Rhetorical Terms

A comparison that states one thing is like another.

• Epistrophe

• Simile

• Synecdoche

• Diction

Words with the specific potential to generate strong emotions or feelings – positive or negative.

• Hyperbole

• Diction

• Tone

• Loaded Language

A technique in which two or more ideas, symbols, places, or characters and their actions are placed side by side for the purpose of developing contrasts.

• Juxtaposition

• Symbol

• Allusion

• Analogy

A reference to a well known person, place, historical event, or text.

• Analogy

• Metaphor

• Allusion

• Anecdote

A mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

• Dysphemism

• Euphemism

• Asyndeton

• Tone

Identify the rhetorical appeal (effect) that is most prevalent in the following example: A brilliant young woman I know was asked once to support her argument in favor of social welfare. She named the most powerful source imaginable: the look in a mother's face when she cannot feed her children. Can you look that hungry child in the eyes? See the blood on his feet from working barefoot in the cotton fields. Or do you ask his baby sister with her belly swollen from hunger if she cares about her daddy's work ethics? —The Great Debaters

• Logical Appeal

• Ethical Appeal

• Emotional Appeal

Identify the rhetorical appeal (effect) that is most prevalent in the following example: In Cicero’s speech defending the poet Archias, he begins by referring to his own expertise in oratory, for which he was famous in Rome. While lacking modesty, this tactic was still effective because the audience was forced to acknowledge that Cicero’s public service gave him a certain right to speak, and his success in oratory gave him special authority to speak about another author. In effect, his entire speech is an attempt to increase the respectability of literature, largely accomplished by tying it to Cicero’'s own, already established, public character.

• Logical Appeal

• Ethical Appeal

• Emotional Appeal

Identify the rhetorical appeal (effect) that is most prevalent in the following example: A financial investor advises his client to stick with the current financial portfolio by arguing, " "The data is perfectly clear: this investment has consistently turned a profit year-over-year, even in spite of market declines in other areas."

• Logical Appeal

• Ethical Appeal

• Emotional Appeal

A derogatory or unpleasant term used instead of a pleasant or neutral one.

• Euphemism

• Diction

• Dysphemism

• Mood

Refers to language that describes concepts rather than concrete images (ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people, or places). The observable or “physical” is usually described in concrete language.

• Ad hominem

• Abstract

• Allegory

• Allusion