Transcript
alliteration
AlliterationAlliterationreferstotherepetitionofasoundat
thebeginningofseveralwordsincloseproximitytoeachother.Forexample:"Iseealsothedull,drilled,docile,brutishmassesoftheHunsoldieryploddingonlikeaswarmofcrawlinglocusts"(WinstonChurchillonthe
GermaninvasionofRussia).
allusion
AllusionAllusionisanexpressionorphraseinonetextthatcallstomindanexpressionorphrasefrom
anothertextwithoutdirectreference.Forexample:"Ihaveadreamthatonedayevery
valleyshallbeexalted..."(MartinLutherKinginIHaveaDream,1963,alludingtotheBible,Isaiah
40:4-5).
amplification
AmplificationAfigureofspeechthatrepeatsawordor
expressionwhileaddingmoredetailtoit,inordertoemphasizesomething.Forexample:"IknowIhavebutthebodyofaweakandfeeblewoman;butIhavetheheartofaking,andofakingofEngland,too"(QueenElizabethI,1533-
1603)
analogy
AnalogyAnanalogyisacomparisonoftwothingsorabstractideas.Asimileisaanexpressedanalogy.Ametaphorisanimpliedone.For
example:"Never,neverandneveragainshallitbethatthisbeautifullandwillagainexperiencetheoppressionofonebyanotherandsufferthe
indignityofbeingtheskunkoftheworld."(Inauguraladdress,NelsonMandela,1994).
anaphora
AnaphoraAnaphorareferstotherepetitionofwordsorphrasesasarhetoricalorstylisticdevice.Forexample:"Weshallfightonthebeaches,we
shallfightonthelandinggrounds,weshallfightinthefieldsandinthestreets,weshallfightinthehills;weshallneversurrender..."(Winston
Churchill,1940).
anadiplosis
AnadiplosisTherepetitionofthelastwordofaclauseorsentenceatthebeginningofthenext.For
example:Forexample:"Meningreatplacearethriceservants:servantsofthesovereignorstate;servantsoffame;andservantsofbusiness."(FrancisBacon1561-1626).
anastrophe
AnastropheArhetoricaldeviceinwhichthereisadeparture
fromnormalwordorderforthesakeofemphasis.Forexample:"Thepathtothedark
side,fearis”(Yoda,StarWars).
anecdote
AnecdoteAnanecdoteisasmallstoryortalethatisinteresting,humorousorbiographical.
Anecdotesoftencontainalessonforlife.Forexample:"Iamhonoredtobewithyoutodayatyourcommencementfromoneofthefinestuniversitiesintheworld.Inevergraduatedfromcollege.Truthbetold,thisistheclosest
I'veevergottentoacollegegraduation"(StanfordCommencement,SteveJobs,2005).
antithesis
AntithesisAntithesisisarhetoricaldeviceinwhichtwoideasarecontrasted,usingparallelsyntacticalstructures.Forexample:"Onesmallstepfor
man,onegiantleapformankind"(NeilArmstrong,1969).
asyndeton
AsyndetonAlackofconjunctions(e.g.'and')between
successivephrasesorwords.Forexample:"Weshallpayanyprice,bearanyburden,meetanyhardships,supportanyfriend,opposeanyfoeto
assurethesurvivalandthesuccessofliberty"(InauguralAddress,JohnF.Kennedy,
1961).
chiasmus
ChiasmusArhetoricaldevicewherethephraseisone
sentenceisreversedinthenextsentences.Forexample:"Asknotwhatyourcountrycandoforyou;askwhatyoucandoforyourcountry."(Inauguraladdress,JohnF.Kennedy,1961).
diacope
DiacopeThisrhetoricaldeviceinvolvestherepetitionofaphrase,withtheinterruptionbyanotherwordorphrase.Forexample:"Freeatlast,freeat
last;thankGodalmighty,freeatlast!"(IHaveaDream,MartinLutherKing,1963).
distinctio
DistinctioArhetoricaldeviceinwhichoneelaborateonaparticularwordtopreventmisunderstandingorambiguity.Forexample:"Thetaskcouldbe
describedasdifficult,ifbydifficultwemeanthatitwillentailhardship"(WinstonChurchill,1940).
eponym
EponymTheactofusingafamousperson'snameto
conveyanidea.Forexample:"Youdon'thavetobeEinsteintofigurethisout."
ethos
EthosEthos,intheartofrhetoric,referstoaspeaker'sappealtoethicsandcredibility.Forexample,yourdoctormaysaytoyou:"Forthesakeofyourownhealth,Iforbidyoufromdrinking
alcohol."
expletive
ExpletiveAnexpletiveisashortphrasethatisinsertedintoasentence,asaninterruption,toclarifyapoint.Forexample:"Andthiscity–thisGoldenCitywhichisbothancientandyouthful–standsasalivingmonumenttoyourunconquerable
spirit"(BarackObama,2009).
hyperbole
HyperboleHyperboleisformoffigurativelanguagethatissodramaticandexaggerated,onecouldhardlybelieveittrue.Forexample;“I’msohungry,I
couldeatahorse.”
hypophora
HypophoraHypophoraisarhetoricaldevice,oftenfoundinspeeches,wherethespeakerasksaquestionandthenproceedstoanswerit.Forexample:“Youask,whatisourpolicy?Iwillsay:Itistowagewar,bysea,land,andair,withallourmightandwithallthestrengththatGodcangiveus;towagewaragainstamonstroustyrannyneversurpassedinthedark,lamentablecatalogueofhumancrime.Thatisourpolicy.”(WinstonChurchill,1940)
litotes
LitotesLitotesareafigureofspeechinwhich
understatementisusedto'soften'themeaningofaword.Forexample:saying'notunattractive'
torefertosomethingthat'sugly.
logos
LogosLogosisanappealtologicinrhetoric.Itiswhen
aspeakeraimstoconvinceanaudiencebypresentinglogicalarguments.
meiosis
MeiosisMeiosisistheoppositeofhyperbole;itisa
formofunderstatement.Itissimilartolitotesandeuphemism,inthatit
softenstheimpactofaphraseorword.'TheTroubles'isanexampleofmeiosis,referringtotheviolenceinNorthern
Ireland.'Thepond'isalsoanexampleofmeiosis,referringtotheAtlanticOcean.
mesodiplosis
Mesodiplosis The repetition of a phrase in the middle of
successive sentence. For example: "Today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a
student who needed it, and did her part to lift America’s graduation rate to its highest level in
more than three decades. An entrepreneur flipped on the lights in her tech startup, and did her part to add to the more than eight million new jobs.” (Barack Oabama, 2014)
parallelism
Parallelism
Theuseofsuccessiveverbalconstructionsinpoetryorprosewhichcorrespondingrammaticalstructure,sound,metre,ormeaning.Forexample:"Myfellowcitizens:Istandheretodayhumbledbythetaskbeforeus,gratefulforthetrustyouhavebestowed,mindfulofthesacrificesbornebyour
ancestors"(BarackObama,2008).
pathos
PathosPathosisanappealtoemotioninrhetoric.
Itiswhenaspeakerconnectstotheaudienceemotionally.Forexample:“thetimeforthehealingofthewoundshascome.Themomenttobridgethechasmsthatdivideushascome.Thetimetobuild
isuponis”(NelsonMandela,1994).
polysyndeton
PolysyndetonPolysyndetonistherepetitionofaconjunction
betweeneachwordorphraseinalist.Forexample:"Timeandagainthesemenand
womenstruggledandsacrificedandworkedtilltheirhandswererawsothatwemightliveabetter
life"(BarackObama,2008).
symploce
SymploceSymploceistherepetitionofboththefirstandlastpartofasentenceoversuccessivesentences.Forexample:"MuchofwhatIsaymightsoundbitter,butit'sthetruth.MuchofwhatIsaymightsoundlikeit'sstirringuptrouble,butit'sthetruth.MuchofwhatIsaymightsoundlikeitishate,butit'sthe
truth”(MalcolmX).
tricolon
TricolonTricolonisarhetoricaldeviceinwhichthreeideasarelisted,usingsimilarsyntactical
structures.Inthissenseitisaformofparallelism.Itisalsorelatedtothe'ruleofthree',whichstatesthatideasareoftenbestpresentedinlistsofthree."Veni,vidi,vici"(Icame,Isaw,Iconquered)isoftencitedasan
exampleoftricolon.
variedsentencelength
VariedsentencelengthSpeechesoftencontrastlongsentenceswithveryshortones.Forexample:"Wededicatethisdaytoalltheheroesandheroinesinthiscountryandtherestoftheworldwhosacrificedinmanywaysand
surrenderedtheirlivessothatwecouldbefree.Theirdreamshavebecomereality"(Nelson
Mandela,1994).
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