Text Structure
Shows how events or actions lead to other events or actions
Sample topic: How adopting a pet can make you calmer and happier
cause and effect
Repetition of first consonant sounds in neighboring words.
“Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before”
- "The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe
alliteration
the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
"May the odds be ever in your favor."
- The Hunger Games
irony
a fancy word referring to an author's word choice
diction
An appeal to emotion
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.”
- MLK, "I Have A Dream"
pathos
Describes events in the order in which they occurred
Sample topic: The story of one dog’s journey from the streets to a loving home
chronological order
A reference to a famous person, place, thing, or idea.
“The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it. Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere.”
- Walden, Henry David Thoreau
allusion
A statement made in the form of a question with no expectation of receiving an answer.
"Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new-North as well as South.
Have we no tendency to the latter condition?"
- Abraham Lincoln, "A House Divided" speech
rhetorical question
a fancy word referring to an author's sentence structure
syntax
An appeal to credibility, ethics, or moral principles
"'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'"
- Lincoln, "House Divided" speech
ethos
Explains similarities and differences between two people, places, objects, or events
Sample topic: Cats vs. dogs—which should you choose?
compare and contrast
Writing about objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our five physical senses.
"The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world. It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease and of rubber boots and of new rope. And whenever the cat was given a fish head to eat, the barn would smell of fish. But mostly it smelled of hay, for there was always hay in the great loft up overhead. And there was always hay being pitched down to the cows and the horses and the sheep."
- Charlotte's Web
imagery
repeating certain words or phrases in order to make an idea more memorable and clear
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.”
- Winston Churchill, speech to the House of Commons, 1940
repetition
the dictionary definition of a word
denotation
An appeal to time or place
"Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children."
- MLK, "I Have a Dream" speech
kairos
Analyzes a problem and recommends a way to solve it
Sample topic: Using wild cats to keep rat populations under control
problem/solution
A word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar.
“Our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.”
-Sand and Foam, Khalil Gibran
metaphor
using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance
“With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have A Dream”
parallelism or parallel structure
the meaning of a word or phrase beyond its dictionary definition
the feelings, emotions, associations, and connections we bring to a word
connotation
An appeal to logic or reason
"Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination -- piece of machinery so to speak -- compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted; but also, let him study the history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidence of design and concert of action, among its chief architects, from the beginning."
- Lincoln, "House Divided" speech
logos
Signal words: both, unlike, the same as, on the other hand, similarly
compare and contrast
The presentation of a thing with underemphasis especially in order to achieve a greater effect.
"Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.”
-Mercutio after he is mortally wounded by Tybalt, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
meiosis (understatement)
a figure of speech; the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”
- Edward Bulwer Lytton
metonymy
not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased
objective
An appeal to time or place
Example: A text written to evoke haste in responding to the declining Florida panther population discusses the implication of panther mortality rates.