Grammar
Rhetorical Modes
Figurative Language
Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical Fallacies
100
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
What is an "antecedent?"
100
This rhetorical mode uses solid and appropriate illustrations to communicate clearly and with clarity.
What is "example?"
100
Shakespeare uses this form of figurative language when he says that the cuckoo’s song is unpleasing to a “married ear,” for he really means a married man.
What is "synecdoche?"
100
Ex: "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." -Barry Goldwater
What is an "antithesis?"
100
1. Person A makes claim X. 2. Person B makes an attack on person A. 3. Therefore A's claim is false.
What is an "ad hominem argument?"
200
Call me tomorrow (comma, semicolon, colon) I will give you my answer then.
What is "(semicolon)?"
200
This rhetorical mode divides up information into groups according to certain characteristics.
What is "classification?"
200
I’m a riddle in nine syllables, An elephant, a ponderous house, A melon strolling on two tendrils. O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers! This loaf’s big with it’s yeasty rising. Money’s new-minted in this fat purse. I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf. I’ve eaten a bag of green apples, Boarded the train there’s no getting off. ---Sylvia Plath
What is a "metaphor?"
200
Ex: "Those gallant men will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers always." -MacArthur
What is "chiasmus?"
200
Joe: "Bill, I know you think that 1+1=2. But we don't accept that sort of thing in our group. " Bill: "I was just joking. Of course I don't believe that."
What is "bandwagon appeal?"
300
What (affect/effect) did that speech have?
What is "effect?"
300
This rhetorical mode is used by writers when they want to explain how to do something or how something was done.
What is "process analysis?"
300
“Western Wind” Western Wind, when wilt thou blow, The small rain down can rain? Christ! if my love were in my arms, And I in my bed again! -----Anonymous (c. 1500)
What is "apostrophe?"
300
Ex: "War is not healthy for children and other living things."
What is "litote?"
300
1. Premises in which the truth of the conclusion is claimed or the truth of the conclusion is assumed (either directly or indirectly). 2. Claim C (the conclusion) is true.
What is "begging the question?"
400
The "maverick," that just refuses to conform: apathy indifference ennui pulchritude
What is "pulchritude?"
400
This rhetorical mode explains why things should be or should have been done. It explains the processes responsible for the process.
What is "cause and effect?"
400
Ex: Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”: “An hundred years should go to praise / Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze, / Two hundred to adore each breast, / But thirty thousand to the rest” (13-16).
What is "Hyperbole?"
400
Ex: "No one, rich or poor, will be excepted."
What is "pleonasm?"
400
1. Topic A is under discussion. 2. Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A). 3. Topic A is abandoned.
What is "red herring?"
500
We all know (who/whom) pulled that prank.
What is "who?"
500
This rhetorical mode helps to make expository or argumentative writing lively and interesting and hold the reader's interest. It is typically used to communicate a scene, a specific place, or a person to the reader.
What is "description?"
500
In “Out, Out--,” Robert Frost uses this figure of speech when he describes an injured boy holding up his cut hand “as if to keep / The life from spilling . . . .” Literally he means to keep the blood from spilling.
What is a "metonymy?"
500
Ex: "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." -J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address
What is "asyndeton?"
500
1. Event X has occurred (or will or might occur). 2. Therefore event Y will inevitably happen.
What is a "slippery slope?"
M
e
n
u