Rhetorical Terms
26. Euphemism
• A more acceptable or pleasant statement of something • Ex. 1: "passed away" instead of "died." • Ex. 2: "fell off the wagon" instead of "is drinking alcohol again." • Uses: Writers use euphemisms to disguise the reality of a situation.
4. Annotation
• A note added to a text to explain it, which can include information such as sources or comments • Ex. 1: An author gives an explanation of how to pronounce a word in a text. • Ex. 2: An author includes an annotated bibliography at the end of a book, to provide source or research information to support ideas. • Uses: Authors may used annotations in the text itself or at the end of the published document, to provide additional useful or explanatory information.
61. Rhetorical Question
• A question with no expected answer, used for effect • Ex. 1: In "Romeo and Juliet," William Shakespeare has Juliet ask two rhetorical questions in this passage to emphasize the lack of importance of Romeo's family name compared to who he is as an individual: "Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part, Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet." The point is that Juliet would love Romeo no matter what his name is. • Ex. 2: Percy Bysshe Shelley ends his Ode to the West Wind with a rhetorical question: "O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" The reader knows spring follows winter, but it is written this way for poetic effect. • Uses: Writers pose rhetorical questions to pose an idea to be considered. The writer asks the question just for effect or to emphasize a point when no real answer is expected. It is self-evident and used for style as a persuasive device.
24. Epigraph
• A quotation at the start of literature that clues the reader into the theme, and often belongs to another writer • Ex. 1: A famous poem is often sued as an epigraph in a novel. • Ex. 2: Ernest Hemingway used Gertrude Stein's famous quotation, "You are all a lost generation" in the beginning of his book The Sun Also Rises. • Uses: It is used as a summary, introduction or association with famous literary works in order to draw comparison or to set up a specific context for the rest of the work
3. Anecdote
• A short story describing an event or person, which is designed to be funny or make a point • Ex. 1: An anecdote that is used for humor: In her autobiography, a famous chef tells her readers about how she burned her first cake. • Ex. 2: An anecdote that is used to make a point: A father tells a daughter that when he was her age, he walked ten miles to school while carrying a twenty pound bag of books. The point is that he had it way harder than she does. • Uses: Anecdotes are used to make readers laugh or think more about a topic.
28. Example
• A specific instance taken to be representative of a general pattern • Ex. 1: Lassie is a loyal dog, and therefore all collies are loyal. • Ex. 2: The cats I have owned love to eat fish, and therefore, all cats like fish. • Uses: Writers may argue by example to persuade a reader of a general point by the strength of specific examples.
32. Genre
• A type of literary work, such as poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction • Ex. 1: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is an example of drama. • Ex. 2: "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is an example of poetry. • Uses: A genre is used to describe the style or category of art, literature, music, or any other type of discourse, written or spoken.
66. Style
• A writer's way of expressing him or herself, characterized by word choice and tone • Ex. 1: In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde uses a descriptive style in this passage: "The studio was filled with the rich odor of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden... The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through... or circling with monotonous insistence..." Wilde's description can be seen and heard. • Ex. 2: In this excerpt from The Pleasures of Imagination, Joseph Addison uses the expository style of writing to describe he advantages of imagination with facts and logical sequence: "The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are not so gross as those of sense... A man of polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures... A man should endeavour, therefore, to make the sphere of his innocent pleasures as wide as possible, that he may retire into them with safety ... Delightful scenes, whether in nature, painting, or poetry, have a kindly influence on the body, as well as the mind, and not only serve to clear and brighten the imagination, but are able to disperse grief and melancholy..." • Uses: Writers use a particular style to express themselves, to persuade readers of their point of view, and to entertain the reader. Different styles are used to suit specific demands of literature.
70. Syntactic Fluency
• Ability to write a variety of simple and complex sentences, varied in length, that are easy follow • Ex. 1: Shakespeare would often violate the rules of conventional grammar, so that nouns became verbs and adjectives became nouns. In "King Lear" for example, Edgar comparing himself to the king: "He childed as I fathered" (nouns shifted to verbs) • Ex. 2: In "Troilus and Cressida", Shakespeare converted a noun to adjective when he wrote: "Kingdomed Achilles in commotion rages" (noun converted to adjective) • Uses: Writers use different syntax to manipulate sentence structure to adapt their writing to different genres that require different language and describe different contexts. When Shakespeare used this technique, he prompted the reader to give more weight to the sentence as a whole. He created dramatic effects and pushed the reader to think more about what he was writing.
42. Logical Appeal; Logos
• An argument used to convince an audience by reason or logic • Ex. 1: In The Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle tries to make the argument that Socrates is mortal and, therefore, is going to die: "All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal." • Ex. 2: In Of Studies, Francis Bacon uses logic to show that reading is necessary because it improves the skills: "Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation." • Uses: The writer uses logical appeal or logos to persuade a targeted audience of a point of view or argument through reason and fact. The two forms of logos are inductive and deductive reasoning.
25. Ethical Appeal; Ethos
• An effort to gain the reader's confidence in the writer by a presentation of the writer's self image in the text • Ex. 1: "If his years as a soldier taught him anything, it's that caution is the best policy in this sort of situation." • Ex. 2: "John is a forensics and ballistics expert working for the federal government for many years - if anyone's qualified to determine the murder weapon, it's him." • Uses: Writers use ethos or ethical appeal to impress upon the reader that it is worth listening to the message of the writing because of the credibility of the writer.
34. Hyperbole
• An unreal exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis • Ex. 1: Your suitcase weighs a ton. • Ex. 2: I am dying of shame. • Uses: This device is used to create humor or emphasis.
64. Speaker
• Author's voice or narrator, either his/her own or as a fictitious persona • Ex. 1: Shakespeare used Hamlet as the speaker to explain the feeling of melancholy, which affects him after his father's death: "I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory." • Ex. 2: In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses first, second and third-person narration, such as when Holden Caulfield tells his story to someone ("you") but from his perspective ("I"), occasionally shifting to third-person to describe events related to him. • Uses: The speaker is used to express the author's point of view and a particular speaker lets the readers hear and see what takes place in a story.
31. Generalization
• Basing a claim on an isolated example; asserting certainty rather than probability • Ex. 1: I saw two women run red lights on my way to work this morning. Therefore, all women are dangerous drivers. • Ex. 2: We generalize that a person is honest if, under a variety of specific circumstances and temptations, he or she behaves honorably. • Uses: Generalization can be used to explain something complicated with a simple statement.
6. Aphorism
• Brief, clever language stating a basic truth or idea about life • Ex. 1: "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched." • Ex. 2: "To err is human, to forgive divine." • Uses: An aphorism is useful when a writer wants to express a principle that everyone will accept because it contains a universal truth. Humor helps to make the aphorism more persuasive.
65. Stereotype
• Character defined by a trait believed common to a group and lacking individuality; conventional expression • Ex. 1: In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck's view of Jim, a black man, reflects the close-minded, superstitious, and hypocritical people whom Twain satirizes in that novel. • Ex. 2: The name "Injun Joe" reflects a stereotypical image of Native Americans and it comes from Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. • Uses: The author uses a stereotype so that a character is immediately identified with a group. The character is so unoriginal that he or she seems like an oversimplified representation of a type, gender, class, religious group, or occupation.
20. Diction
• Choice of words that creates tone, attitude, style and meaning • Ex. 1: It was a dark and gloomy night. • Ex. 2: The bright orange sun shined rays of light over the town. • Uses: This literary device is used to get a message across, with different types or arrangements of words changing the meaning of a piece of writing. The word choice conveys a specific tone or atmosphere.
29. Explication
• Close analysis or interpretation of text for its meaning • Ex. 1: An explication of The Scarlett Letter might look at this early statement to figure out the meaning of the entire novel: "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bare-headed, was assembled n front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes." • Ex. 2: An explication of the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost might look at these key opening lines and conclude that the poem is about the importance of choices: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both...." • Uses: It is used as commentary to reveal the meaning of a work as a whole from one small part of the text.
13. Concrete Language
• Description of observable people, places or things • Ex. 1: The soup is spicy. • Ex. 2: The woman is loud. • Uses: Writing with concrete language clearly expresses the author's meaning.
10. Caricature
• Description that exaggerates a feature of a person's appearance or aspect of their personality • Ex. 1: The villain had eyes as dark as night. • Ex. 2: The king had a smile like that of a jack-o'-lantern. • Uses: Writers distort a character's behavior or traits to make that character seem funny or ridiculous.
19. Description
• Detailed depiction of someone or thing; one of the four types of discourse • Ex. 1: The deep brown, pointy-eared dog showed his spiked teeth. • Ex. 2: The forest was covered with dark green vines that climbed high above the trees. • Uses: In literature, this is a rhetorical strategy that uses sensory details to portray a person, place or thing.
43. Lyrical
• Expressing deep personal emotion or observations; songlike • Ex. 1: Part of Shakespeare's Sonnet Number 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date...." • Ex. 2: Emily Dickinson describes a person going insane in her poem I Felt a Funeral in My Brain: "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro, Kept treading - treading - till it seemed, That Sense was breaking through, And when they all were seated, A Service, like a Drum, Kept beating - beating - till I thought, My Mind was going numb...." • Uses: Lyrical writing, including poetry, is used to express feelings in an enthusiastic way to create a musical and emotional mood.
63. Satire
• Extreme, critical depiction of human behavior or a group of people, in general • Ex. 1: In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses satire to comment on the lack of morality American society: "What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and isn't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" • Ex. 2: In Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift criticizes party politics in England when he writes: "that for above seventy Moons past there have been two struggling Parties in this Empire, under the Names of Tramecksan and Slamecksan from the high and low, Heels on their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves." • Uses: A satire uses fictional characters, which stand for real people, to expose and condemn their corruption.
45. Mood
• Feeling or atmosphere of a literary work, influenced by its syntax • Ex. 1: Charles Dickens creates a calm and peaceful mood in Pickwick Papers as follows: "The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it flowed noiselessly on." • Ex. 2: In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte creates a depressed mood when describing Wuthering Heights: "There was no moon, and everything beneath lay in misty darkness: not a light gleamed from any house, far or near all had been extinguished long ago: and those at Wuthering Heights were never visible...." • Uses: Writers use elements such as setting, theme, tone and diction to create an emotional situation that surrounds the reader.
36. Imagery
• Figurative or literal use of words to create a mental picture appealing to the senses • Ex. 1: Shakespeare uses imagery of light and darkness in "Romeo and Juliet," such as: "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear." • Ex. 2: In John Keats' "To the Autumn," he uses the following imagery of animal sounds: "And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing...." • Uses: Imagery is used to create a vivid presentation of a scene that appeals to the reader's senses helps the reader to imagine the characters and scenes clearly.
49. Oxymoron
• Figure of speech with contradictory terms • Ex. 1: Living death. • Ex. 2: Cruel kindness. • Uses: Writes uses these figures of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.
17. Deduction
• Figuring out the truth about specific examples from a large general rule • Ex. 1: Since all humans are mortal, and I am a human, I am mortal. • Ex. 2: All dogs are mammals, and all mammals have hearts, therefore all dogs have hearts. • Uses: In literature, writers use deduction as an argument in and attempt to convince the reader or the truth or falsity of an idea.
48. Oversimplification
• Ignoring or making unclear the complexity of issues • Ex. 1: A politician arguing that if we want to end drug abuse, we should send all addicts to prison for life. • Ex. 2: In George Orwell's Animal Farm, the author oversimplifies communism in his description of the character Napolean's reign, when the animals go hungry, work harder, and are used. • Uses: Sometimes, writers exclude important information for the sake of brevity, or to make the explanation or presentation easy to understand. Other times, the writer may be looking to deceive the reader.
30. Exposition
• Immediate disclosure of setting to other background information to explain plot; • Ex. 1: The introduction to The Three Bears, where the author sets up the bears and goldilocks as the main characters. • Ex. 2: In the beginning of the movie Star Wars, the text on the screen announces basic information, which as the story takes place "In a galaxy far, far way...." • Uses: Exposition is used to introduce background information about events, settings, and characters etc. to the audience or readers.
27. Euphony
• In poetry and literary prose, a series of harmonious sounds created by smooth consonants or repeated vowels • Ex. 1: Emily Dickinson wrote: "Success is counted sweetest, by those who ne'er succeed." • Ex. 2: Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote: "Full-faced above the valley stood the moon; And like a downward smoke, the slender stream; Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem." • Uses: This literary device is used to create soothing or pleasing effects.
11. Colloquialism
• Informal word or phrase, including slang • Ex. 1: "To go bananas" means to go crazy." • Ex. 2: "Gonna" means "going to." • Uses: Colloquialism sometimes appears in dialogue, but can also be in the narrative to add a sense of realism.
39. Invective
• Insulting or abusive language • Ex. 1: In "King Lear," Shakespeare uses this invective to describe a character: "A knave, a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave. . ." • Ex. 2: Jonathan Swift wrote: "I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth." • Uses: It is used to reiterate the significance of the deeply felt emotions of the writer.
1. Abstract
• Language describing ideas, qualities and other non-observable concepts • Ex. 1: Justice is abstract because it is an idea that is subject to interpretation. • Ex. 2: Cruelty is abstract whereas a prison physically exists. • Uses: Abstract language is useful when a writer is addressing big ideas or specific concepts. Writers who want to be ambiguous may also use abstract language.
38. Inference
• Logical deductions based on presented facts • Ex. 1: In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald gets the reader to draw the inference that Gatsby is dead with this sentence: "It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete." • Ex. 2: In "Romeo and Juliet," Shakespeare uses the struggles of the main characters to create the inference that love is more powerful than hate. • Uses: Writers can use inference to help the reader understand the text better because the reader is drawing from his or her existing knowledge. Thus, the reader relates to the characters more deeply.
73. Theme
• Main idea or an underlying meaning • Ex. 1: The main theme in the play Romeo and Juliet was love, with sub-themes of sacrifice, tragedy, struggle, hardship, and devotion. • Ex. 2: Examples of theme in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice are matrimony, love, friendship, and affection. • Uses: Through themes, a writer tries to give readers insight into how the world works or how the writer views life.
44. Mode
• Manner in which a work is written; a form of expression • Ex. 1: An example of the satirical mode is in Huckleberry Finn: "What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and isn't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?" • Ex. 2: An example of the comic mode is found in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "Hamlet: Whose grave's this, sirrah? First Clown: Mine, sir. Hamlet: I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest in't." (Hamlet meant the clown was lying, and meant to be funny about it.) • Uses: The writer uses different modes to communicate with the reader, each with its own purposes and conventions. Fiction writing has distinct modes, including action, summary, and dialogue.
14. Connotation
• Meaning implied or suggested based on a reader's association with something else • Ex. 1: A dove implies peace. • Ex. 2: A home suggests family or security. • Uses: Writers use connotation to deviate from the common meaning of words to create new ideas.
57. Persuasion
• Mode of discourse that convinces by appealing to emotion or reason • Ex. 1: In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte appeals to the readers' emotions when Jane leaves Mr. Rochester as they were about to marry, after finding out that he already has a wife. • Ex. 2: In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift uses ethos, a form of persuasion, to prove that he is a credible source due to his conclusive research concerning infantile consumption: "I am assured by our merchants that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no saleable commodity, and even when they come to this age, they will not yield above three pounds." • Uses: The purpose of persuasion is to make a reader believe a writer's opinion or share hos or her feelings. By appealing to the reader's emotions or logic, the writer tries to convince the reader of the writer's point of view.
40. Inversion
• Normal order of words is reversed • Ex. 1: Samuel Taylor Coleridge used inversion in Kubla Khan as follows: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran, Through caverns measureless to man, Down to a sunless sea." • Ex. 2: Percy Shelley describes his favorite literary personality, Mitlon as: "Blind, old, and lonely, when his country's pride, The priest, the slave, and the liberticide, Trampled and mocked with many a loathed rite . . ." • Uses: Writers use inversion in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter.
72. Syntax
• Order of words in a sentence, including structural elements such as length and kinds of sentences • Ex. 1: In Richard II, Shakespeare deliberately reverses the word order of "and all the clouds that lowered upon our house buried in the deep bosom of the ocean" into "And all the clouds that lower'd upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried." • Ex. 2: In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare played with syntax when he wrote: "What light from yonder window breaks?" He used this phrasing instead of using a common expression "What light breaks from yonder window?" • Uses: In the English language, the syntax normally follows a pattern of subject-verb-object agreement. Sometimes authors play around with this to achieve a lyrical, rhythmic, rhetoric or questioning effect.
67. Subjectivity
• Personal telling of events and characters, related to the author's feelings and attitudes • Ex. 1: Personal essays such as one in which the writer states: "On my trip to Africa, I saw the most beautiful forest that anyone has ever seen." • Ex. 2: An opinion column in a newspaper, such as one that states: "The company's president is an idiot, and anyone can see that." • Uses: Subjective writing is used when the object is not just to inform the reader, but to persuade the reader by appealing to personal emotions rather than verifiable facts.
75. Tone
• Perspective or attitude the author adopts with regard to characters, subject and audience • Ex. 1: In the short story "The School," author Donald Barthelme uses adjectives such as "dead" and "depressing" to set a gloomy tone in this passage: "And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don't know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn't the best. We complained about it. So we've got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we've got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing." • Ex. 2: In Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger reveals Holden Caufield's sarcastic, critical personality with statements such as: "All morons hate it when you call them a moron." • Uses: Choice of tone is selected to help the reader understand the writer's feelings towards a topic and influence the reader's understanding of the story.
55. Pathetic Appeal: Pathos
• Persuasion by emotional appeal, eliciting sorrow or pity • Ex. 1: In Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain draws upon the reader's feeling of pity with this passage: ""He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog—like a very dog. She would be sorry someday—maybe when it was too late. Ah, if he could only die TEMPORARILY!" • Ex. 2: William Shakespeare tries to evoke pity in this passage from Romeo and Juliet: "Then she is well, and nothing can be ill. Her body sleeps in Capels' monument, And her immortal part with angels lives. I saw her laid low in her kindred's vaul." • Uses: Writers use pathos to persuade the reader regarding an argument by provoking an emotional response.
8. Argumentation
• Presentation of rationale arguments to prove a point • Ex. 1: Jane Austen begins Pride and Prejudice with the argument " It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune, must be in want of a wife." • Ex. 2: Charles Dickens begins one of his novels with an argument he sets out to prove by the end: "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." • Uses: Authors use argumentation to persuade others of their main points and to shape the opinion of the reader.
58. Regionalism
• Realistic depiction of a geographic location • Ex. 1: Mark Twain used it in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (19th century wild west). • Ex. 2: Kate Chopin in The Awakening employed regionalism (Creole society and the community in Louisiana). • Uses: Writers use regionalism to comment on societal concerns, such as the struggle of the working class. Regionalism brings characters and setting to life to allow readers to become fully involved in stories.
37. Induction
• Reasoning that goes from specific facts to a general statement • Ex. 1: It has rained everyday on January 1st in Hawaii for the past several years. Therefore, it will rain next year on that day as well. • Ex. 2: Each book I have seen in the library is more than a year old. All the books in the library are over a year old. • Uses: Writers use induction to predict what may happen in the future and establish a possibility of what may happen next.
46. Narration
• Recital of events in the form of fiction, nonfiction, poetry or drama • Ex. 1: Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door...." • Ex. 2: Herman Melville's Moby Dick: "'Landlord!' said I, 'what sort of chap is he -- does he always keep such late hours?' It was now hard upon twelve o'clock. The landlord chuckled again with his lean chuckle, and seemed to be mightily tickled at something beyond my comprehension. 'No,' he answered, 'generally he's an early bird -- airley to bed and airley to rise -- yea, he's the bird what catches the worm.'" • Uses: Writers use narration to tell a story for the purposes of entertainment and delivering a message.
69. Synecdoche
• Reference to the whole of a thing by any one of its parts, or the whole representing the part • Ex. 1: In The Lady or the Tiger?, Frank R. Stockton uses the word "faces" to refer to people: "His eye met hers as she sat there paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her." • Ex. 2: Shelly uses the words "the hand" in his poem Ozymandias to refer to the sculptor who carved the lifeless things into a grand statue: "Tell that its sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them." • Uses: A synecdoche gives otherwise common ideas and things deeper meanings and grab the reader's attention. It also helps writers to achieve brevity.
59. Repetition
• Repeating the same word or phrase a few times • Ex. 1: In this poem, Emily Dickinson repeats the word "nobody" to show the commonality between herself and the reader: "I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody too? Then there's a pair of us-don't tell! They'd banish us you know." • Ex. 2: T.S. Elliot uses these repetitive lines in the poem "Ash Wednesday" to emphasize lack of hope: "Because I do not hope to turn again, Because I do not hope, Because I do not hope to turn..." • Uses: Repetition can be used to make a point clear or to emphasize a point.
15. Consonance
• Repetition of the same consonant sounds in close proximity • Ex. 1: I hear the pitter patter of tiny feet. • Ex. 2: He was a lean, mean fighting machine. • Uses: It can be used to make imagery clearer, such as in poetry, or to highlight the emotion behind the writer's words that simple words cannot do.
68. Syllogism
• Rhetorical device drawing a conclusion from a major premise then minor premise • Ex. 1: In his play n his play "Timon of Athens", Shakespeare wrote: "Flavius: Have you forgot me, sir? Timon: Why dost ask that? I have forgot all men; Then, if thou grant'st thou'rt a man, I have forgot thee." Timon uses a syllogism to tell Flavius that he must have forgotten him like he has forgotten all other men. • Ex. 2: All geniuses are melancholy. Shakespeare was a genius. Therefore, Shakespeare was melancholy. • Uses: Writers use syllogism to persuade readers of a specific conclusion using their belief in a general truth. Also, it can add wit to an argument.
16. Conundrum
• Riddle whose answer is a pun or unexpected twist; or a difficult problem • Ex. 1: What leaps and runs and has no feet? A ball. • Ex. 2: When is a door not a door? When it is ajar. • Uses: Writers use conundrums to show some odd or fanciful resemblance between two things that are quite different.
9. Cacophony, Dissonance
• Rough or inharmonious sounding language • Ex. 1: The porcupine's pins pricked her skin. • Ex. 2: In The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard calls the Tin Man "You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of calignoewrus junk." • Uses: Instead of using pleasant and harmonious sounds, writers use the unpleasantness of cacophony in poetry and prose to depict dreadful or distasteful situations. The writer wants the reader to feel the unpleasantness of the situation.
62. Sarcasm
• Sharp, negative personal comments to or about a person • Ex. 1: In "Julius Caesar," Shakespeare's character Mark Antony repeatedly uses the phrase "honorable man" when referring to Brutus (who has murdered Caesar), to show that his actions were the opposite of honorable. • Ex. 2: Shakespeare's Hamlet expresses his negative view of his uncle and his uncle's marriage to this mother after his father's death when he says, ""Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral bak'd meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables." • Uses: Sarcasm is used to mock with a purpose to amuse or to hurt someone.
51. Parable
• Short story with moral lesson at the end • Ex. 1: Hans Christian Anderson's parable, "The Emperor's New Clothes" in a book entitled, Fairy Tales Told for Children. • Ex. 2: Aesop's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." • Uses: Parable is a teaching tool that storytellers use to convey complicated moral truths in such a way that is relatable and understandable to a reader's own life.
22. Discourse
• Spoken or written language consisting of description, exposition, narration or persuasion • Ex. 1: Two competing discourses about the civil war in Syria are to describe it as a "war against Islam" or a "war for humanity." • Ex. 2: An example of poetic discourse expressing emotions is "I think that I will never see a thing as lovely as a tree." • Uses: This type of language provides a basis to conduct a comparative analysis and frame the audience's perceptions about different things.
74. Thesis
• Statement in a non-fiction or a fiction work that a writer intends to support and prove • Ex. 1: In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens begins with this narrative thesis: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." • Ex. 2: In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's thesis is: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." • Uses: A thesis statement is used to guide the narrative toward its ultimate purpose, which is the lesson it tries to teach.
52. Paradox
• Statement that deliberately contradicts itself to make a point r reveal a truth • Ex. 1: Oscar Wilde's quote: "I can resist anything but temptation." • Ex. 2: George Bernard Shaw's quote: "What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young." • Uses: Writers use paradox to illustrate an opinion contrary to accepted traditional ideas. A paradox is often used to make a reader think about an idea in innovative way.
18. Denotation
• Strict definition of a word as defined by the dictionary • Ex. 1: The dove flew over the land. (bird, as opposed to "dove" as a symbol of peace. • Ex. 2: There is a wall between us. (literal wall or barrier) • Uses: As opposed to when the writer wants to use a word to suggest another meaning, writers use denotation to convey the literal meaning of a word, or imply a deeper meaning.
53. Parallelism
• Structuring words, phrases or clauses side by side making them similar in form • Ex. 1: In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." • Ex. 2: In his poem "The Tyger," William Blake wrote, "What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? What dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp?" • Uses: Writers use parallelism to add balance and rhythm to sentences in order to give ideas a smoother flow and to persuade with the use of repetition.
7. Apostrophe
• Technique of calling out to a dead, imaginary or absent person, place or thing • Ex. 1: In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the main character speaks to an imaginary dagger as though it was another person. • Ex. 2: The author of the nursery rhyme "The Star" has the child speak to a star, or imaginary idea, when the child says, "Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are." • Uses: Writers may use an apostrophe in poetry or prose to stop the action to provide commentary or express an idea.
77. Understatement
• Technique that uses restraint in describing the significance of something by using an expression with less emphasis than would be expected • Ex. 1: In Beowulf, as translated by Seamus Heaney, the author explicitly states all of Shield Sheafson's amazing qualities and ends simply with "That was one good king" to emphasize how good he was: "There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes, A wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes. This terror of the hall-troops had come far. A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on, As his powers waxed and his worth was proved. In the end each clan on the outlying coasts, Beyond the whale-road had to yield to him, And begin to pay tribute. That was one good king." • Ex. 2: In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the character tries not to sound obnoxious about his wealth and underplays his expensive home when he states: "'I've got a nice place here,' he said, his eyes flashing about restlessly." • Uses: It is a technique used to emphasize the importance of one thing by minimizing the importance of another.
60. Rhetorical modes
• The form common styles of writing: exposition, description, narration and argumentation • Ex. 1: Examples of narration include biographies and novels. • Ex. 2: Textbooks are examples of expository writing. • Uses: The purpose depends on the mode. The purpose of exposition is to explain and analyze information by presenting and idea, relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion. The purpose of argumentation is to prove the validity of an idea, or point of view, by presenting sound reasoning. The purpose of description is to re-create, invent, or visually present a person, place, event, or action so that the reader can picture that being described. The purpose of narration is to tell a story or narrate an event or series of events.
33. Humor
• The quality of being funny or amusing; or a person's temperament • Ex. 1: In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this exchange between Mr. and Mrs. Bennett in which he responds to her complaints that he does not understand her nerves. He says, "You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least." • Ex. 2: In Don Quixote, scatological humor is used when Don Quixote and his friend, Sancho Panza, vomit in each other's faces. • Uses: It is a literary tool used to please the audience, develop characters and makes plots useful and memorable.
50. Pacing
• The rhythm and speed with which the plot unfolds • Ex. 1: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is faced-paced. • Ex. 2: Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is slow-paced. • Uses: With pacing, the writer can keep the reader on the edge of his or her seat and then give the reader a reprieve when the plot becomes tense.
78. Voice
• Two areas of writing: (1) relationship between subject and verb (such as active or passive) or (2) author's individual writing style, personality or sound for story telling • Ex. 1: In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout narrates the story from a child's point of view even though she is an adult. Also, it helps readers to feel the voice of an adult in her actions. • Ex. 2: Shakespeare uses the passive voice in Hamlet in this passage: "Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York." • Uses: Writers use a particular voice to gives a specific personality to a literary piece. Also, a strong voice helps making every word matter and captures readers' attention.
5. Antithesis
• Two sentences with contrasting meanings and similar phrasing that balances each idea • Ex. 1: Astronaut Neil Armstrong said about the moon landing, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." • Ex. 2: Charles Dickens began A Tale of Two Cities with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...." • Uses: Writers place two opposite sentences with similar phrasing next to one another to give the reader greater understanding of the topic.
41. Jargon
• Use of specific phrases and words in a particular situation, profession or field • Ex. 1: Doctors may use medical jargon such as "beta blocker" or "anticoagulants." • Ex. 2: In Hamlet, Shakespeare used this legal jargon in a conversation between Hamlet and Horatio: "Why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he suffer this mad knave now to knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery?." • Uses: Jargon can be used when the writer wants to convey something only to the readers who are aware of those terms.
71. Syntactic Permutation
• Usually complex and involved sentence structures that can be difficult to follow • Ex. 1: In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens wrote: "They were ready to go to church; the beautiful bride, Mr. Lorry, and Miss Pross - to whom the event, through a gradual process of reconcilement to the inevitable, would have been one of absolute bliss, but for the yet lingering consideration that her brother Solomon should have been the bridegroom." • Ex. 2: In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses long, complex sentences, such as this one, to show how Nick is having trouble gathering his thoughts: "At first I was surprised and confused; then, as he lay in his house and didn't move or breathe or speak, hour upon hour, it grew upon me that I was responsible, because no one else was interested—interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to which every one has some vague right at the end." • Uses: Writers may use syntactic permutation to show the character's confused or troubled state of mind or to reflect the complexity of a situation. Also, unusually complex sentences get the reader to think.
47. Objectivity
• Without the writer's subjective, personal involvement • Ex. 1: History books. • Ex. 2: Biographies. • Uses: Objectivity is used when the writer needs to present unbiased information to an audience and then let them determine their own opinion.
76. Transition
• Words connecting ideas and moving readers through sentences and paragraphs • Ex. 1: In Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven" the word "suddenly" signals a transition leading the reader into the madness of the narrator as the raven enters the room: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door." • Ex. 2: In One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, the opening paragraph signals a transition for the main character who is undergoing a transition form pre-modernity to modernity, letting the reader know that one day in the future, the main character will face a firing squad: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. At that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point." • Uses: Transitions help readers anticipate what is coming up in he next paragraph. They also present ideas in a way that helps readers react in specific ways to ideas presented. In summary, they help the readers see the writer's logical sequence of ideas.
35. Image
• Words describing a sensory experience, or an object perceived by the sense • Ex. 1: Walt Whitman's use of the descriptions of "golden brass" and "silvery steel" in "To a Locomotive in Winter". • Ex. 2: William Cullen Bryant's "lone lakes" and "autumn blaze" in "To an American Painter". • Uses: Writers use an image to evoke a particular sensation in the reader's mind, to appeal directly to the reader's taste, touch, hearing, sight, or smell.
54. Parody
• Work that ridicules another work's style by imitation or exaggeration for comic effect • Ex. 1: Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travel is a parody of travel narratives. • Ex. 2: Don Quixote, written by Miguel de Cervantes, is a parody of romances written in his time. • Uses: The writer imitates and overstresses noticeable features of a famous piece of literature to achieve a humorous effect.
56. Pedantic
• Writing bordering on a lecture, which can be scholarly or academic • Ex. 1: In The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald's character Tom Buchanan is pedantic when he lectures other characters while trying to appear to be knowledgeable: "Civilization's going to pieces . . . I've gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read "The Rise of the Colored Empires" by this man Goddard? . . . Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to read it." • Ex. 2: Vladimir Nabokov used Charles Kinbote as a pedantic character in this novel. Kinbote is a literature professor who cannot avoid making up facts that make this novel interesting. • Uses: Writers use a pedantic technique to teach something with extra demonstration of knowledge. They also use pedantic writing to show the narrow-mindedness of a character.
2. Allegory
• Writing like an extended metaphor that uses symbolic characters, actions, or places to express a secondary meaning, such as moral, religious, or political • Ex. 1: In The Jungle, author Upton Sinclair's description of how hogs are killed is an allegory because it symbolizes the way workers are mistreated. • Ex. 2: The Harry Potter series may be considered an allegory for the story of Christ's resurrection, with Harry (the boy who lived) as the Christ figure. • Uses: Writers use allegory to convey their ideas about abstract concepts, such as politics, in an indirect way.
21. Didactic
• Writing that teaches a moral lesson or provides a model of correct behavior • Ex. 1: Morality plays of Medieval Europe teach lessons on the seven deadly sins. • Ex. 2: George Orwell's Animal Farm uses animals to show the evil of Communist Russia before World War II. • Uses: Writers use this type of writing to teach a specific lesson or moral.
12. Coherence; Unity
• Writing that works because the parts support the common idea • Ex. 1: Dogs are man's best friend. My first dog greeted me with a warm welcome every time I came home. My second dog saved my life. I have not met a dog that was unfriendly. • Ex. 2: The Poconos is a great place to live. The weather is good most of the year. There are many fun things to do outside in nature. The resorts also provide entertainment. People enjoy living in and visiting the Poconos. • Uses: Coherence is used to make logical connections between ideas to connect them to the whole work.
23. Emotional Appeal; Pathos
• Written appeal to emotions to involve the reader in the argument • Ex. 1: Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" made an emotional appeal for civil rights. • Ex. 2: In Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer, he tries to stir up pity for Tom Sawyer: "He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog - like a very dog. She would be sorry someday - maybe when it was too late." • Uses: Pathos, or emotional appeal, is used to convince an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response.
