Rhetorical Devices
This device compares two unlike things without using “like” or “as.”
What is a metaphor?
What is a counterargument?
What is an opposing viewpoint addressed by the writer?
A brief reference to a well-known person, event, or text.
What is an allusion?
This nonfiction author wrote Excellent Sheep, criticizing pressure and conformity in elite education.
Who is William Deresiewicz?
The repetition of grammatical structure in a sentence.
What is parallelism?
What device is used when an author exaggerates for emphasis?
What is hyperbole?
The main claim or position of an argument.
What is a thesis?
A statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a deeper truth.
What is a paradox?
This transcendentalist author wrote Walden.
Henry David Thoreau?
An apparent contradiction that reveals truth.
What is paradox?
What rhetorical device involves a contrast between expectation and reality?
What is irony?
Evidence based on logic, facts, and reasoning appeals to this rhetorical strategy.
What is logos?
The emotional atmosphere or feeling created in a text.
What is mood?
This abolitionist wrote "Learning to Read and Write"
Who is Frederick Douglass?
The choice and arrangement of words in writing.
What is diction?
This rhetorical appeal focuses on credibility and trustworthiness.
What is ethos?
What does it mean to “synthesize” sources?
What is to connect, combine, and analyze ideas from multiple sources.
The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
What is anaphora?
This author wrote, "I Just Wanna Be Average".
Mike Rose
A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty").
What is metonymy?
The urgency, problem, or event that motivates a writer to speak or write.
What is exigence?
An argument that relies heavily on emotion instead of logic may weaken because of this rhetorical appeal.
What is pathos?
A characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English.
What is colloquial?
This French political thinker wrote Democracy in America.
Who is Alexis de Tocqueville?
A figure of speech where one word governs two others in different senses.
What is zeugma?