Rhetorical Devices
A question asked to make a point or create dramatic effect rather than to get an actual answer.
What is a rhetorical question?
This appeal uses facts, statistics, and logical reasoning to convince an audience.
A direct comparison between two unlike things using the words "like" or "as."
Answer: What is a simile?
The most important point the author is trying to make about a topic; the "big picture."
Answer: What is the central idea (or main idea)?
The time and place in which a story occurs.
What is the setting?
The intentional repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences (e.g., "I have a dream...").
What is anaphora?
This appeal focuses on the credibility, character, or authority of the speaker or writer.
What is ethos?
A deliberate and extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or humor, such as "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
Answer: What is a hyperbole?
These specific pieces of information, such as facts, examples, or statistics, support and develop the central idea.
What are supporting details (or key details)?
The sequence of events that make up a story, including the rising action and climax.
What is the plot?
A figure of speech that brings together two contradictory terms, such as "deafening silence" or "bittersweet."
What is an oxymoron?
This appeal targets the audience's emotions, such as pity, fear, or joy, to win them over.
What is pathos?
Giving human qualities or characteristics to non-human things, such as "the wind whispered."
What is personification?
To provide a brief statement of the main points of a text in your own words, including only the most important parts.
What is to summarize?
The struggle between opposing forces, which can be internal or external.
What is the conflict?
A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.
What is an allusion?
A commercial showing a shivering, lonely puppy in the rain to get you to donate is using this specific appeal.
What is pathos?
A common expression where the meaning is different from the literal words (e.g., "It's a piece of cake").
What is an idiom?
This organizational structure explains why something happened and the result of that event.
What is cause and effect?
The perspective from which a story is told (e.g., 1st person, 3rd person limited).
What is point of view?
The use of similar grammatical structures or patterns in a sentence to create rhythm and balance (e.g., "Reading, writing, and arithmetic").
What is parallelism?
A toothpaste ad stating, "9 out of 10 dentists recommend this brand," primarily uses these two appeals.
What are ethos (expert recommendation) and logos (statistics)?
The repetition of the same initial consonant sound in a series of words, such as "Peter Piper picked a peck..."
What is alliteration?
The central idea of a paragraph is often found in this specific sentence.
What is the topic sentence?
The universal message or lesson about life that the author conveys through the story.
What is the theme?