Rhetoric Terms

Inversion

inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order)

qualitative evidence

qualitative evidence: Evidence supported by reason, tradition, or precedent

quantitative evidence

quantitative evidence: Quantitative evidence includes things that can be measures, cited, counted, or otherwise represented in numbers--for instance, statistics, surveys, polls, census information.

horative sentence

sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action

Hyperbole

Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect; an overstatement to make a point.

Rhetorical Question

Rhetorical Question: A rhetorical question is a question that requires no reply, either because the answer is obvious or because the asker already knows the answer. Rhetorical questions are generally used to draw a contrast, persuade the audience, make the listener think, or direct the reader's attention to an important topic.Rhetorical questions are also used to emphasize a particular idea or persuade the audience of a point. (from www.thoughtco.com)

Rhetorical appeals

Rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, logos; rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. The three major appeals are to ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion).

Rhetorical triangle

Rhetorical triangle: speaker, subject, audience

Rhetoric

Rhetoric: "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion" (Aristotle)

Propaganda

Propaganda: the spread of ideas and information to further a cause. In its negative sense, propaganda is the use of rumors, lies, disinformation, and scare tactics in order to damage or promote a cause.

Alliteration

Alliteration: repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence

Allusion

Allusion: brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a word of art

Analogy

Analogy: a comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things. Often, an analogy uses something simple or familiar to explain something unfamiliar or complex. Example: "As birds have flight, our special gift is reason." Bill McKibben

Anaphora

Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Anecdote

Anecdote: a brief story used to illustrate a point or claim

Antimetabole

Antimetabole: a figure of speech in which a phrase is repeated, but with the order of words reversed. John F. Kennedy's words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" is a famous example of antimetabole. Antimetabole comes from a Greek phrase that means, "turning about in the opposite direction," and which sums up the effect of words being repeated in reverse order, sort of like retracing steps on a path. (from Litcharts.com)

Antithesis

Antithesis: Opposition or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction (i.e. "[W]e shall...support any friend, oppose any foe...." JFK

Purpose

Purpose: the goal the speaker wants to achieve; "One of Lou Gehrig's chief purposes in delivering his Farewell Address is to thank his fans and his teammates, but he also wants to demonstrate that he remains positive: he emphasizes his past luck and present optimism and downplays his illness."

Archaic diction

Archaic diction: Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words (i.e. "...beliefs for which our forebears fought...." JFK

Argument

Argument: a persuasive discourse; a coherent and considered movement from a claim to a conclusion

Assumption

Assumption: a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof. (Oxford Languages)

Asyndeton

Asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words (i.e. "[W]e shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to ensure the survival and the success of liberty." JFK)

Audience

Audience: the listener, view, or reader of a text or performance; there may be multiple audiences for a text. When making rhetorical decisions, speakers ask what values their audiences hold, particularly whether the audience is hostile, friendly, or neutral, and how informed it is on the topic at hand.

Circular Reasoning

Circular Reasoning: A fallacy in which the argument repeats the claim as a way to provide evidence (i.e. 18 year olds have the right to vote because it legal for them to vote.)

Claim of fact

Claim of fact: a claim of fact asserts that something is true or not true

Claim of policy

Claim of policy: a claim of policy proposes a change

Claim of value

Claim of value: a claim of value argues that something is good or bad, right or wrong

Claim

Claim: also called an assertion or proposition, a claim states the argument's main idea or position. A claim differs from a topic or subject in that a claim has to be arguable.

Concession

Concession: an acknowledgment that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable. In a strong argument, a concession is usually accompanied by a refutation challenging the validity of the opposing argument.

Connotation

Connotation: meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition (or denotation); the suggested or associated ideas and images relating to a word

Context

Context: the circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text

Counterargument

Counterargument: an opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward; rather than ignoring a counterargument, a strong writer will usually address it through the process of concession and refutation.

Cumulative Sentence

Cumulative Sentence: Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on (see book for example)

Rebuttal

Rebuttal: a refutation or contradiction

Faulty Analogy

Faulty Analogy: a fallacy that occurs when an analogy compares two things that are not comparable. (see book for example)

Fear-mongering

Fear-mongering: the action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue (Oxford Language)

Denotation

Denotation: the literal or dictionary definition of a word

Diction

Diction: a speaker's choice of words. Analysis of diction looks at these choices and what they add to the speaker's message.

Figurative language

Figurative language: Nonliteral language, sometimes referred to as tropes or metaphorical language, often evoking strong imagery, figures of speech that compare one thing to another (simile, metaphor). Other forms of figurative language include personification, paradox, overstatement (hyperbole), understatement, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony.

First-hand evidence

First-hand evidence: Evidence based on something the writer knows, whether it's from personal experience, observations, or general knowledge of events

Either/Or (false dilemma)

Either/Or (false dilemma): in this fallacy, the speaker presents two extreme opinions as the only possible choices (i.e. Either we agree to higher taxes, or our grandchildren will be mired in debt.)

Ethos

Ethos: (Greek for "character") an appeal to character and authority; speakers appeal to ethos to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy; often emphasizes shared values between speaker and audience; a speaker's reputation can sometimes establish ethos (i.e. a scientific expert or the President); expertise, knowledge, experience, sincerity, common purpose with audience all establish ethos.

Fallacy

Fallacy: a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument. (Oxford Languages)

Hasty Generalization

Hasty Generalization: a fallacy in which a faulty conclusion is reached because of inadequate evidence (i.e. Smoking isn't bad for you; my great aunt smoked a pack a day and lived to be 90.)

Imagery

Imagery: a description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds. Imagery may use literal or figurative language to appeal to the senses.

Imperative Sentence

Imperative Sentence: sentence used to command or enjoin (i.e. "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." JFK

Irony

Irony: a figure of speech that occurs when a speaker or character says one thing but means something else, or when what is said is the opposite of what is expected, creating a noticeable incongruity.

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition: Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences. Example: "The nations of Asia and Africa are moving at jet-like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter." Martin Luther King

Logical Fallacies

Logical Fallacies: Logical fallacies are potential vulnerabilities or weaknesses in an argument. They often arise from a failure to make a logical connection between the claim and the evidence used to support it.

Logos

Logos: an appeal to reason; appeals to logos offer clear, rational ideas and may rely on: specific details, examples, facts, statistics, expert testimony, definitions, causality, accuracy, research, data from expert sources and authorities, quantitative data, charts, graphs.

Metaphor

Metaphor: figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as

Metonymy

Metonymy: figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it or emblematic of it. Example: The pen is mightier than the sword.

Mood

Mood: the feeling or atmosphere created by a text

Refutation

Refutation: a denial of the validity of an opposing argument. In order to sound reasonable, a refutation often follows a concession that acknowledges that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable.

Occasion

Occasion: the time and place a speech is given or a piece is written

Open Thesis

Open Thesis: an open thesis is one that does not list all of the points the writer intends to cover in an essay

Oxymoron

Oxymoron: a paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words. Examples: peaceful revolution, jumbo shrimp,

Paradox

Paradox: a statement or situation that is seemingly contradictory on the surface, but delivers an ironic truth

Parallelism

Parallelism: Parallelism is the usage of repeating words and forms to give pattern and rhythm to a passage (from literarydevices.com)

Pathos

Pathos: an appeal to emotion. Speakers appeal to pathos to emotionally motivate their audience. More specific appeals to pathos might play on the audience's values, desires, and hopes on the one hand, or fears and prejudices on the other. An appeal to pathos evokes an audience's emotions by using such tools as figurative language, personal anecdotes, and vivid images.

Periodic Sentence

Periodic Sentence: sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end (i.e. "To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support...." JFK

Persona

Persona: from Greek word for mask; the face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience

Personification

Personification: attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea

Polemic

Polemic: Greek for "hostile." An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others. Polemics generally do not concede that opposing arguments have any merit.

Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton: The deliberate use of multiple conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. Example: I paid for my plane ticket, and the taxes, and the fees, and the charge for the checked bag, and five dollars for a bottle of water.

SOAPS

SOAPS: Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Speaker. It is a handy way to remember the various elements that make up the rhetorical situation.

Satire

Satire: the use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual

Second-hand Evidence

Second-hand Evidence: Evidence that is accessed through research, reading, and investigation. It includes factual and historical information, expert opinion, and quantitative data.

Simile

Simile: a figure of speech used to explain or clarify an idea by comparing it explicitly to something else, using the words like, as or as though.

Speaker

Speaker: the person or group who creates a text

Subject

Subject: the topic. The subject should not be confused with the purpose, which is the goal the speaker wants to achieve.

Syllogism

Syllogism: A logical structure that uses the major premise and the minor premise to reach a necessary conclusion (i.e. see the book for an example)

Synecdoche

Synecdoche: figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole. Example: "In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course." JFK

Syntax

Syntax: the arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. This includes word order (subject-verb-object, for instance, or an inverted structure); the length and structure of sentences (simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex; short and staccato-like or long and flowing for instance); and such schemes as parallelism, juxtaposition, antithesis, and antimetabole.

Text

Text: While this term generally means the written word, in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be "read"--meaning not just consumed and comprehended but investigated. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, and much more.

Tone

Tone: the speaker's attitude toward the subject as revealed by his or her choice of language and stylistic and rhetorical choices.

Understatement

Understatement: the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is

Zeugma

Zeugma: Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings. Definition from Litcharts.com: "Zeugma is when you use a word in a sentence once, while conveying two different meanings at the same time. Sometimes, the word is literal in one part of the sentence, but figurative in another; other times, it's just two completely separate meanings for the word." For example: "When you open a book, you open your mind." Or: "Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--but a call to bear the burden...." JFK Or: "The farmers in the valley grew potatoes, peanuts, and bored" or "He lost his briefcase, then his job, then his mind." (Litcharts.com)