Rhetorical Terms Test #5 Flashcards
Satire
A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule.
Semantics
The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.
Style
Two purposes: 1) An evaluation of the sum of the choice an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices. 2) Classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors.
Subject Complement
The word (with any accompanying phrases) or clauses that follows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either (1) renaming it or (2) describing it.
Subordinate Clause
Like all clauses, this word group contains both a subject and a verb (plus any accompanying phrases or modifiers), but unlike the independent clause, the subordinate clause cannot stand alone; it does not express a complete thought.
Syllogism
From the Greek for “reckoning together,” it is a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises (the first one called “major” and the second, “minor”) that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion.
Symbol/Symbolism
Generally, anything that represents itself and stands for something.
Synecdoche
A type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing made, or in short, any portion, section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself. Ex. I put on my best threads [clothes].
Syntax
The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, or sentences.
Theme
The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life.
Thesis
In expository writing, this statement is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author’s opinion, purpose, meaning, or position.
Tone
Similar to mood, it describes the author’s attitude toward his material, the audience, or both.
Transition
A word or phrase that links different ideas. Ex. furthermore, consequently, nevertheless, for example, in addition, likewise, similarly, and on the contrary.
Understatement
The ironic minimizing of fact, it presents something as less significant than it is.
Undertone
An attitude that may lie under the ostensible tone of the piece.
