Glossary of Rhetorical Terms

 

Abstract: (n.) an abbreviated synopsis of a longer work of scholarship or research. (adj.) dealing with or tending to deal with a subject apart from a particular or specific instance.

Ad hominem: Directed to or appealing to feeling or prejudices instead of to intellect or reason.

Adage: a saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language. Ex. “There is more than one way to skin a cat.”

Alliteration: The repetition of one or more initial consonants in a group of words.

Allusion: a reference to a person, place or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea.

Anachronism: A person, scene, even or other element that fails to correspond with the appropriate time or era.

Anadiplosis – (an-uh-dih-PLO-sis): Figure of repetition that occurs when the last word or terms in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of the next sentence, clause, or phrase.

Analogy: A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar thins; a passage that point out sever similarities between two unlike things is an extended analogy.

Anaphora – Repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive line or sentences.  Anaphora is a type of parallelism.   Ex - "My Republican Party today -- it is not a conservative Party. It is soft on globalism. It is soft on big government. It is soft on the 2nd Amendment. It is soft on life."

Anecdote: A brief narrative often used to illustrate an idea or make a point

Annotation: A brief explanation, summary or evaluation of a text or work of literature

Antimetabole -  (an-tee-meh-TA-boe-lee): Figure of emphasis in which the words in one phrase or clause are replicated, exactly or closely, in reverse grammatical order in the next phrase or clause; an inverted order of repeated words in adjacent phrases or clauses (A-B, B-A). Ex: "The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."

Antithesis: A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses or sentences Ex. “They promised freedom but provided slavery.”

Aphorism: a short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment.

Apologist – A person or character who makes a case for some controversial position.

Apology – A statement justifying some controversial position.

Apostrophe: A locution that addressed a person or personified thing not present. Ex. “Oh, you cruel street of Manhattan, how I detest you!”

Appeals – Strategies for persuading audiences – appeals to emotion (pathos), appeals to logic (logos), appeals to ethics (ethos).

Assonance: The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words in prose

Asyndeton – Deliberate omission of conjunctions to create a concise, terse and often memorable statement.  Ex - “I came, I saw, I conquered.” See also parataxis

Begging the Question – The situation that results when a writer or speaker constructs an argument based on an assumption that the audience does not accept.

Bombast: Inflated, pretentious language

Circumlocution: Literally “talking around” a subject

Connotation: The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase.

Consonance: The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a unit of speech writing.

Critique: an analysis or assessment of a thing or situation for the purpose of determining its nature, its limitations, and it conformity to a set of standards

Deductive reasoning: A method of reasoning by which specific definitions, conclusions, and theorems are drawn from general principles.

Denotation: The literal meaning of a word.

Descriptive detail: graphic, exact, and accurate presentation of the characteristics of a person, place or thing

Diction: the choice of words in oral and written language

Didactic: Having an instructive purpose; intending to convey information or teach a lesson usually in a dry pompous manner

Digression: That portion of discourse that wanders or departs from the main subject

Ellipsis: Three periods (…) indicating the omission of words in a thought or quotation

Elliptical construction: A sentence containing a deliberate omission of words.  Ex. “May was hot and June the same.”

Empathy: A feeling of association or identification with an object or person

Enthymeme -  A figure of reasoning in which one or more statements of a syllogism (a three-pronged deductive argument) is/are left out of the configuration; an abbreviated syllogism or truncated deductive argument in which one or more premises, or, the conclusion is/are omitted. There are various kinds of syllogisms and the formal treatment of them is rather technical. However, all syllogisms are similar in that they contain at least three statements -- two premises followed by a conclusion

Epistrophe - (eh-PIS-troe-FEE): Figure of repetition that occurs when the last word or set of words in one sentence, clause, or phrase is repeated one or more times at the end of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases.  Ex- "...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Note: Also "Antistrophe."  Ex -  "In years gone by, there were in every community men and women who spoke the language of duty and morality and loyalty and obligation."

Euphemism: A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term. Ex. Pass away is for die

Ex1: - All humans are mortal. (major premise)

Exegesis: A detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of prose or poetry

Explication: The interpretation or analysis of a text

Exposition: The background and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of an essay or other work; setting forth the meaning or purpose of a piece of writing or discourse

Extended metaphor: a series of comparisons between two unlike objects

Fallacy, fallacious reasoning: An incorrect belief or supposition based on faulty data, defective evidence or false information

Figure of speech, figurative language: In contrast to literal language, it implies meaning including: metaphor, simile and personification

Five Canons of Rhetoric –  The  traditional elements of rhetorical  composition are invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery.

Hubris: Excessive pride that often affects tone

Hyperbole: Overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect

Image: A word or phrase representing that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled or felt; imagery is the use of images in speech and writing

Inductive reasoning: A method of reasoning in which a number of specific facts or examples are used to make a generalization.

Invective: A direct verbal assault; a denunciation; casting blame on someone or something

Irony: a mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what might have been expected

Jargon – The specialized vocabulary of a particular group.

Litotes: A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity. Ex. He is not a bad dancer.

Loose sentence: A sentence that follows the customary word order of English sentences. ( subject-verb-object)

Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares unlike objects. When several characteristics of the same objects are compared the device is an extended metaphor. A metaphor referring to a particular person place or thing is called a metaphorical allusion; Ex. Referring to someone as “a Hercules.”

Metonymy: A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. Ex. “The White House says.”

           Michael is human. (minor premise)

           Michael is mortal. (conclusion)

Mood: The emotional tone or prevailing atmosphere in a work of literature or other discourse.

Motif: A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in an essay or other discourse

Narrative: A form of verse or prose both fiction and nonfiction that tells a story: a storyteller may use numbers or narrative voice such as skipping back and forth in time. Ordering events chronologically and ordering events to lead up to a suspenseful climax

Naturalism: A term often used as a synonym for realism also a view of experience that is generally characterized as bleak and pessimistic

Non sequitur: A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before

Objective: Of or relating to facts and reality as opposed to private and personal feelings and attitudes.

Omniscient narrator: A narrator with unlimited awareness, understanding, and insight of characters, setting, background, and all other elements of the story

Oxymoron: A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create paradoxical effect. Ex: jumbo shrimp

Pace – The speed with which a plot moves form one event the next..

Paradox: A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true

Parallel structure: The structure required for expressing two or more grammatical elements of equal rank. Coordinate ideas, compared and contrasted ideas and correlative constructions call for parallel construction

Parataxis: see asyndeton

Parody: An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject

Pathos: That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow

Pedantic:  Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: a pedantic attention to details.

Periodic sentence: A sentence that departs for the usual word order by expressing its main thought only at the end. Ex. Into the room march the President.

Persona: The role or façade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader or other audience

Point of view: The relation in which a narrator or speaker stands to a subject of discourse. A matter discussed in the first person has an internal point of view; an observer uses an external point of view

Polysyndeton – Figure of addition and emphasis which intentionally employs a series of conjunctions (and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet) not normally found in successive words, phrases, or clauses; the deliberate and excessive use of conjunctions in successive words or clauses.

Prose: Any discourse that is not poetry

Proverb: A short pithy statement of a general truth one that condenses common experience in memorable form

Realism: The depiction of people, things and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect

Rebuttal or refutation: The part of discourse wherein opposing arguments are anticipated and answered.

Repetition: Reuse of the same words, phrases or ideas for rhetorical effect, usually to emphasize a point

Rhetoric: The language of a work and its style: words often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience

Rhetorical Mode: A general term that identifies discourse according to its chief purpose. Modes include exposition (to explain, analyze or discuss an idea); argumentation (to prove a point or to persuade); description (to recreate or present with details); and narration (to relate an anecdote or story)

Rhetorical question: A question to which the audience already knows the answer; a question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.

Rhetorical stance: Language that conveys a speaker’ attitude or opinion with regard to a particular subject

Sarcasm: A sharp, caustic attitude conveyed in words though jibes, taunts or other remarks; sarcasm differs from irony, which is more subtle

Satire: A literary style used to poke fun at, attack or ridicule an idea, vice or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change

Scheme – An artful variation from the typical formation and arrangement of words and sentences.

Sentence structure: The arrangement of the parts of a sentence. A sentence may be simple (one subject and one verb); compound (two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction), or complex (an independent clause plus one or more dependent clauses). Sentences may also contain any of these structures in combination with each other.

Simile: A figurative comparison using the works like or as.

Style: The manner in which an author uses and arranges words, shapes ideas, forms sentences and creates a structure to convey ideas.

Stylistic devices: A general term referring to diction, syntax, tone, figurative language, and all other element that contribute to the “style” or manner of a given piece of discourse.

Subjective: Of or relating to private and personal feelings and attitudes as opposed to facts and reality.

Subtext: The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of an essay or work.

Syllogism: A form of deductive reasoning in which given certain ideas or facts, other ideas or facts must follow. Ex: All men are mortal (major premise); Mike is a man (minor premise); therefore, Mike is mortal (conclusion).

Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole (fifty masts for fifty ships) or the whole signifies the part (days for life as in “He lived his days under African skies”). When the name of a material stands for the thing itself, as in pigskin for football.

Syntax: The organization of language into meaningful structure; every sentence has a particular syntax or pattern of words.

Thesis: The main idea of a piece of discourse; the statement of proposition that a speaker or writer wishes to advance, illustrate, prove or defend

Tone: The author’s attitude toward the subject being written about. The tone is the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of a work – the spirit or quality that is the work’s emotional essence.

Trope: The generic name for a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile, and metaphor

Verbal irony: A discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words.

Voice: The real or assumed personality used by a writer or speaker.