Rhetorical Terms 3

logical connection and consistencyEx: One paragraph leads to another - the main ideas of each paragraph seem to connect but still make sense, which makes the reader feel that your writing is constantly flowing.

literal meaning of a word as definedEx: Home is, simply, a place where one lives.

a moment of realization or awarenessEx: A few months ago Lisa was contemplating the meaning of life and the concept of religion...

and all of a sudden, it came to her: "Life is like a trip across country. We all use different methods of transportation and maps but in the end we all start and finish the exact same way." It was at that moment that she understood it's okay that she doesn't know and it's okay that there are literally thousands of religions because, in the end, we're all going to end up the same way anyway.

beginning in the middle of its storylineEx: The Odyssey tells the story of the wanderings of the hero Odysseus, beginning almost at the end of his wanderings, just before his arrival home.

a rhetorical antithesis; the juxtaposition of two contradictory termsEx: act naturally, jumbo shrimp, actual reenactment, fine mess, cold heat

an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides one's planned writingEx: To express our feelings.

To explore an idea or perhaps entertain or amuse the listeners or readers. To inform people or explain an idea. To argue for or against an idea in order to persuade others to believe or act in a certain way. To evaluate or problem solve. To mediate or negotiate a solution in a tense or difficult situation.

a sentence containing subject and verb with little else in the subject or predicateEx: Mother died today.

a transitional statement in which one explains what has been and what will be saidEx: "You have heard how the proposed plan will fail; now consider how an alternative might succeed."

an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive languageEx: "[T]his is just the sort of blinkered philistine pig-ignorance I've come to expect from you non-creative garbage. You sit there on your loathsome spotty behinds squeezing blackheads, not caring a tinker's cuss for the struggling artist. You excrement, you whining hypocritical toadies with your colour TV sets and your Tony Jacklin golf clubs and your bleeding masonic secret handshakes. You wouldn't let me join, would you, you blackballing bastards."(John Cleese in Monty Python's "The Architect Sketch")

a figure of speech in which the speaker poses a question and then answers the questionEx: "When he reminded you of your old friendship, were you moved? No, you killed him nevertheless, and with even greater eagerness.

And then when his children groveled at your feet, were you moved to pity? No, in your extreme cruelty you even prevented their father's burial."

conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect; not intended literally, this is often humorousEx: My sister uses so much makeup, she broke a chisel trying to remove it last night!

a regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabularyEx: Jim: "We's safe, Huck, we's safe! Jump up and crack yo' heels. Dat's de good ole Cairo at las', I jis knows it." Huck: "I'll take the canoe and go see, Jim. It mightn't be, you know.

"

writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary EnglishEx: "I think country gets *dumped* on across the board by the Grammys."(Toby Keith)

a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its oppositeEx: He was not unfamiliar with the works of Dickens.

a question used by a speaker or writer to achieve an awareness in the listener or reader; no reply to the question is expectedEx: Grandma Simpson and Lisa are singing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" ("How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?"). Homer overhears and says, "Eight!"Lisa: "That was a rhetorical question!"Homer: "Oh. Then, seven!"Lisa: "Do you even know what 'rhetorical' means?"Homer: "Do I know what 'rhetorical' means?"(The Simpsons, "When Grandma Simpson Returns")

this can be the study and practice of effective communication, the art of persuasion, or an insincere eloquence intended to win points and manipulate othersEx: "Elegance depends partly on the use of words established in suitable authors, partly on their right application, partly on their right combination in phrases."(Erasmus)

the writer's attitude toward subject, audience, or self, revealed through diction and figurative languageEx: ".

.. and he is covered with a sheet and left unmolested for a while." (Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain, Jessica Mitford)The connotation of the word choice "unmolested" is a negative one, so the author's tone comes across as negative towards her subject.

the act and the means of extending thoughts or statements to increase rhetorical effect, to add importance, or to make the most of a thought or circumstanceEx: In my hunger after ten days of rigorous dieting I saw visions of ice cream - mountains of creamy, luscious ice cream, dripping with gooey syrup and calories.

the overall emotion created by a work of literatureEx: The policemen on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely ten o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh de-peopled the streets.

an exaggerated imitation of a usually more serious work for humorous purposes; the writers of these use the quirks of style of the imitated piece in extreme or ridiculous waysEx: The novel Nightlight is a parody of the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer; The Study Hard Anthem is a parody of the song Party Rock Anthem

a character whose personality and attitude is opposite the personality and attitude of another character; because these characters contrast, each makes the personality of the other stand outEx: Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series make each other's personalities stand out more - Luna believes in the unseen and has a very active imagination, while Hermione generally only believes what she can read in a book.

an event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way; also, the manner of expression of such an event or situation; artful language may be this; unintentional forms of this are usually vagueEx: The ending of the short story "The Lady and the Tiger" is left up to the reader to decide

a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component; this may serve as a preface, summary, counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional contextEx: T.S. Eliot inserted a long quotation from Dante's Inferno at the very beginning of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."