Rhetorical Terms & Devices List 1
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| A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions | ||
| An indirect reference, often to another text or historical event | ||
| Capable of being interpreted in more than one way | ||
| A device employed to serve as a basis for comparing the similarities between two different items | ||
| the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun | ||
| A short, astute statement of a general truth | ||
| form of personification, speaking to an absent or dead person or object as if it is there | ||
| A statement put forth and supported by evidence | ||
| A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate | ||
| That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning | ||
| An informal or conversational use of language | ||
| The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition | ||
| the manner in which something is expressed in words | ||
| writing whose purpose is to instruct or teach | ||
| The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant | ||
| A setting forth of the meaning or purpose (as of a writing) | ||
| The comparison between two things is continued beyond the first point of comparison. This extends and deepens a description. | ||
| Writing or speech that is used to create vivid impressions by setting up comparisons between dissimilar things, [examples are metaphor, simile, and personification. | ||
| a sermon or moralistic lecture | ||
| deliberate exaggeration | ||
| Vivid use of language that evokes a reader's senses | ||
| The act or process of deriving a conclusion based solely on what one already knows. | ||
| An abusive expression or speech | ||
| A situation or statement in which the actual outcome or meaning is opposite to what was expected. | ||
| Placement of two things side by side for emphasis | ||
| a complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows noun | ||
| A figure of speech that uses the name of an object, person, or idea to represent something with which it is associated. | ||
| Similar to tone, it is the primary emotional attitude of a work (the feeling of the work; the atmosphere. Syntax is also a determiner of this term because sentence strength, length, and complexity affect pacing. | ||
| Retelling an event or series of events | ||
| The use of words that sound like what they mean, such as "hiss". | ||
| A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms. | ||
| The relative speed with which a story is told or an idea is presented | ||
| A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true | ||
| The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns | ||
| a composition that imitates somebody's style in a humorous way | ||
| excessively concerned with book learning and formal rules | ||
| a complex sentence in which the main clause comes last and is preceded by the subordinate clause | ||
| representing an abstract quality or idea as a person or creature | ||
| the repeated use of the same word or word pattern as a rhetorical device | ||
| study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking) | ||
| A mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual | ||
| language or writing that exposes follies or abuses by holding them up to ridicule | ||
| the act of changing one thing or position for another | ||
| a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period | ||
| Objects, pictures, or other concrete representations of ideas, concepts, or other abstractions | ||
| the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences | ||
| a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work noun | ||
| the quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author | ||
| the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended. | ||
| a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter |