Devices I
This device is used in both literature and rhetoric; it is when an author intentionally exaggerates to make a point.
What is hyberbole?
This is the group of people the author is writing for, based on their interests, age, and background.
What is audience?
When an author appeals to logos, they use these types of things to make their argument.
What are facts and data?
What is a hook?
This device can be used in literature or rhetoric; it is a way that authors make unlikely comparisons using like or as.
What is a simile?
This is a rhetorical device in which a speaker makes a direct appeal urging the audience to take a specific action.
What is a "call to action"?
This appeal targets the audience’s emotions—using vivid stories, charged language, or heart‑wrenching examples—to persuade listeners or readers.
What is pathos?
This is a type of figurative language where an author makes an unlikely comparison for emphasis or aesthetics.
What is metaphor?
TRUE OR FALSE: A conclusion paragraph gets more detailed as it goes.
This device is an indirect reference to a familiar event or piece of literature or other media that leads the audience to draw conclusions or make connections.
What is an allusion?
This is an author or speaker's tendency or inclination to favor one perspective, opinion, or viewpoint over others, often leading to a lack of impartiality.
What is bias?
Ethos is a persuasive strategy that asks the audience to trust the speaker. Name ONE way they can do this.
Answers vary - "looping themselves" into the solution with "we" or a call to action; showing their credentials/expertise; admitting flaws; speaking to personal experience that gives them wisdom.
This type of figurative language gives human qualities to an object or animal.
What is personification?
These are the two things you need in an effective thesis statement for a rhetorical or literary analysis.
The TAG (title, author, genre of the work you're writing about) and a claim or argument.
This device is both literary and rhetorical; this is when authors or speakers build a vivid picture for their reader that uses figurative language and sensory details.
What is imagery?
This is the art & study of effective communication and persuasion.
What is rhetoric?
This is why an author would ask a rhetorical question.
To engage the audience in reflection and emphasize a point without expecting an answer.
This is the effect of personification.
Making the reader emotionally connect to and visualize what the author describes.
These words and phrases (for example, "however," "for instance," and "therefore") link ideas between sentences and paragraphs to guide the reader through an argument.
What are transitions/transition words?
This device concerns an author's word choices; it is the deliberate choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.
What is diction?
This is the reason why a writer creates a particular text; the author’s argument. It encompasses the goals the author aims to achieve through their writing.
What is the purpose?
In rhetoric, this technique shows you understand the other side by mentioning its points and then explaining why your argument still holds.
What is a counterargument?
This figure of speech joins two opposite or contradictory words (like “bittersweet” or “deafening silence”) to create a striking effect.
What is an oxymoron?
These are the two things you need when you present evidence in an essay.
What is context and to embed your quote in your own sentence?