Persuasive Techniques
Rhetorical Devices #1
Literary and Sound/Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical Devices #2
Literary/
Rhetorical Devices
100
Definition: State your argument. Example:
What is claim?
100
Definition: a question whose answer is obvious or implied. Example: "Sir, at long last, have you left no sense of decency?" -- Joseph Welch, The Army-McCarthy Hearings
What is a rhetorical question?
100
Definition: the application of human attributes or abilities to nonhuman entities. Example: "Once again, the heart of America is heavy. The spirit of America weeps for a tragedy that denies the very meaning of our land." -- Lyndon Baines Johnson
What is personification?
100
Definition: repetition of the initial word(s) over successive phrases or clauses. Example: "We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community." -- Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic Convention Keynote Address
What is anaphora?
100
Definition: intentional exaggeration for rhetorical effect Example: "So first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address
What is hyperbole?
200
Definition: Is an emotional appeal that gets people to feel happy, sad, or angry. Example:As she answered questions in a diner on the morning before the election, Mrs. Clinton's voice began to waver and crack when she said: 'It's not easy. . . . This is very personal for me.'
What is pathos?
200
Definition: Used to transform an unpleasant, distasteful or repulsive expression into more socially acceptable terms. Example: Will: “We’re going to steal the ship? That ship? Jack: “Commandeer. We’re going to commandeer that ship. Nautical term.”
What is a euphemism?
200
Definition: an overt comparison between two unlike things as though they were similar -- usually with the words "like" or "as". Example: "I've had some long nights in the stir. Alone in the dark with nothing but your thoughts, time can draw out like a blade. That was the longest night of my life." -- delivered by Morgan Freeman (from the movie The Shawshank Redemption)
What is a simile?
200
Definition: Raising and responding to one's own question Example: "When the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America do? It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, I Shall Go to Korea Address
What is hypophora?
200
Definition:Two words with contrary or apparently contradictory meanings occurring next to each other, and, which, nonetheless, evoke some measure of truth Example: You know, this moment right here, it's -- it's unbelievably believable. You know, it's unbelievable because in the moment, we're all amazed when great things happen. But it's believable because, you know, great things don't happen without hard work. -- Robert Griffin III, 2011 Heisman Trophy Acceptance Address
What is oxymoron?
300
Definition: Is a logical appeal by using facts, numbers, and statistics to strengthen your argument. Example: "Bad reasoning as well as good reasoning is possible; and this fact is the foundation of the practical side of logic." (Charles S. Peirce)
What is logos?
300
Definition: A kind of extended metaphor or long simile in which an explicit comparison is made between two things for the purpose of furthering a line of reasoning or drawing an inference Example: "Dumb gorgeous people should not be allowed to use literature when competing in the pick-up pool. It's like bald people wearing hats." -- delivered by Matt McGrath (from the movie Broken Hearts Club)
What is an analogy?
300
Definition: an implied comparison between two different things which share at least one attribute in common Example: "Why this country is a shining city on a hill." -- Mario Cuomo, 1984 Democratic National Convention Address
What is a metaphor?
300
Definition: a string of words not separated by normally occurring conjunctions. Example: "Be one of the few, the proud, the Marines." -- Marine Corps Advertisement
What is asyndeton?
300
Definition: An apparent contradiction which, nonetheless, evokes some measure of truth Example: Example #1: "I don't hustle with people who are dishonest." -- delivered by Woody Harrelson (from the movie White Men Can't Jump)
What is paradox?
400
Definition: Is an appeal to shared values by getting people to trust your credibility. Example: "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." (1960s TV commercial for Excedrin)
What is ethos?
400
Definition: Successive words, phrases, clauses with the same or very similar grammatical structure Example: ..and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." -- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (here delivered by Jeff Daniels)
What is parallelism?
400
Definition: the repetition of initial consonant letters (or sounds) in two or more different words across successive sentences, clauses, or phrases. Example: "Have you forgotten you're facing the single finest fighting force ever assembled." -- delivered by Dan Ackroyd (from the movie Dragnet)
What is alliteration?
400
Definition: The deliberate and excessive use of conjunctions in successive words or clauses. Example: "In years gone by, there were in every community men and women who spoke the language of duty and morality and loyalty and obligation." -- William F. Buckley
What is polysyndeton?
400
Definition: a brief or casual reference to a famous person, historical event, place, or work of art. It is important to stress that the referent of an allusion be generally well-known. Example: "And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side." -- George W. Bush, 2000 Inaugural Address
What is allusion?
500
Definition: Is an appeal to timeliness by convincing your audience that your argument is urgent. Example: In short, " " dictates that what is said must be said at the right time. (John Poulakos, "Toward a Sophistic Definition of Rhetoric." Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1983)
What is kairos?
500
Definition: Words or phrases arranged by degrees of increasing significance. Example: "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good earth." -- Frank Borman, Astronaut
What is climax?
500
Definition: two or more words with similar vowel sounds sandwiched between different consonants. Example:"The gloves didn't fit. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." -- Johnny Cochran, Closing Arguments from the O.J. Simpson Trial
What is assonance?
500
Definition: A contrasting of opposing ideas in adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences. Example: "The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." -- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (delivered by Jeff Daniels)
What is antithesis?
500
Definition: Any part or portion or quality of a thing used to stand for the whole of the thing or vice versa -- genus to species or species to genus. Example: "Give us this day our daily bread." -- Matthew 6:11
What is synecdoche
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