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| 6205548884 | Writer's Strategies | Examine the major parts of the piece—introduction, middle, and conclusion—for their effectiveness in getting your attention and/or engaging your emotions. What modes of development are being used in the middle paragraphs—narration, description, example, comparison / contrast, cause / effect, process analysis, extended definition? | 0 | |
| 6205557339 | Diction {Style of Writing} | Use of Words | 1 | |
| 6205563447 | Objective or Emotional (Diction) {Style of Writing} | Firm, versus obstinate, versus pigheaded; group, crowd, mob | 2 | |
| 6205567112 | Abstract vs Concrete (Diction) {Style of Writing} | Abstract (loyalty, independence) or concrete (green Audi station wagon) | 3 | |
| 6205573389 | Formal, Standard, or Informal (Diction) {Style of Writing} | Formal (sometimes archaic), standard (objective or journalistic) or informal (slang; colloquial); thou, you, you guys. Hawthorne's style is formal, Twain's is informal or colloquial, Hemingway's is journalistic or objective. Other authors tend to blend styles a bit, such as Hurston's formal extended metaphors and personifications of nature, intermixed with the regional dialect that is more colloquial yet realistically representative of her Southern location in Their Eyes Were Watching God. | 4 | |
| 6205575393 | Archaic (Diction) {Style of Writing} | "Deign to set us frail ones free from evil habits" | 5 | |
| 6205577645 | Formal (Diction) {Style of Writing} | "With all due respect" | 6 | |
| 6205579911 | Journalistic or Objective (Diction) {Style of Writing} | "So I organized a pledge drive" | 7 | |
| 6205582440 | Informal (Diction) {Style of Writing} | "It took me a week to think of something, and I don't mind telling you I kind of prayed about it" | 8 | |
| 6205586099 | Slang (Diction) {Style of Writing} | "I thought I'd get a jump on it before it all hit the fan." | 9 | |
| 6205588783 | Latinate (polysyllabic) or Anglo Saxon (usually monosyllabic) (Diction) {Style of Writing} | Common words or jargon; "frigid versus cold;" excrement versus sh**." | 10 | |
| 6205591086 | Repetition for emphasis (Diction) {Style of Writing} | Anaphora and Epistrophe | 11 | |
| 6205594641 | Syntax {Style of Writing} | Length of sentences (measured in number of words) Kinds of sentences and functions: statement, question, command, exclamation Grammatical: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex | 12 | |
| 6205601655 | Loose Rhetorical (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Important information comes first: "We tried so hard to find the missing suitcase, looking in all the closets of the house, asking guests to search the trunks of their cars, and even crawling under the porch in case a mischievous child had put it there as a prank." | 13 | |
| 6205604694 | Periodic Rhetorical (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | (Subject comes at end—adds suspense or punch); "Only if we are vigilant, only if we are alert, only if we require the most excellent performance in our professionals, will we receive the kind of medical care that we as an aging population so desperately need." | 14 | |
| 6205608668 | Balanced Rhetorical (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | (Use of parallel structure to add lots of information in a rhythmic way—see Jefferson's Declaration of Independence or JFK's Inaugural Address "Ask not what your country can do for you; rather ask what you can do for your country). | 15 | |
| 6205611341 | Antithesis Rhetorical (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | (Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas such as "Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in. Those left behind, we will help to catch up" (Nixon Inaugural Address), or "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" (Neil Armstrong landing on the moon in 1969). In such an example, the writer produces a sense of a clever, neat, witty intelligence in the reader or audience. | 16 | |
| 6205614398 | Aphorism Rhetorical (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | A brief pointed statement expressing a wise or clever observation or a general truth. Sometimes used to emphasize important points: ex.: "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." | 17 | |
| 6205616497 | Rhetorical Question (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Asking a question not to elicit a direct answer but to call up a certain response in the audience. The manner in which the question is phrased can determine the response: "Was this an act of heroism?" (No) "Is this not courage?" (Yes) "How can the poor feel they have a stake in a system which says that the rich can have due process but the poor may not?" Ted Kennedy (They can't) | 18 | |
| 6205619999 | Inverted Word Order (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Effective device for gaining attention as extraordinary emphasis is placed on the last words: "Good musicians of their type they are. Needed, we might say they are." | 19 | |
| 6205622463 | Parenthesis (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Insertion of some clause or phrase that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of a sentence—sends thought off on a tangent—we hear the author's voice commenting or editorializing. "But when Savage was provoked, and very small offenses were sufficient to provoke him, he would prosecute his revenge with the utmost acrimony." | 20 | |
| 6205624696 | Pun (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Use of a word that has two different meanings, depending on context: "If we don't hang together, we'll all hang separately. Or: Your argument is sound, nothing but sound (Benjamin Franklin). | 21 | |
| 6205626899 | Anaphora (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Repeated word at the beginning of several sentences for emphasis: "We will fight them on the sea, we will fight them on the beaches, we will never, ever give up" (Winston Churchill). | 22 | |
| 6205626900 | Polysyndeton (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Deliberate use of many conjunctions—offers a sense of the flow and continuity of experience. "I said who killed him and he said I don't know and it was dark and there was water flowing in the street and no lights and windows broken and boats all up in the down and trees blown down" (Ernest Hemingway). | 23 | |
| 6205632378 | Chiasmus (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses: "By day the frolic and the dance by night" (Samuel Johnson), or "Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys" (John Dryden). This effect puts emphasis by surprise on certain words or constructions in the sentence. | 24 | |
| 6205635144 | Epistrophe (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Repetition of same word or group of words at ends of successive clauses: "I'll have my bond! Speak not against my bond!" (Shakespeare's Shylock). | 25 | |
| 6205638240 | Tautology (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Repetition of the same idea with similar or slightly different words. Can be tedious or be used for emphasis. "The student found the passage difficult and very hard to interpret." | 26 | |
| 6205641675 | Zeugma (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Single word does not fit grammatically or idiomatically with one member of the pair: "He maintained a flourishing business and race horse. Or stain her honor or her new brocade" (Alexander Pope). | 27 | |
| 6205644551 | Methods of Articulating Sentences (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Coherence devices like transitions, pronouns (and antecedents), etc. | 28 | |
| 6205650353 | Simile [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Explicit comparison between two unlike things ("Like an arrow, the prosecutor went directly to the point"). | 29 | |
| 6205652884 | Metaphor [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Implied comparison between two unlike things ( "On the test, several students went down in flames"). | 30 | |
| 6205656683 | Personification [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | (Giving human qualities to a nonhuman object)—adds emotional appeal. ("The ground thirsts for rain.") | 31 | |
| 6205658646 | Pun [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Play on words, produces wit: "If we don't hang together we'll all hang separately" (Benjamin Franklin). | 32 | |
| 6205664316 | Synecdoche [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Part of speech in which part stands for the whole—bread for food, hands for helpers, roofs for houses | 33 | |
| 6205667375 | Metonymy [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Substitution of some suggestive or attributive word for what meant—crown for royalty, brass for military officers, wealth for rich people. In Chapter 18 of Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, she uses "Castles" to represent the white people and "Cabins" to represent the black folks. | 34 | |
| 6205670352 | Hyperbole [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Exaggerated terms for emotional effect, such as, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." | 35 | |
| 6205671932 | Allusion [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Reference to Biblical, historical, or mythic figure or event. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood from my hands?" (Shakespeare, Macbeth). Another example—"Great men have been misunderstood—Socrates, Jesus, Galileo" (Emerson, "Self Reliance"). | 36 | |
| 6205677455 | Understatement (Litotes) [Figure of Speech] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Not to deceive but to enhance the impressiveness of what you say. "It isn't very serious. I just have this tiny little tumor on the brain" (J. D. Salinger); or, "For four generations we've been making medicines as if people's lives depended on them" (Eli Lilly drug advertisement). | 37 | |
| 6205681326 | Irony and sarcasm [Opposites] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Use of a work conveying a meaning opposite to the literal meaning: "I was simply overjoyed at the thought of having to leave my boyfriend and return to school for finals." | 38 | |
| 6205684817 | Oxymoron [Opposite] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Yoking of contradictory terms with an underlying truth—produces a startling, witty effect. Examples include: "cruel kindness" "conspicuous by her absence." | 39 | |
| 6205687358 | Paradox [Opposite] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth: "Art is a form of lying in order to tell the truth" (Pablo Picasso). | 40 | |
| 6205691296 | Onomatopoeia [Sound] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Use of words whose sound echoes the sense "Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed" (Noyes, "Highwayman"). | 41 | |
| 6205693224 | Alliteration [Sound] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Repetition of initial consonants in two or more adjacent words (see above quotation from "Highwayman" or an advertisement that says, "Better business builds bigger bankrolls"). | 42 | |
| 6205693225 | Assonance [Sound] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Repetition of similar vowel sounds preceded and followed by different consonants in stressed syllables of adjacent words—adds emphasis, produces onomatopoetic, serious, or humorous effect. "An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king." | 43 | |
| 6205693226 | Anaphora [Sound] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Repetition of same word or group of words at beginnings of successive sentences: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, and in the streets" (Winston Churchill). Or, "Let us march to the realization of the American dream. Let us march on segregated housing. Let us march on segregated schools" (Martin Luther King, Jr.). | 44 | |
| 6205697331 | Epistrophe [Sound] (Syntax) {Style of Writing} | Repetition of same word at end of successive clauses: "I'll have my bond. Speak not against my bond" (Shylock—Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice). Epistrophe adds rhythm and emphasis. | 45 | |
| 6208202702 | Tone | Tone is the speaker's or author's attitude toward the subject and is of primary importance in determining the writer's purpose—revealed by the choice of words or phrasing. More than one tone is usually present in any given text. | 46 | |
| 6208205613 | Diction {Tone} | Connotation of word choice | 47 | |
| 6208209426 | Imagery {Tone} | Vivid appeals to understanding through the senses | 48 | |
| 6208211570 | Details {Tone} | Facts included or omitted | 49 | |
| 6208211571 | Language {Tone} | Formal, objective, informal | 50 | |
| 6208211572 | Sentence Structure {Tone} | Long and involved with many phrases and clauses; short and abrupt; a mixture of both. | 51 | |
| 6205551720 | Use of details (Examining Middle) | (Examples, anecdotes, statistics/numbers—how effective are they? Do they mesh with your experience? Are they logically-applied to what is being argued? | 52 | |
| 6208229598 | Use of imagery (Examining Middle) | Appeals to any of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) | 53 | |
| 6208235671 | Use of Analogies (Examining Middle) | Which can never prove but can illustrate a concept up to a certain point | 54 | |
| 6208237834 | Use of Irony (Examining Middle) | Does it add a humorous or sad meaning to the text? | 55 | |
| 6208240845 | Definitions (Examining Middle) | Is an extended definition of a term present, with examples? | 56 | |
| 6208244454 | Comparisons and Contrasts (Examining Middle) | Do the details compare or contrast each other? | 57 | |
| 6208246970 | Cause and Effect (Examining Middle) | Look for casual relationships | 58 | |
| 6208249494 | Use of Testimonial (Examining Middle) | Opinions of experts or authorities in a field (Legitimate sources that suit the argument) | 59 | |
| 6208262834 | Logic | Are the cause / effect claims faulty? Could there be more than one cause for an effect? Always try to tease out your reasoning as far as you can go to uncover the "bigger picture." Consider options and alternative perspectives. Is the writer making any hasty generalizations and, for instance, coming to a conclusion with too little evidence? Is the writer using circumlocution and arguing in a circle—repeating but not offering concrete proof (saying something like "My client is honest; therefore my client will not steal")? Is the writer using "ad hominem" attacks on the opposition—(attacking the character of a person when it is not relevant to the issue—such as "Why would you elect that joker for office?")? Refutation of the opposition | 60 | |
| 6208269015 | What is the thesis? (Rhetorical Analysis) | The overarching main claim | 61 | |
| 6208271308 | What are the underlying assumptions, values, outlook, (and so forth) that inform the writer's viewpoint? (Rhetorical Analysis) | What is his or her warrant? | 62 | |
| 6208271309 | What is the purpose of the piece? (Rhetorical Analysis) | Is it to inform, motivate, entertain, or persuade? | 63 | |
| 6208271310 | What kind of appeals is the writer making? (Rhetorical Analysis) | Emotional, logical (factual), or ethical appeals? | 64 | |
| 6208271311 | Knowledge of History (Rhetorical Analysis) | Does my knowledge of history or my experience make me agree or challenge the writer's assertions? | 65 | |
| 6208272838 | Interdisciplinary Fashion (Rhetorical Analysis) | Do not limit your knowledge to only ideas or concepts gathered in the English classroom | 66 | |
| 6208294581 | Rhetoric | The ability to use, in any given situation, any available means of persuasion | 67 | |
| 6208297841 | "Rhetorically Effective" | A phrase that refers to any formal, thoughtful, and sustained piece of writing or speech that seeks to produce an effect on the audience. | 68 | |
| 6208302917 | Style of Writing | The style an author uses influences how we respond to and interpret a work. The following lists are not necessarily meant to be memorized. It is much more important to become familiar with the effects a writer wishes to produce in the reader in using certain elements of style. Noticing a few elements and explaining their intended effect is the goal of rhetorical analysis. | 69 |
