Rhetorical Terms

AP Language

anticipating an objective and answering it, permitting an argument to move forward toward its final conclusion

PROCATALEPSIS

anticipating an objective and answering it, permitting an argument to move forward toward its final conclusion

PROCATALEPSIS

Examples:• This is a stupid question. Or is it? If we look closed we can find some important points here. •So who needs ice removal in a warm climate? Well the night can get very cold. And of course when its hot every day, you may want to head for the cooler hills!•Of course you know this already, so why am I pointing it out? Well recent research had added new details…

When one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated

Metonymy

When one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated• (think part of the whole –an attribute

symbolizing the whole)

Metonymy

• Examples:• “Detroit is still hard at work on an SUV that

runs on rain forest and panda blood.” Conan O’Brien

• The working man follows the life of the crown in envy and awe.

• The White House made the statement of Osama’s death late at night.

To name a group one-by-one for effect; listing, as if accounting each in a group

ENUMERATION

• To name a group one-by-one for effect; listing, as if accounting each in a group

ENUMERATION

• I like everything about him: his smile, his personality, his sense of humor.

• She unpacked her suitcase-her hairbrush and toothbrush, her bathrobe and slippers, her jeans and shorts, dresses and blouses, socks and sneakers, iPod and computer, books and papers-as if she would be staying for ever. (This is enumeration in balanced pairs)

A technique where the speaker raises a question and then immediately answers it; draws the audience's attention to the topic via a question, and allows the speaker to open a new topic of discussion

Hypophora

• A technique where the speaker raises a question and them immediately answers it; draws the audience's attention to the topic via a question, and allows the speaker to open a new topic of discussion

Hypophora

Example:“When the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America do? It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth.” Dwight D. Eisenhower(Different from rhetorical question because it provides the answer. The answers to rhetorical questions are so obvious, they need not be stated.)

To follow a negative point with a positive point

ANTANAGOGE

• To follow a negative point with a positive point

Example:

I lost my job, but I am looking forward to spending time a t home

A moral anecdote, brief, or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point

EXEMPLUM

• A moral anecdote, brief, or extended , real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point

• EXAMPLE: – There are so many important moments in our

lives. For example, who does not remember the first girl or boy they kissed?

A figure of speech in which the normal order of words is in reverse

HYPERBATION

• A figure of speech in which the normal order of words is in reverse• (think Yoda, from Star Wars)• Example:

“ One swallow does not a summer make, not one fine day.” Aristotle

• An understatement by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed for intensification

LITOTES

• An understatement by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed for intensification

• Example:– War is not healthy for children and other living

things.

• implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.

METAPHOR

• implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.

• Example: • “Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.” Shakespeare, Macbeth

• substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant.

EUPHEMISM

• substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant.

• Example:– She waited hours for him to show up, not knowing

he had pasted during the previous night, he had passed.

• the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses

POLYSYNDETON

• the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses

• Example:– “I said, ‘Who killed him?’ and he said, ‘I don't know who killed

him but he's dead all right,’ and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Bay and she was all right only she was full of water.” Hemingway, After the Storm

•an explicit comparison between two things using 'like' or 'as'

SIMILE

• an explicit comparison between two things using 'like' or 'as‘

• Example:– Reason is to faith as the eye to the telescope.

– D. Hume

• repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence

TAUTOLOGY

• repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence

• Example:– With malice toward none, with charity for all.

Lincoln, Second Inaugural

• attribution of personality to an impersonal thing

PERSONIFICATION

• attribution of personality to an impersonal thing

• Example: – The modern house stood tall among her Cape

Cod neighbors.

an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it

PARADOX

• an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it

• Example: – “What a pity that youth must be wasted on the

young.” George Bernard Shaw

• apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another

OXYMORON

• apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another

• Example: “I must be cruel only to be kind.”• Shakespeare, Hamlet

• Placing side-by-side; positioned for comparison or contrast

Juxtaposition

• Placing side-by-side; positioned for comparison or contrast

• Example:– She heard a soft loud noise in the basement.

• Turning one's speech from one audience to another; addressing an abstraction, an inanimate object, or an absent (non-living) being

APOSTROPHE

• Turning one's speech from one audience to another; addressing an abstraction, an inanimate object, or an absent (non-living) being (think of the punctuation- accounts for “the missing”

• Example: "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so", John Donne, "Holy Sonnet X"

• One part of speech in a sentence which affects two or more other parts of the sentence

ZEUGMA

• One part of speech in a sentence which affects two or more other parts of the sentence

• Example:• “He carried a strobe light and the

responsibility for the lives of his men.” Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried

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