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Devices of Syntax
Devices of Figurative Language
The Art of Rhetoric
Using Language to Critique and Imitate
Rhetorical Modes of Discourse
100
the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same, or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter
What is parallelism?
100
“I hied me away to the woods—away back into the sun-washed alleys carpeted with fallen gold and glades where the moss is green and vivid yet. The woods are getting ready to sleep—they are not yet asleep but they are disrobing and are having all sorts of little bed-time conferences and whisperings and good-nights.” -L.M. Montgomery
What is personification?
100
He developed the art of rhetoric and refined its craft.
Who is Aristotle?
100
Weird Al is sure to entertain with his music video for his song “Word Crimes”; but if you aren't familiar with “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, you might not get it.
What is parody?
100
This is the term you were given when you took notes on this use of structures by writers as an organizational technique.
What are patterns of development?
200
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation...One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty... MLK, Jr.
What is anaphora?
200
“I would have given anything for the power to soothe her frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible ignorance like a small bird beating about the cruel wires of a cage.” -Joseph Conrad
What is simile?
200
The appeal asserted through the rhetorical questioning of Patrick Henry, "Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation?"
What is logical appeal?
200
Swift's attempt to persuade the Irish and English government to turn its attention to the poverty stricken in Ireland was an example of this.
What is satire?
200
A writer's ability to tell a story well influences this structural pattern.
What is narration?
300
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. -JFK
What is antithesis?
300
“Well now, one winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue. Late at night, it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid afore they could be heard. People had to wait until sunup to find out what folks were talking about the night before.” from a tall tale of Paul Bunyan
What is hyperbole?
300
This is established through the connection between speaker and audience in their shared values and the authority & credibility of the speaker.
What is ethical appeal?
300
A device of satire, Twain illustrates its use in the following lines: Some authorities hold that the young out not to lie at all. That of course, is putting it rather stronger than necessary; the young ought to be temperate in the use of this great art until practice and experience shall give them that confidence, elegance, and precision which alone can make the accomplishment graceful and profitable.
What is irony?
300
This pattern in which a writer uses imagery and figurative language is often paired with narration as a structural pattern.
What is description?
400
Am I ever sorry! -unknown AND To me alone there came a thought of grief! -Wordsworth
What is inversion, or inverted subject and verb?
400
“Shall I Compare Thee to a summer’s Day," -Shakespeare
What is metaphor?
400
When Thomas Paine asserted, "I cannot see what ground the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: A common murderer, a highwayman, or a housebreaker, has as good a pretense as he...," he made use of this device as he appealed to the angry suspicions of the colonists.
What is metaphor (or analogy)?
400
When the nervous freshman dropped his lunch tray, the seniors at a nearby table gave him a standing ovation and yelled, “Way to go, Grace.”
What is sarcasm?
400
When Martin Luther King, Jr., outlined his steps for direct action, he was utilizing this pattern.
What is process analysis?
500
Punctuation which directs the reader's attention to the words that follow and sets the expectation that important, closely related information will follow.
What is the colon?
500
"...When you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty..." -MLK, Jr.
What is metaphor? King compares poverty to an airtight cage.
500
Calling the King of England "a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man," considered an example of this fallacy by some, might not have been the most ethical means of persuasion but certainly worked to engage the colonists in the rhetoric of revolution.
What is ad hominem?
500
This device, illustrated by the line, “Let’s send one bag of rice; that will help all of those starving Sudanese,” deliberately minimizes a situation.
What is understatement?
500
Utilizing a Venn diagram might help you to prepare this type of essay on the rhetorical strengths of MLK, Jr., and JFK.
What is comparison contrast?