Allusion:

A brief reference to a person, place, event, or passage in a work of literature assumed to be recognized by the reader.

Anecdote:

A short, entertaining account of something that happened.

Aphorism:

A concise statement of principle or precept given in concise words.

Appeal to authority:

Citation of information from people recognized for their special knowledge of a subject for the purpose of strengthening a speaker’s or writer’s argument.

Appeal to fear:

Using information to frighten the audience for the purpose of strengthening a speaker’s or writer’s argument.

Appeal to patriotism:

Appealing to the audience’s love of country to persuade them to act a certain way and they are treasonous if they choose to act differently.

Appeal to pride:

Used to convince the audience that they must act in order to maintain dignity and self respect.

Anticipation of Objection:

A technique by which the speaker anticipates the objections his/her audience will have and points out the errors in their objections.

Bandwagon:

An attempt to strengthen an argument by convincing the audience if they agree, they will be on the popular side.

Conceit:

An extended metaphor or analogy of two different things.

Contrast:

To compare as to point out differences.

Correction of Erroneous Views:

Pointing out where another’s thought process needs correction.

Concession:

An acknowledgement of objections to a proposal.

Corrective Measures:

Proposing measures to eliminate undesirable conditions.

Emotional Words:

Use of words likely to engage strong emotions in the audience.

Extended Metaphor:

A protracted metaphor or conceit which makes a series of parallel comparisons.

Flattery:

Using excessive, untrue, or insincere praise in an attempt to integrate oneself with the audience, and therefore make them more likely to accept your opinion.

Holy War:

Convincing the audience that God is on the side of the speaker or writer and that failure to side with the speaker’s or writer’s argument will be the equivalent of a failure to defend God.

Imagery:

Lively descriptions that give you an image in your mind of what is being described.

Irony:

A method of humorous expression in which the intended meaning of the words is opposite of their usual meaning.

Last Resort:

A logical argument that tries to convince the audience they have no other choice but to accept what the speaker is saying.

Logical Reasoning:

Arguing according to the principles of correct reasoning.

Metonymy:

Using one word that is associated with the subject as the name of the subject.

Name Calling

The use of abusive names to attack those who oppose the speaker.

Parallelism

Using the same part of speech or syntactic structure in each element of a series, before and after coordinating conjunctions, or after each of a pair of correlative conjunctions.

Repetition

Repeating words or phrases to emphasize speech or writing.

Rhetorical Question:

To ask a question of an audience to engage them without having a response from the audience.

Sarcasm:

A taunting, sneering, cutting, or caustic remark.