Rhetorical Devices and Techniques Allusion l A brief

Rhetorical Devices and Techniques

Allusion l. A brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage l(Where the connection is detailed in depth by the author, it is preferable to call it a reference).

Allusion l. Martin Luther King Jr. alluded to the Gettysburg Address in starting his “I Have a Dream" speech by saying 'Five score years ago. . . "

Distinctio l. An explicit reference to the meaning of a word or phrase

Distinctio l"We must address ourselves to the fact that if we dare end discrimination against women, which means if we dare finally take women seriously as people. . " – Betty Friedan l"Now, first I should define my terms: 'man' and 'God. ' By man, of course, I mean society -- social man. . " – Timothy Leary

Amplification l. Repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it

Amplification l“'More light. ' Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry: 'More light. ' Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlelight. Neon. Incandescent…” - Goethe

Enumeratio l. A type of amplification in which a subject is divided, detailing parts, causes, effects, or consequences

Enumeratio l"Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate; it's peppermint; it's delicious. " - Kramer l"It is true that this international union is a strong, militant organization. This international union is comprised of 17 trade divisions, an executive board of 15 individuals, 13 Vice Presidents. . " – Jimmy Hoffa

Juxtaposition l. Placing two things close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast

Parallelism l. Recurrent syntactical similarity

Parallelism l"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. " - JFK l". . . and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. " - Lincoln

Anaphora l. Repetition of the same word(s) at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses l“…we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills…” Churchill

Antistrophe l. Repetition of the same word(s) at the end of successive phrases or clauses l“…Japan invaded Manchukuo -without warning. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia -- without warning. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria -without warning. ” - FDR

Antithesis l. Creating a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by juxtaposing them using parallel structure

Antithesis l“Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. ” Shakespeare l"The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. " - Lincoln

Chiasmus l. A construction in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures; the clauses display inverted paralellism.

Chiasmus l"You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget. " – Cormac Mc. Carthy l"I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me. " – Ovid l"Fair is foul, and foul is fair. " Shakespeare

Zeugma l. The joining of two or more parts of a sentence with a single common verb or noun

Zeugma l"You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit. " l"He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men. " – Tim O’Brien

Asyndeton l. Deliberately omitting conjunctions (and, or, nor, but) l“…we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. ” - Lincoln

Polysyndeton l. The use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted

Polysyndeton l“…and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat…” - Hemingway

Parenthesis l. A word, phrase, or sentence inserted as an aside in the middle of a sentence. (Can be punctuated with dashes, commas, or parentheses)

Parenthesis l“She concluded by throwing me – I often served as a connubial missile – at Joe, who, glad to get hold of me on any terms, passed me on into the chimney and quietly fenced me up there with his great leg. ” – Dickens l. A dog (not a cat) is an animal that barks.

Analogy l Reasoning or explaining from parallel cases; a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based l a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.

Analogy l "Harrison Ford is like one of those sports cars that advertise acceleration from 0 to 60 m. p. h. in three or four seconds. He can go from slightly broody inaction to ferocious reaction in approximately the same time span. And he handles the tight turns and corkscrew twists of a suspense story without losing his balance or leaving skid marks on the film. But maybe the best and most interesting thing about him is that he doesn't look particularly sleek, quick, or powerful; until something or somebody causes him to gun his engine, he projects the seemly aura of the family sedan. " (Richard Schickel, review of Patriot Games in Time magazine)

Syllogism l. A kind of logical argument in which one proposition (the conclusion) is inferred from two others (the premises) of a certain form.

Syllogism l. Major premise: All men are mortal. l. Minor premise: Socrates is a man. l. Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.

Pleonasm l. The use of unnecessary words that are implicit in the word they describe l No one, rich or poor, will be excepted. l I have seen no stranger sight since I was born. l Round circle, big giant, poodle dog

Tautology l. An unnecessary or unessential (and sometimes unintentional) repetition of meaning, using different and dissimilar words that effectively say the same thing l. A huge great big man l. Say it over again once more

Ethos l. Appeal based on the character of the speaker l. I am a husband, a father, and a taxpayer. I’ve served faithfully for 20 years on the school board. I deserve your vote for city council.

Logos l. Appeal based on logic or reason l We do not have enough money to pay for improvements to our highways. And without improvements, this transportation system will falter and thus hinder our economy. Therefore, we should raise taxes to pay for better highways.

Pathos l. Appeal based on emotion l. Obama wants to kill the elderly with his new health care plan.

Logical fallacy l A misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning in argumentation l Cum hoc ergo propter hoc (with this, therefore because of this): ¡More cows die in India in the summer months. More ice cream is consumed in summer months. Therefore, the consumption of ice cream in the summer months is killing Indian cows.

Rhetorical question l. A question posed for its persuasive effect without the expectation of a reply l. How much longer must our people endure this injustice?