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Rhetorical Terms
The last set for Mrs. Knable's test on 1/23/09
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Protagonist | the main character of a literary work |
| Red Herring | when a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue |
| Reductio ad Absurdum | the Latin for "to reduce to the absurd"; technique useful in creating a comic effect and is also an argumentative technique; considered a rhetorical fallacy because it reduces an argument to an either/or fallacy |
| regionalism | an element in literatue that conveys a realistic portrayal of a specific geographical locale, using the locale and its influences as a major part of the plot |
| rhetoric | the art of effective communicaiton, esp. persuasive discourse; focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement, and style in order to create felicitous and appropriate discourse |
| rhetorical modes | exposition, description, narration, argumentation |
| rhetorical question | one that does not expect an explicit answer; used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience |
| sarcasm | harsh, caustic personal remarks to or about someone; less subtle than irony |
| satire | work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. it doesn't simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm); targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals |
| setting | time and place of a literary work |
| simile | uses like/as; direct comparison b/w two essentially different objects, actions, or qualities |
| stereotype | a character who represents a trait that is usually attributed to a particular social or racial group and who lacks individuality; a conventional patter, expression or idea |
| straw man | when a writer argues against a claim that nobody actually holds or is universally considered weak; setting up a straw man diverts attention from the real issues |
| style | author's characteristic manner of expression - his or her diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to style |
| subjectivity | a personal presentation of evens and characters, influenced by the author's feelings and opinions |
| syllogism | form of reasoning in which 2 statements are meade and a conclusion is drawn from them; format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, minor premise, and a conclusion |
| symbolism | the use of symbols or anything that is meant to be taken both literally and as representative of a higher and more complex significance |
| synecdote | figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent a whole, such as using "boards" to mean a stage or "wheels" to mean a car. ex: "All hands on deck" |
| syntactic fluency | ability to create a variety of sentence structures, appropriately complex and involved; often difficult for a reader to follow |
| syntax | grammatical structure of a sentence; arrangement of words in a sentence; includes length of sentence, kinds of sentences (questions, exclamations, declarative sentences, rhetorical questions, simple, complex, or compound) |
| theme | the central idea or "message" or a literary work |
| thesis | the main idea of a pieve of writing; presents the author's assertion or claim; effectiveness of a presentation is often based on how well the writer presents, develos, and supports this |
| tone | the characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject, and audience (anger, sarcastic, loving, didactic, emotional, etc.) |
| transition | word or phrase that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph |
| tricolon | sentence consisting of three parts of equal importance and length, usually 3 independent clauses |
| understatement | opposite of exaggeration; technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended |
| unity | quality of a piece of writing |
| voice | refers to two different areas of writing; one refers to the relationship b/w a sentence's subject and verb (active and passive voice); the second refers to the total "sound" of a writer's style |
| antimetabole | repetition of words in reverse order |
| zeugma | use of two different words in a grammatically similar way but producing different, often incongruous, meanings |
| Jay Michal | your best buddy. :) |
Created by:
smartdude7890
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