Rhetorical Appeals 2

The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. However, ----- is a flexible term; within these broad boundaries exist many subdivisions that are often called -----s themselves.

Related to style, ----- refers to the writer’s word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.

This term literally means “sermon,” but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.

A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout the work.

The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion attitude, or color.

----- works have the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles.

A device used to produce figurate language. Many compare dissimilar things. ----- include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement.

Figure of reasoning in which one or more questions is/are asked and then answered, often at length, by one and the same speaker; raising and responding to one’s own question(s).

Figure of amplification in which a subject is divided into constituent parts or details, and may include a listing of causes, effects, problems, solutions, conditions, and consequences; the listing or detailing of the parts of something.

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.

The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, ----- uses terms related to the five senses; we refer to visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory -----. On a broader and deeper level, however, one ----- can represent more than one thing.

repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase: word/phrase X, . . ., word/phrase X.

-----s are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. The ----- may be used to adhere to standards of social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement.

In essays, one of the four chief types of composition, the others being argumentation, description, and narration. The purpose of ----- is to explain something. In drama, the ----- is the introductory material, which creates the tone, gives the setting, and introduces the characters and conflict.

This term describes traditions for each genre. These conventions help to define each genre; for example, they differentiate an essay and journalistic writing or an autobiography and political writing.

Figure of emphasis in which a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal speech, is used to lend emphasis to the words on either side of the -----.