One of the two main parts of a sentence or clause, modifying the subject and including the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the verb.
What is the "predicate?"
100
This rhetorical mode is used whenever you decide between two alternatives.
What is "Comparison and Contrast?"
100
The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.
What is "zeugma?"
100
The emotional implications and associations that a word may carry.
What is an "connotation?"
100
"Of course that writer supports gun control; she is a Democrat!"
What is an "ad hominem argument?"
200
A type of sentence in which the main idea comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units, such as prases and clauses.
What is "Loose sentence?"
200
This rhetorical mode divides up information into groups according to certain characteristics.
What is "classification?"
200
A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it.
What is "synecdoche?"
200
The choice and use of words in speech or writing.
What is "diction?"
200
"Joan is scratched by a cat while visiting her friend. Two days later she comes down with a fever. Joan concludes that the cat's scratch must be the cause of her illness."
What is "Post Hoc?"
300
"He went to the market because he needed more milk, and then he made pudding."
What is "Compound-complex sentence?"
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
The similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
What is "parallelism?"
300
Denunciatory or abusive language; discourse that casts blame on somebody or something.
What is "invective?"
300
This appeal encourages the listener or reader to agree with a position because everyone else does.
What is "bandwagon appeal."
400
A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word--usually with an emphatic climax.
What is a "periodic sentence?"
400
This rhetorical mode is used when you tell a story.
What is "Narration?"
400
A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.
What is "litote?"
400
Any of several rhetorical devices involving departure from normal word order. Ex: "His was a countenance sad."
What is "Hyperbaton?"
400
This type of argument states that a relatively small first step inevitably leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant impact.
What is "slippery slope?"
500
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
What is an "antecedent?"
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
The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. For example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction like hope or
freedom. This meaning usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence.
What is a "Allegory?"
500
A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
What is "syllogism?"
500
This is shifting the attention away from an important issue by introducing an issue that has no logical connection to the discussion at hand.