Rhetorical Tools Flashcards
(19 cards)
Hyperbole
Exaggerating some part of a statement in order to give it emphasis or focus
Example : “The people became so silent you could hear a beating heart from across the room.”
Understatement
When the force of a descriptive statement is less than what one would normally expect
Example : “To the uninitiated, neurophysiology can be a bit of a challenge.”
Litotes
Litotes emphasizes its point by using negative form
Example : litotes emphasizes its point by using a word opposite to the condition
Antithesis
Contrasting ideas
Example : “War is not fought to achieve joy, but rather to avoid pain”
Hypophora
Asking a question, then proceeding to answer it
Example : “Do we then submit to our oppressor? No. No. A thousand times, no.”
Rhetorical Question
Asks a question in which the answer is only implied
Example : “Why should we not protest the selling of our natural resources to the highest bidder?”
Procatalepsis
Objections
Example : “Many other experts want to classify Sanskrit as an extinct language, but I do not.”
Simile
Comparison, usually using like or as
Example : “The shower room, steamy like a Louisiana summer, rang with the athletes’ jubilant laughter.”
Metaphor
Comparison by speaking of one thing as though it actually were another.
Example : “She had the smile of an angel,”
Allusion
A reference to some fairly well-known event, place, or person
Example : “He delivered the line as if he were playing Hamlet for Shakespeare himself.”
Parallelism
Using the same general structure for multiple parts of a sentence
Example : “The burglar shinnied up the drainpipe, delicately opened the window that had conveniently been left unlocked, stealthily forced his body through, and crashed down loudly on the kitchen floor.”
Anadiplosis
Taking the last word of a sentence or phrase and repeating it near the beginning of the next sentence or phrase.
Example : “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
Apostrophe
Directly addressing a person or personified object.
Example : “So we near our conclusion, and I must ask you, my wise reader, to bear with me for one more small digression.”
Asyndeton
Leaving out conjunctions in a list or between clauses
Example : “He was tall, dark, handsome.”
Polysyndeton
Putting a conjunction between every item
Example : “The runner passed the ten-mile mark and the fifteen and the
twenty, and the finish line loomed in front of him.”
Anaphora
Repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighbouring clauses
Example : “Be bold. Be brief. Be gone.”
Epistrophe
Repeating a sequence of words at the end of neighbouring clauses
Example : “Last week,he was just fine. Yesterday,he was just fine. And today,he was just fine.”
Simploce
Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases while a different word or phrase is repeated in similar forms at the end of each phrase
Example : “If you need help, reach out. If you need a listener, speak out. If you need direction, look out”
Animetabole
When a sentence has two clauses and the second clause is the same as the first but in reverse order
Example : Oh you have, have you?
