Rhetorical Strategies And Stylistic Devices
Rhetorical Strategies and Stylistic Devices
Alliteration- the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
Ex. “GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE, COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN, AND WISDOM ALWAYS TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE.” (Slaughter House-Five,60)
Allusion- a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.
Ex. “Canst thou draw out le-vi’-a-than with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?” (Bible, Job 41:23)
Anaphora- the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Ex. This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, …show more content…
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself (John of Gaunt in Shakespeare's Richard II (2.1.40-51; 57-60)
Antimetabole- is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order.
Ex. "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
Antithesis- a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other.
Ex. "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." (Martin Luther King, Jr., speech at St. Louis, 1964)
Asyndeton - a writing style that omits conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.
Ex. "He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac." (Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1957)
Concession- a literary device used in argumentative writing where one acknowledges a point made by one’s opponent.
Ex. "It has been said that Rowcliff is handsome, and I'll concede that his six feet of meat is distributed well enough, but his face reminds me of a camel with a built-in sneer." (Rex Stout, Please Pass the Guilt, 1973)
Connotation - an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Ex.
"They had a ghostly, opalescent similarity." (Slaughterhouse Five, pg.96)
Context-the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning.
Ex. In Slaughter House Five the Context is World War II Bombing of Dresden
Counterargument- an argument or set of reasons put forward to oppose an idea or theory developed in another argument.
Ex. Predestination and Free Will (SlaughterHouse Five)
Cumulative Sentence- An independent clause followed by a series of subordinate constructions that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea.
Ex. "He was an eerie sight, a bundle of rags standing at the end of the stairs, his shadow on the wall looming over him," is an example of a cumulative sentence from "The Treasure of Lemon Brown" by Walter Dean Myers.
Hortative Sentence- is a sentence that is more of a suggestion; used when you are advising some or calling something to action.
Ex. An example of a hortative sentence is, "Just try it at least once!" (YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2014 by LoveToKnow Corp)
Imperative Sentence- is a sentence that commands a request, and uses the understood “You.”
Ex. “Go Away …show more content…
!”
Periodic Sentence- A sentence that, by leaving the completion of its main clause to the end, produces an effect of suspense.
Ex. In spite of heavy snow and cold temperatures, the game continued. (www.yourdictionary.com)
Rhetorical Question- is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point.
Ex.”One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, “Poo-tee-weet?” (Slaughterhouse Five pg.215)
Inversion-a reversal of normal word order, especially the placement of a verb ahead of the subject.
Questions in English are usually characterized by inversion of the subject and the first verb in the verb phrase.
Ex. “Where in the world are you!” (literarydevices.net)
Juxtaposition- is a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.
Ex. Billy is an optometrist, or a doctor who specializes in the care of sight and eyes. It is slightly ironic, though, that Billy works with sight because his own view of his life is changed as well. Just as he helps his patients to literally see more clearly, the Tralfamadorians helped him to see the truths of life more clearly. (Slaughterhouse Five)
Metaphor-is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them.
Ex. “It was realized then that there was no food or water , and that survivors, if they were going to survive, where going to have to climb over the curve on the face of the moon.” (Slaughterhouse Five pg. 179) going to survive, were going the moon."
p.18
Oxymoron- is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.
Ex. Jumbo shrimp.
.
Parallelism-is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter
Ex. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; (The Bible (King James Version), Ecclesiastes, Ch. 3)
Ethos-represents credibility or an ethical appeal which involves persuasion by the character involved.
Ex. "Doctors all over the world recommend this type of treatment."
Pathos- is a method of convincing people with an argument drawn out through an emotional response.
Ex. "If we don’t move soon, we’re all going to die! Can’t you see how dangerous it would be to stay?"
Logos- is a literary device that can be defined as a statement, sentence or argument used to convince or persuade the targeted audience by employing reason or logic.
Ex. "You don’t need to jump off a bridge to know that it’s a bad idea. Why then would you need to try drugs to know if they’re damaging? That’s plain nonsense."
Persona- a voice or an assumed role of a character that represents the thoughts of a writer or a specific person the writer wants to present as his mouthpiece.
Ex. In Slaughterhouse five Kurt Vonegut narrates in both first and third person.
Polemic - a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something.
Ex. Slaughterhouse Five is an example the message is “anti-war”.
Propaganda- information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Ex. In George Orwells’ book, Animal Farm propaganda is one of the themes, for example squealer tells all the animals that Boxer was being taken away to the hospital but was actually being taken away in a knacker truck to a glue factory.
Refutation-The part of an argument in which a speaker or writer counters opposing points of view.
Ex. Slaughterhouse Five –Billy was convinced that he was taken to another planet, however his daughter refuted that.
Personification- he attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
Ex. “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.” (Bible, Genesis 9:5)
Synecdoche-a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.
Ex. The word "society" is often used to refer to high society or the social elite
Zeugma- a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses or to two others of which it semantically suits only one.
EX. "She opened her door and her heart to the orphan." (Wunderland)
Alliteration- the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
Ex. “GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE, COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN, AND WISDOM ALWAYS TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE.” (Slaughter House-Five,60)
Allusion- a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.
Ex. “Canst thou draw out le-vi’-a-than with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?” (Bible, Job 41:23)
Anaphora- the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Ex. This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, …show more content…
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself (John of Gaunt in Shakespeare's Richard II (2.1.40-51; 57-60)
Antimetabole- is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order.
Ex. "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.
Antithesis- a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other.
Ex. "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." (Martin Luther King, Jr., speech at St. Louis, 1964)
Asyndeton - a writing style that omits conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.
Ex. "He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac." (Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1957)
Concession- a literary device used in argumentative writing where one acknowledges a point made by one’s opponent.
Ex. "It has been said that Rowcliff is handsome, and I'll concede that his six feet of meat is distributed well enough, but his face reminds me of a camel with a built-in sneer." (Rex Stout, Please Pass the Guilt, 1973)
Connotation - an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Ex.
"They had a ghostly, opalescent similarity." (Slaughterhouse Five, pg.96)
Context-the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning.
Ex. In Slaughter House Five the Context is World War II Bombing of Dresden
Counterargument- an argument or set of reasons put forward to oppose an idea or theory developed in another argument.
Ex. Predestination and Free Will (SlaughterHouse Five)
Cumulative Sentence- An independent clause followed by a series of subordinate constructions that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea.
Ex. "He was an eerie sight, a bundle of rags standing at the end of the stairs, his shadow on the wall looming over him," is an example of a cumulative sentence from "The Treasure of Lemon Brown" by Walter Dean Myers.
Hortative Sentence- is a sentence that is more of a suggestion; used when you are advising some or calling something to action.
Ex. An example of a hortative sentence is, "Just try it at least once!" (YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2014 by LoveToKnow Corp)
Imperative Sentence- is a sentence that commands a request, and uses the understood “You.”
Ex. “Go Away …show more content…
!”
Periodic Sentence- A sentence that, by leaving the completion of its main clause to the end, produces an effect of suspense.
Ex. In spite of heavy snow and cold temperatures, the game continued. (www.yourdictionary.com)
Rhetorical Question- is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point.
Ex.”One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, “Poo-tee-weet?” (Slaughterhouse Five pg.215)
Inversion-a reversal of normal word order, especially the placement of a verb ahead of the subject.
Questions in English are usually characterized by inversion of the subject and the first verb in the verb phrase.
Ex. “Where in the world are you!” (literarydevices.net)
Juxtaposition- is a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.
Ex. Billy is an optometrist, or a doctor who specializes in the care of sight and eyes. It is slightly ironic, though, that Billy works with sight because his own view of his life is changed as well. Just as he helps his patients to literally see more clearly, the Tralfamadorians helped him to see the truths of life more clearly. (Slaughterhouse Five)
Metaphor-is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them.
Ex. “It was realized then that there was no food or water , and that survivors, if they were going to survive, where going to have to climb over the curve on the face of the moon.” (Slaughterhouse Five pg. 179) going to survive, were going the moon."
p.18
Oxymoron- is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.
Ex. Jumbo shrimp.
.
Parallelism-is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter
Ex. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; (The Bible (King James Version), Ecclesiastes, Ch. 3)
Ethos-represents credibility or an ethical appeal which involves persuasion by the character involved.
Ex. "Doctors all over the world recommend this type of treatment."
Pathos- is a method of convincing people with an argument drawn out through an emotional response.
Ex. "If we don’t move soon, we’re all going to die! Can’t you see how dangerous it would be to stay?"
Logos- is a literary device that can be defined as a statement, sentence or argument used to convince or persuade the targeted audience by employing reason or logic.
Ex. "You don’t need to jump off a bridge to know that it’s a bad idea. Why then would you need to try drugs to know if they’re damaging? That’s plain nonsense."
Persona- a voice or an assumed role of a character that represents the thoughts of a writer or a specific person the writer wants to present as his mouthpiece.
Ex. In Slaughterhouse five Kurt Vonegut narrates in both first and third person.
Polemic - a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something.
Ex. Slaughterhouse Five is an example the message is “anti-war”.
Propaganda- information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Ex. In George Orwells’ book, Animal Farm propaganda is one of the themes, for example squealer tells all the animals that Boxer was being taken away to the hospital but was actually being taken away in a knacker truck to a glue factory.
Refutation-The part of an argument in which a speaker or writer counters opposing points of view.
Ex. Slaughterhouse Five –Billy was convinced that he was taken to another planet, however his daughter refuted that.
Personification- he attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
Ex. “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.” (Bible, Genesis 9:5)
Synecdoche-a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa.
Ex. The word "society" is often used to refer to high society or the social elite
Zeugma- a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses or to two others of which it semantically suits only one.
EX. "She opened her door and her heart to the orphan." (Wunderland)