Sophomore Rhetoric Terms

Putting two opposite ideas, words, concepts, sentences together to create a contrasting effect

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Using extreme exaggeration to make a point or add emphasis

Appeal that uses logic, facts, statistics, and reasoning

Giving inanimate objects, ideas, or animals human attributes and characteristics to make them more relatable to humans

When a writer or speaker uses an object or idea to represent something else.

A comparison of two unlike things using like or as

A series of three parallel words, phrases, ideas, or clauses

Attitude and/or feeling a writer/speaker takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

When the outcome of a situation is different from what one would expect it to be

Using words, phrases or ideas multiple times for effect and emphasis

The feeling that an author/speaker wants their reader/audience to get from their work

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

A reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance

When the reader/audience knows more than the character(s)

When something happens that is opposite of what you expect to happen.

When someone says or writes one thing, but means another thing

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

A statement made up of opposite ideas that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Appeal that uses emotions...tugs at the heart strings

A question that is asked, but an answer is not actually being sought or demanded

A figure of speech that compares two things that are not similar. States that one thing is another thing.

Appeal that uses credibility and ethics...ex. having a celebrity spokesperson for your product

The choice of words and style that an author/speaker uses in their writing and speech

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. Ex. Jumbo Shrimp...Deafening Silence