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Rhetorical Terms
Rhetorical Terms
Rhetorical Terms
Logic and Fallacies
Logic and Fallacies
100
A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.
What is an anecdote?
100
A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant. Irony is frequently humorous, and can be sarcastic when using words to imply the opposite of what they normally mean.
What is irony?
100
The attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme. It reflects the narrator's attitude.
What is tone?
100
1. All men are mortal. 2. Socrates is a man. 3. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
What is syllogism?
100
A proposition used as evidence in an argument.
What is a premise?
200
A figure of speech which makes brief, even casual reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object to create a resonance in the reader or to apply a symbolic meaning to the character or object of which the allusion consists.
What is an allusion?
200
A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, as in "jumbo shrimp" or "deafening silence."
What is an oxymoron?
200
A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness.
What is satire?
200
A conclusion based on the premise that if A happens, then eventually through a series of small steps, through B,C, . . . X, Y, Z will happen too, basically equating A and Z. So, if we don't want Z to occur, A must not be allowed to occur either.
What is a slippery slope?
200
A conclusion based on insufficient or biased evidence. In other words, you are rushing to a conclusion before you have all the relevant facts.
What is a hasty generalization?
300
A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters.
What is epistolary?
300
A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person.
What is an epitaph?
300
A satirical imitation of a work of art for purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.
What is a parody?
300
A conclusion that oversimplifies the argument by reducing it to only two sides or choices.
What is either/or?
300
An attack on the character of a person rather than his or her opinions or arguments.
What is ad hominem?
400
As in Greek theater, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly.
What is dues ex machina?
400
A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis and intensity. For example, "She is not a bad cook." Or "No man ever followed his genius until it misled him." Thoreau
What is a litote?
400
A ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego.
What is a doppelganger?
400
A diversionary tactic that avoids the key issues, often by avoiding opposing arguments rather than addressing them.
What is red herring?
400
A move that oversimplifies an opponent's viewpoint and then attacks that hollow argument.
What is a straw man?
500
A grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two or more direct objects. The linking shows a relationship between ideas more clearly.
What is zeugma?
500
A repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause. For example, "The crime was common, common be the pain." (Alexander Pope)
What is andiplosis?
500
The practice of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list, it gives a more extemporaneous effect and suggests the list may be incomplete. For example, "He was brave, fearless, afraid of nothing."
What is asyndeton?
500
A conclusion that assumes that if "A" occurred after "B," then "B" must have caused "A."
What is post ergo propter hoc
500
An emotional appeal that speaks to positive or negative concepts rather than the real issue at hand.
What is ad populum?