Sentence Style
Be Nice
How Appeal-ing
Literary Devices
Grammatically Speaking
100
These are punchy and intense; often used to call attention to an idea. Some may even say they are diminutive.
What are SHORT, STACCATO SENTENCES?
100
When done well, this device can be witty and insightful; when done poorly, it's simply cruel.
What is SARCASM?
100
Relies on logic and often depends on the use of inductive or deductive reasoning
What is LOGOS or APPEAL to REASON?
100
to make a pointed, specific and powerful comparison by highlighting the similarity between two or more entities
What is ANALOGY?
100
a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song, usually at the end of a stanza, which may help to establish the meter of a poem, indicate its tone, or reestablish its atmosphere
What is REFRAIN?
200
It is used for effect, emphasis, or provocation, or for drawing a conclusionary statement from the fact at hand.
What is RHETORICAL QUESTION?
200
an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. (For example, in Henry IV, Part I, Prince Hal calls the large character of Falstaff “this sanguine coward, this bedpresser, this horseback breaker, this huge hill of flesh.”)
What is INVECTIVE?
200
based on the character, credibility, or reliability of the writer.
What is ETHOS or ETHICAL APPEAL?
200
a short and interesting story taken from a person's past experience - or that of someone they know or have heard about
What is ANECDOTE?
200
The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonants in two or more neighboring words to reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, etc...
What is ALLITERATION?
300
Can be used as asyndetons or as polysyndetons, to create a sense of overwhelming force or magnitude.
What are LISTS?
300
to disarm the audience, diffuse hostility, warm the reader to the writer's ideas
What is HUMOR?
300
appeals to an audience's needs, values, and feelings
What is PATHOS or EMOTIONAL APPEAL?
300
A sub-type of parallelism, when the exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences. Ex. MLK's “I Have a Dream” speech (1963).
What is ANAPHORA?
300
to draw attention to something while pretending not to do so.
What is PARALEIPSIS?
400
The grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. Acts as an organizing force to attract the reader’s attention, add emphasis and organization, or simply provide a musical rhythm.
What is PARALLELISM?
400
Uses the following devices to ridicule in hopes of reform: irony, wit, parody, caricature, hyperbole, understatement and sarcasm.
What is SATIRE?
400
The argument attempts to persuade by calling on ones community spirit, specifically on ones love of country. Alternatively, the argument may attempt to refute a position by calling it treasonous or unpatriotic.
What is APPEAL TO PATRIOTISM or JINGOISM?
400
"What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young." --George Bernard Shaw
What is PARADOX?
400
These direct or indirect references to something commonly known can be historical, literary, religious, topical or mythical.
What is ALLUSION?
500
To call attention to extremes; by placing two dissimilar or opposing ideas side by side.
What is JUXTAPOSITION?
500
a short and interesting story taken from a person's past experience - or that of someone they know or have heard about
What is ANECDOTE?
500
the art of communicating thought from one mind to another, the adaptation of language to circumstance
What is RHETORIC?
500
"Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage."-- Shakespeare, Macbeth
What is METAPHOR?
500
A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity.
What is PARADOX?
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