action and characters in a story

Persona

The voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who may or may not share of the values of the actual author.

Syntax

The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is sentence structure and how it influences the way a reader perceives a piece of writing.

Canon

The works of an author that have been accepted as authentic. (canonical)

Homily

This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.

Foreshadow

To hint at or present things to come in a story or play.

Begging the Question

To sidestep or evade the real problem, leaving the real question unanswered.

Personification

Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by giving it human qualities.

Syllepsis

Use of a word understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs. - The ink, like our pig, keeps running out of the pen.

Anachronism

Use of historically inaccurate details in a text; for example, depicting a 19th-century character using a computer. Some authors employ anachronisms for humorous effect, and some genres, such as science fiction or fantasy, make extensive use of anachronism.

Ambiguity

Use of language in which multiple meanings are possible. Ambiguity can be unintentional through insufficient focus on the part of the writer; in good writing, ambiguity is frequently intentional in the form of multiple connotative meanings, or situations in which either the connotative or the denotative meaning can be valid in a reading.

Narrative Device

Use of techniques such as flashbacks and/or digression in the telling of a story

Paronomasia

Use of words alike in sound but different in meaning. A pun. "Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man." - Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Connotation

What is implied by a word. For example, the words sweet, gay, and awesome have connotations that are quite different from their actual definitions.

Pedantic

Words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish.

Transition

Writer's ability to move the reader smoothly along the course of ideas. Abrupt changes in topics confuse the reader, but transitional words and phrases help tie ideas together. Stylistically, transition serves another purpose by adding fullness and body to otherwise short, choppy sentences and paragraphs. Writers use transition to show how ideas, things, and events are arranged chronologically (first, next, after, finally), spatially (here, there, next to, behind), comparatively' (like, just as, similar to), causally (thus, because, therefore), and in opposition to each other (unlike, but, contrary to). Pronouns, connectives, repetition, and parallel sentence structure are other transitional vehicles that move the reader along.

Subjective

Writing that expresses the author's beliefs in and attitudes toward a particular subject. Although Catton in "Grant and Lee" explains the greatness of those Civil War leaders, he is less subjective and emotional than Lopez, who reveals the deep attachment he has for an old Dodge van in "My Horse."

+Begging the Question (Petitio Principii)

assuming that what is to be proven is already true without further proof, often through circular reasoning ("Rapists and murderers awaiting trial shouldn't be let out on bail" assumes that the suspects have already been proven guilty, which is the point of the impending trial).

Logic

attempts to persuade the listener through use of deductive reasoning (logos).

+Arguing from Analogy

comparing only similarities between things, concepts, or situations while overlooking significant differences that might weaken the argument (Having a standing army is just like having a loaded gun in the house. If it's around, people will want to use it).

Purpose

identifies the author's reasons for writing. The purposes of a writing are many and varied. One can write to clarify an issue for oneself, or to obtain self-understanding ("Why I Like to Eat"). One can write to tell a story, to narrate ("My 1000-Pound Weight Loss"), or to analyze a process ("How to Make Quadruple Chocolate Cake"). Writing can explain cause and effect ("Obesity and Heart Attacks: The Fatal Connection"); it can describe ("The Perfect Meal"), define ("Calories"), divide and classify ("Fast Food, Slow Food, and Food that Just Sits There"). Writing can illustrate through examples ("McDonald's as a Symbol of American Culture"), and it can compare and contrast people, things, or ideas (Jordan's "That Lean and Hungry Look," Writing can argue, deductively or inductively ("Processed Foods are Packaged Problems"), sometimes appealing more to emotions than to reason ("Anorexia! Beware!"). Writing can also provide entertainment, sometimes through parody or satire (Real Men Don't Eat Quiche).

Rhetorical Question

is asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely. "You say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it?" - Red Jacket

Plot

is the cause-and-effect relationship between events that tell a story. Unlike narration, which is an ordering of events as they occur, a plot is a writer's plan for showing how the occurrence of these events actually brings about a certain effect. The plot lets the reader see how actions and events are integral parts of something much larger than themselves. The plot is intimately tied to how the conflict is met and resolved by the protagonist in a narrative.

+Non Sequitur

making a conclusion that doesn't logically come from a cited instance (The Senator must be in cahoots with that shyster developer, Robert Landphill. After all, they were fraternity brothers).

Objective

refers to the writer's presentation of information in a personally detached, unemotional way. The topic is stressed rather than the author's attitudes or feelings about it. Some process analyses, such as a manual on assembling a stereo, or directions on how to perform the Heimlich maneuver, are examples of objective writing; they aim to convey information about a particular subject, not the writer's feelings about it, as in subjective writing. Objective writing does not use the first or second person pronouns except in direct quotations.

Climactic Phrasing

the arrangement of words, phrases or clauses in an order of increasing importance. "Let a man acknowledge obligations to his family, his country, and his God."

Rhetoric

the art of using language effectively to serve the writer's purpose, originally referred to speechmaking. Rhetoric now encompasses composition, and is divided into rhetorical modes such as exposition, narration, description, and argumentation.