Logical Fallacies
The apples on the top of the box look good. The entire box of apples must be good.
sweeping generalization
The hotel has greatly expanded its customer base through the addition of a fitness spa, extensive advertising, and weekend specials.
loose sentence
Lennie was so proud of his job as a hand on the Tyler Ranch.
synecdoche
All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Socrates is mortal.
deductive reasoning and a syllogism
Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.”
inverted syntax
Most people die after being given last rites; therefore, priests kill people when they administer last rites.
Post Hoc, Ergo Prompter Hoc Fallacy
What is the strategy and the effect?
"Let the white folks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and mostly--mostly--let them have their whiteness.“
polysyndeton....a dramatic slowing down to emphasize specifically targeted words
Your apartment is not unclean.
litotes
"I knew it! Goody Osburn were midwife to me three times. I begged you, Thomas, did I not? I begged him not to call Osburn because I feared her. My babies always shriveled in her hands."
non sequitir
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.
polyptoton
Animal experimentation reduces our respect for life. If we don't respect life, we are likely to be more and more tolerant of violent acts like rape and murder.
slippery slope
It is by logic we prove, but by intuition we discover
parallelism
O, moon that wanes in yonder light glistening ever so slightly.
apostrophe
Margaret Mitchell is a southern writer. Flannery O'Connor is a southern writer. Southern writers are female.
inductive reasoning
"Foul is fair and fair is foul."
chiasmus
Paranormal phenomena exist because I have had experiences that can only be described as paranormal.
Begging the question (or circular reasoning)
Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill-temper
asyndeton
The music, the service at the feast, The noble gifts for the great and small, The rich adornment of Theseus's palace... All these things I do not mention now.
paralipsis
My opponent suggests that lowering taxes will be a good idea- this comes from a woman who eats a pint of Ben and Jerry's every night!!
Argument Ad Hominem
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness.
antithesis
I don’t approve of political jokes. I’ve seen too many of them get elected.
Equivocation
After a long, bumpy flight and multiple delays, I arrived at the San Diego airport.
periodic senence
Under the impression... that your peregrinations in this metropolis have not as yet been extensive, and that you might have some difficulty in penetrating the arcana of the Modern Babylon in the direction of the City Road-in short... that you might lose yourself-I shall be happy to call this evening, and install you in the knowledge of the nearest way.
periphrasis
Student tells his professor that he thinks some of Hillary Clinton's positions have merit. Professor says he can't believe that the student supports giving access to classified documents to foreign countries.
Strawman
Death, tho I see him not, is near
And grudges me my eightieth year.
Now I would give him all these last
For one that fifty have run past.
Ah! He strikes all things, all alike,
But bargains: those he will not strike.
antanaclasis