Rhetorical Devices
This device is a question asked to make a point or for dramatic effect rather than to get an actual answer.
What is a rhetorical question?
This appeal focuses on the credibility, character, or ethics of the speaker to persuade the audience.
What is ethos?
A comparison between two unlike things using the words "like" or "as."
What is a simile?
This is the main point the author wants the reader to understand; it is the "big picture" of a text.
What is the central idea?
This element describes where and when a story takes place.
What is the setting?
This device occurs when there is a contrast between expectation and reality, such as when a character steps out into a hurricane and says, "What nice weather we're having!"
What is irony? (Specifically verbal irony)
This appeal uses facts, statistics, and logical reasoning to build an argument.
What is logos?
An extreme exaggeration used for emphasis, such as "I’m so hungry I could eat a horse."
What is a hyperbole?
These specific pieces of information, such as facts or examples, support and prove the central idea.
What is evidence or supporting details?
This is the sequence of events that make up a story, including the rising action and climax.
What is the plot?
This device uses a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.
What is an allusion?
This appeal targets the audience's emotions, such as pity, fear, or joy, often using "heart-string" stories.
What is pathos?
Giving human qualities or characteristics to non-human objects, such as "The wind whispered through the trees."
What is personification?
This writing strategy involves rewriting a text in your own words, focusing only on the main points and leaving out minor details.
What is a summary (or summarizing)?
This is the perspective from which a story is told, such as 1st person or 3rd person limited.
What is the point of view?
Figurative language that uses an item to express an abstract idea.
What is Symbolism?
An advertisement showing a professional doctor recommending a brand of aspirin is primarily using this appeal.
What is ethos?
The repetition of the same initial consonant sound in a series of words, like "Peter Piper picked a peck."
What is alliteration?
To find the central idea of a paragraph, you should often look at this specific sentence, usually found at the beginning.
What is the topic sentence?
The central message, moral, or lesson about life that an author conveys through a story.
What is the theme?
This device occurs when two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect, such as "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven."
What is antithesis (or juxtaposition)?
A commercial stating that "9 out of 10 people prefer this product" is using this specific appeal.
What is logos?
A comparison between two unlike things that does not use "like" or "as," stating one thing is another.
What is a metaphor?
When a detail does not relate to or support the main point of the passage, it is known as this.
What is an irrelevant detail?
The struggle between opposing forces (such as Man vs. Nature) that drives the action in a story.
What is conflict?