Rhetorical Terms (3/14/14)

Question 1

Parallelism

Answer 1

Similarity in structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

Eg: “…for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to support to each other OUR lives, OUR fortunes, and OUR sacred Honor”

Question 2

Isocolon

Answer 2

A scheme of parallel structure that occurs when the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure but also in length

Eg: “His purpose was TO IMPRESS the ignorant, TO PERPLEX the dubious, and TO CONFOUND the scrupulous.”

Question 3

Antithesis

Answer 3

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure

Eg. “What if I am RICH, and another is POOR – STRONG, and he is WEAK – INTELLIGENT, and he is BENIGHTED – ELEVATED, and he is DEPRAVED?”

Question 4

Anastrophe

Answer 4

The inversion of natural word order

Eg: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Question 5

Parenthesis

Answer 5

Insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence

Eg: “He said he supervised ten editors – ANOTHER EUPHEMISM – in his department, which clears 90% of NBC’s entertainment programming…”

Question 6

Ellipsis

Answer 6

Deliberate omission of a word or of words

Eg: “And he to England shall along with you.”

Question 7

Asyndeton

Answer 7

Deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of words, phrases, or clauses

Eg: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Question 8

Polysyndeton

Answer 8

Deliberate use of many conjunctions (does not involve omission, but is grouped with its opposite, asyndeton)

Eg: “We lived and laughed and loved and left.”

Question 9

Alliteration

Answer 9

Repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words

Eg: “Let it be our cause to give that child a Happy home, a Healthy family, and a Hopeful future.”

Question 10

Assonance

Answer 10

The repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words

Eg: “The gloves didn’t FIT. If it doesn’t FIT you must ACQUIT.”

Question 11

Anaphora

Answer 11

Repetition of the same word or groups of words at the beginnings of successive phrases

Eg: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island . . . we shall never surrender.”