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RHETORICAL TERMS

Esthetic- pertaining to a sense of the beautiful, or to the science of aesthetics.


Example: Aristotle found that the universal elements of beauty were order, symmetry, and definiteness.

2. Allegory-a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.
Ex: George Orwell's Animal Farm is probably one of the best known examples of allegory in literature in which a farm governed by animals stands to represent the communist regime of Stalin in Russia before the Second World War.

3. Alliteration-the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group.
Ex: Let us go forth to lead the land we love. J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural

4. Allusion-a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication.
Ex: I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchios. This refers to the story of Pinocchio, where his nose grew whenever he told a lie. It is from The Adventures of Pinocchio, written by Carlo Collodi.

5. Ambiguity-doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention.


Ex: I can't tell you how much I enjoyed meeting your husband.

6. Anachronism-something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time.
Ex: Brutus: Peace! Count the clock. Cassius: The clock has stricken three. (From Act II, scene i: lines 193 - 194 of Julius Caesar)

7. Anadiplosis-repetition in the first part of a clause or sentence of a prominent word from the latter part of the preceding clause or sentence.
Ex: "When I give I give myself."(Walt Whitman)

8. Analogy-a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based.

Ex: "One good analogy is worth three hours discussion."(Dudley Field Malone)

9. Anaphora-repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.
Ex: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." (Rick Blaine in Casablanca)

10.

Anastrophe-inversion of the usual order of words.

Ex: "Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer." (Winston Churchill, address delivered at the Guildhall, London, Sep. 14, 1914)

11. Antanaclasis-a form of speech in which a key word is repeated and used in a different way for a play on words.
Ex: "If you dont look good, we dont look good."(Vidal Sassoon advertising slogan)

12. Anthimeria-is the use of a word as if it were a member of a different word class (part of speech); typically, the use of a noun as if it were a verb.
Ex: Kate: He's still in the rec room, right? Hurley: I moved him to the boathouse. . . . You just totally Scooby-Doo'd me, didn't you? ("Egg town," Lost, 2008)

13.

Antimetabole-repetition of a phrase in reverse.

Ex: "I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better." (A. J. Liebling)

14. Antithesis-the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas.
Ex: "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." (Goethe)

15.

Aphorism-a pithy observation that contains a general truth.

Ex. "Sits he on ever so high a throne, a man still sits on his bottom."(Montaigne)

16.

Apostrophe- A figure of speech in which some absent or nonexistent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of understanding.
Ex: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky." (Jane Taylor, "The Star," 1806)

17. Appeals-the power or ability to attract interest, amuse, or stimulate the mind or emotions.
Logos- the appeal to logic
Ex: "Bad reasoning as well as good reasoning is possible; and this fact is the foundation of the practical side of logic." (Charles S. Peirce)

Pathos- the appeal to the emotions


Ex: "Emotions can be an electoral trump card, especially if one can show them as Mrs. Clinton did, without tears. The key is to appear stirred without appearing weak."(Christopher Caldwell, "Politics of the Personal." Financial Times, Jan. 12, 2008)

Ethos- the appeal to the character


Ex: "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." (1960s TV commercial for Excedrin)

18.

Assonance-resemblance of sounds.
Ex: "I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed and restless."(Thin Lizzy, "With Love")

19.

Asyndeton-the omission of conjunctions.


Ex: "He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac." (Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1957)

20. Author Purpose-the reason that an author writes a poem, novel or short story with the intention to communicate something in their writings.
Ex: "The theme of abandonment and the motif of dual or multiple parents pervade the Harry Potter books."(Lana A. Whited, The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, Univ. of Missouri Press, 2004)

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21. 23. 24.

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acophony- a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds.


Ex: We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work your wicked will. Churchill

Canon- a list of the works of an author that are accepted as authentic


Ex: "The most important books in the western literary canon include many of Shakespeare's plays."

Catharsis-the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions.


Ex: Oedipus: With fear my heart is riven, fear of what shall be told. Fear is upon us.

Chiasmus-a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases.

Ex: "You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget."(Cormac McCarthy, The Road, 2006)

25.

Claim-to asserts or maintain as a fact.


Ex: to say 'Ten degrees Fahrenheit is cold' is a claim

26.

Clich-anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.


Ex: "People say, 'I'm taking it one day at a time.' You know what? So is everybody. That's how time works."(Comedian Hannibal Buress, 2011)

27. Colloquial-characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing.
Ex: She was recently dumped by her fianc.

28.

Conceit-an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability, importance.


Ex: "[I]t should be said that nothing objectionable appears in Heartbreak before page 10. But then: 'Here she is at her kitchen table, fingering a jigsaw of thalidomide ginger, thinking about the arthritis in her hands.'

29. Connotation-the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning.
Ex: Lisa: "A rose by any other name smells as sweet." Bart: Not if you call them "Stench Blossoms." (The Simpsons)

D
31.

---------------------------------eductive- based on reason and logical analysis of available facts.

Ex: Sherlock Holmes and Watson were on a camping trip. They had gone to bed and were lying there looking up at the sky. Holmes said, "Watson, look up. What do you see?" "I see thousands of stars." "And what does that mean to you?" "I guess it means we will have another nice day tomorrow. What does it mean to you, Holmes?" "To me, it means someone has stolen our tent."

Denotation- the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or

expression.

Ex: "You know a phrase I never understood? King size. It's used to denote something larger, but most of the kings you see are short. You ever notice that? Usually a king is a short little fat guy." (George Carlin, Napalm & Silly Putty, 2001)

32.

Diction- style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words.

Ex: "Diction will be effective only when the words you choose are appropriate for the audience and purpose, when they convey your message accurately and comfortably. The idea of comfort may seem out of place in connection with diction, but, in fact, words can sometimes cause the reader to feel uncomfortable. You've probably experienced such feelings yourself as a listener-hearing a speaker whose words for one reason or another strike you as inappropriate." (Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar. Allyn and Bacon, 1999)

33.

Didactic- intended for instruction; instructive.

Ex: A didactic form of teaching would involve the conveyance of perceived 'facts' from a teacher to a student. This would be a teacher 'telling' a student how it is, or how it works, often without inviting questions as to the nature of the 'fact' or 'truth.' The biggest problem with this form of teaching comes from the philosophical notion that truth almost constantly evolves as human understanding increases.

34.

Digression- a passage or section that deviates from the central theme in speech

or writing.
Ex: "[A]mong other functions, the digression in classical oratory served as a formal transition and in this capacity became incorporated into medieval and Renaissance arts of preaching. For Quintilian a digression 'outside the five divisions of the speech' reflected an emotional detour; and indeed, from the early rhetoricians, digression was associated with the extra breath of the 'furor poeticus,' the inspired passion which excites emotion in the listener, which touches and persuades." (Anne Cotterill, Digressive Voices in Early Modern English Literature. Oxford Univ. Press, 2004)

35.

Discourse- a formal discussion of a subject in speech or writing, as a

dissertation, treatise, sermon, etc.


Ex: He likes to engage in lively discourse with his visitors.

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37.

legy-a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem.

Ex: O Captain! My Captain! is Walt Whitman's elegy on the death of President Lincoln.

Ellipses- arched rounded line or object.

Ex: "When well used, ellipsis can create a bond of sorts between the writer and the reader. The writer is saying, in effect, I needn't spell everything out for you; I know you'll understand." (Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar, 5th ed. Pearson, 2007)

38.

Emphasis-importance, prominence

Ex: "Two positions in a clause or sentence are more emphatic than any others--the opening and the closing. . . .

39.

Enthymeme- a syllogism or other argument in which a premise or the

conclusion is expressed.
Ex: "[M]y parents decide to buy my brothers guns. These are not 'real' guns. They shoot 'BBs,' copper pellets my brothers say will kill birds. Because I am a girl, I do not get a gun." (Alice Walker, "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self." In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. Harcourt Brace, 1983)

40.

Epanalepsis- a repetition of a word or a phrase with intervening words setting

off the repetition.


Ex: "Next time there won't be a next time." (Phil Leotardo in The Sopranos)

41.

Epideictic- Also known as ceremonial discourse, epideictic rhetoric includes

funeral orations, obituaries, graduation and retirement speeches, letters of recommendation, and nominating speeches at political conventions. Interpreted more broadly, epideictic rhetoric may also include works of literature.
Ex: Oprah Winfrey's Eulogy for Rosa Parks "And I'm here today to say a final thank you, Sister Rosa, for being a great woman who used your life to serve, to serve us all. That day that you refused to give up your seat on the bus, you, Sister Rosa, changed the trajectory of my life and the lives of so many other people in the world. I would not be standing here today nor standing where I stand every day had she not chosen to sit down. . . . Had she not chosen to say we shall not--we shall not be moved." (Oprah Winfrey, Eulogy for Rosa Parks, Oct. 31, 2005)

42.

Epigraph- an inscription, especially on a building, statue, or the like.

Ex: The broad-backed hippopotamus Rests on his belly in the mud; Although he seems so firm to us He is merely flesh and blood. "The Hippopotamus," T.S. Eliot (epigraph to The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry, 1994)

43.

Epistolary- written in the form of a series of letters

Ex: <an endless sequence ofepistolary love affairs Times Literary Supplement>

44.

Epistrophe- also called epiphora. The repetition of a word or words at the end

of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.


Ex: "And close your eyes, child, and listen to what I'll tell you. Follow in the darkest night the sounds that may impel you. And the song that I am singing may disturb or serve to quell you." (Jerry Merrick, "Follow," as sung by Richie Havens on the album Mixed Bag, 1967)

45.

Epitaph- a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument

about the person buried at that site.


Ex: "Here lies my wife: here let her lie! Now she's at rest, and so am I." (John Dryden, epitaph intended for his wife)

46.

Epithet- any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual

or attributed quality:Richard the Lion-Hearted is an epithet of Richard I.


Ex: "Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness." (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

47.

Eulogy- a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially a set

oration in honor of a deceased person.


Ex: "As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.'" (Edward Kennedy, service for Robert Kennedy, June 8, 1968)

48.

Euphemism- the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one

thought to be offensive, harsh or blunt.


Ex: "The 'reconstruction' of New Orleans has become a euphemism for the destruction of the city's cultural and historic heritage." (Ghali Hassan, 2006)

49.

Euphony- agreeableness of sound; pleasing effect to the ear, especially a

pleasant sounding or harmonious combination or succession of words: the majestic euphony of Miltons poetry.
Ex: the majestic euphony of Milton's poetry.

50.

Expletive- an interjectory word or expression, frequently profane; an

exclamatory oath.

Ex: "Holy fucking Jesus, Christopher. How stupid are you?" (The Curious Incident pg. 81)

51.

Explication- an explanation; interpretation: He gave a brilliant explication of


Ex: the physicist did his best to explicate the wave theory of light for the audience of laymen

James Joyces book.

metaphor; metaphorical and not literal, as in figurative language.


Ex: "Figures are as old as language. They lie buried in many words of current use. They occur constantly in both prose and poetry." (Joseph T. Shipley, Dictionary of World Literary Terms, 1970)

igurative Language- of the nature of or involving a figure of speech, especially a

53. Foreshadowing- to show or indicate beforehand


Ex: Her early interest in airplanes foreshadowed her later career as a pilot.

54. Formal/Informal Language1. Informal Language: A broad term for speech or writing marked by a casual, familiar,

and generally colloquial use of language.


Ex: "As e-mail messages, text messages and social network postings become nearly ubiquitous in the lives of teenagers, the informality of electronic communications is seeping into their schoolwork, a new study says. 2. Formal Language: A broad term for speech or writing marked by an impersonal,

objective, and precise use of language. A formal prose style is typically used in scholarly books and articles, technical reports, research papers, and legal documents. Contrast with informal style.
Ex: "Formal style is characterized by long and complex sentences, a scholarly vocabulary, and a consistently serious tone. Grammatical rules are scrupulously observed, and the subject matter is substantial. The selection may include references to literary works or allusions to historical and classical figures. Absent are contractions, colloquial expressions, and an identified speaker, with impersonal one or the reader frequently used as the subject?" (Fred Obrecht, Minimum Essentials of English, 2nd ed. Barron's, 1999)

yperbole/Overstatement- obvious and intentional exaggeration.

Ex: "I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot, and could have hung my hat on my eyes, they stuck out so far." (Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi")

magery the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things.


Ex: Tactile (Touch) Imagery "When the others went swimming my son said he was going in, too. He pulled his dripping trunks from the line where they had hung all through the shower and wrung them out. Languidly, and with no thought of going in, I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death. (E.B. White, "Once More to the Lake," 1941)

57. Inductive- is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates general propositions that are derived from specific examples.
Ex: "Induction operates in two ways. It either advances a conjecture by what are called confirming instances, or it falsifies a conjecture by contrary or disconfirming evidence. A common example is the hypothesis that all crows are black. Each time a new crow is observed and found to be black the conjecture is increasingly confirmed. But if a crow is found to be not black the conjecture is falsified." (Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, Jan.-Feb., 2002)

58. Invective- vehement or violent denunciation, censure, or reproach.


Ex: "Curse the blasted, jelly-boned swines, the slimy, the belly-wriggling invertebrates, the miserable sodding rotters, the flaming sods, the snivelling, dribbling, dithering, palsied pulse-less lot that make up England today. . . . God, how I hate them! God curse them, funkers. God blast them, wishwash. Extermine them, slime. "I could curse for hours and hours--God help me." (D.H. Lawrence, letter to editor Edward Garnett, July 3, 1912)

59. Irony- the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning:
Ex: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." (Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove, 1964)

uxtaposition- an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for

comparison or contrast.

Ex: "Watchmen at lonely railroad crossings in Iowa, hoping that they'll be able to get off to hear the United Brethren evangelist preach. . . . Ticket-sellers in the subway, breathing sweat in its gaseous form. . . . Farmers plowing sterile fields behind sad meditative horses, both suffering from the bites of insects. . . . Grocery-clerks trying to make assignations with soapy servant girls. . . . Women confined for the ninth or tenth time, wondering helplessly what it is all about. . . ." (H.L. Mencken. "Diligence." A Mencken Chrestomathy, 1949)

itotes- understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the

negative or its contrary, as in not bad at all.


Ex:"Are you also aware, Mrs. Bueller, that Ferris does not have what we consider to be an exemplary attendance record?" (Jeffrey Jones as Principal Ed Rooney, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986)

62. Loose Sentences- a sentence that does not end with the completion of its main clause, but continues with one or more subordinate clauses or other modifiers.
Ex: "The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning." (Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Cassell, 1958)

etaphor- a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest resemblance.

64. Metonymy- a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which is related.
Ex: "Detroit is still hard at work on an SUV that runs on rain forest trees and panda blood."(Conan O'Brien)

Ex: "The streets were a furnace, the sun an executioner." (Cynthia Ozick, "Rosa")

65. Mood- a state or quality of feeling at a particular time: Whats the boss mood today?
Ex: "Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering--and it's all over much too soon." (Woody Allen)

66. Motif- a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work.
Ex: "The theme of abandonment and the motif of dual or multiple parents pervade the Harry Potter books." (Lana A. Whited, The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter, Univ. of Missouri Press, 2004)

nomatopoeia- the formation of a word, as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by

imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.


Ex: "Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room." (Richard Wright, Native Son, 1940)

68. Oxymoron- a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in cruel kindness.
Ex: "Ralph, if you're gonna be a phony, you might as well be a real phony." (Richard Yates, "Saying Goodbye to Sally." (The Collected Stories of Richard Yates. Picador, 2002)

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aradox a self-contradictory and false proposition.

Ex: "I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." (Mother Teresa)

70.

Parallelism the position or relation of parallels

Ex: "When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative." (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

71. Parenthesis- either of both of a pair of signs() used in writing to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark, to indicate separate groupings of symbols in mathematics and symbolic logic etc. .

Ex: "Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. (Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.)" (Mark Twain)

72. Parody- a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing.


Ex: Lord of the Rings Parody "'And that boy of his, Frito,' added bleary-eyed Nat Clubfoot, 'as crazy as a woodpecker, that one is.' This was verified by Old Poop of Backwater, among others. For who hadn't seen young Frito, walking aimlessly through the crooked streets of Boggietown, carrying little clumps of flowers and muttering about 'truth and beauty' and blurting out silly nonsense like 'Cogito ergo boggum?'" (H. Beard, The Harvard Lampoon, Bored of the Rings, 1969)

73. Paronomasia/Pun- the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound to achieve a specific effect, as humor or a dual meaning; punning.
Ex: "Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight" (Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night")

74. Pedantic- overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching. Ex:
Attempt to sound conversational, certainly not pedantic or strident. Not to be overly pedantic, but talking is a kind of doing. To be even more pedantic, that is its' acceleration until it reaches terminal velocity

75. Periodic Sentences a sentence that, by leaving the completion of its main clause to the end, produces an effect of suspense, as in unable to join him others at the dance because of my sprained ankle, I went to a movie.
Ex: "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." (The King James Bible, I Corinthians 13)

76. Persona - a persons perceived or evident personality; personal image or public role.
Ex: "He who speaks is not he who writes, and he who writes is not he who is. (Roland Barthes, quoted by Arthur Krystal in Except When I Write. Oxford University Press, 2011)

77. Personification- a character portrayal or representation in a dramatic or literary work.

Ex: "Only the champion daisy trees were serene. After all, they were part of a rain forest already two thousand years old and scheduled for eternity, so they ignored the men and continued to rock the diamondbacks that slept in their arms. It took the river to persuade them that indeed the world was altered." (Toni Morrison, Tar Baby, 1981)

78. Point of view - an opinion, attitude, or judgment: He refuses to change his point of view in the matter.
Ex: Point of View and Persona "[T]hese issues of point of view really point to one of the most fundamental skills in creative nonfiction, to writing not as the 'author' but from a constructed persona, even if that persona is taking on the 'I' to tell the story. That persona is formed by time, mood, and distance from the events that are being narrated. And if we decide to foreground the artifice of this construction by using more stylized points of view, such as second or third person, we create even more of a relationship between the narrator and the narrated, a high awareness that we are engaged in the reconstruction of experience and not pretending to be mere transcribers of that experience." (Lee Gut kind and Hattie Fletcher Buck, Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction. W.W. Norton, 2008)

79. Polyptoton A rhetorical term for repetition of words derived from the same root but with different endings. Adjective: polyptotonic.
Ex: "[T]he signora at every grimace and at every bow smiled a little smile and bowed a little bow."(Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, 1857)

80.

Polysyndeton- the use of a number of conjunctions in close succession.

Ex: "Let the white folks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and mostly--mostly--let them have their whiteness." (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969)

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epetition- something made by or resulting from repeating.

Ex: Antistasis Repetition of a word in a different or contrary sense. "A kleptomaniac is a person who helps himself because he can't help himself." (Henry Morgan)

82. Rhetorical Question- a question asked solely to produce an effect or to make an assertion and not to elicit a reply, as What is as rare as a day in June?

Ex: "It did not occur to me to call a doctor, because I knew none, and although it did occur to me to call the desk and ask that the air conditioner be turned off, I never called, because I did not know how much to tip whoever might come--was anyone ever so young?" (Joan Didion, "Goodbye to All That." Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1968)

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arcasm- harsh or bitter derision or irony.


Ex: Sarcasm and Intonation in Community Abed: Another muffin basket, from another actress who wants to be in my next film. Jeff: Does that work? Abed: Yep. Meryl Streep has two Oscars because of her baking. Ah, that's sarcasm, but I forgot to inflect. This sounds way more like sarcasm. Inflection is so interesting. [Abed should have said intonation, not inflection.] (Danny Pudi as Abed and Joel McHale as Jeff in "Communication Studies." Community, Feb. 11, 2010)

84.

Satire - the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing.

Ex: "[S]atire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public; the reviewers will allow you to satirize it."(Lenny Bruce, The Essential Lenny Bruce, ed. by John Cohen, 1967)

85. Simile - a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in She is like a rose. Compare metaphor.
Ex: "Good coffee is like friendship: rich and warm and strong." (slogan of Pan-American Coffee Bureau)

86.

Speaker a person who speaks formally before an audience; lecturer; orator.

Ex: the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives, the British House of Commons, or other such legislative assembly.

87.

Style a mode of living, as with respect to expense or display.

Ex: "If any man wish to write in a clear style let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

88. Syllepsis the use of a word or expression to perform two syntactic functions, especially to modify two or more words of which at least one does not agree in number.

Ex: "Piano, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience."(Ambrose Bierce, A Devil's Dictionary)

89.

Syllogism- an extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument.

Ex: Flavius: Have you forgot me, sir? Timon: Why dost ask that? I have forgot all men; Then, if thou grant'st thou'rt a man, I have forgot thee. (William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act Four, scene 3)

90. Symbolism the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character.
Ex: The Symbolism of the Filibuster "The filibuster has at times symbolized, justifiably or not, the courageous stand of principled individuals against a corrupt or compromised majority. That symbolism was captured in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the classic Frank Capra film in which James Stewart plays a nave newcomer who holds the Senate hostage for longer even than Strom Thurmond did, before collapsing in fatigue and triumph." (Scott Shane, "Henry Clay Hated It. So Does Bill Frist." The New York Times, Nov. 21, 2004)

91. Synecdoche a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part.
Ex: "Take thy face hence."(William Shakespeare, Macbeth)

92. Synesthesia- a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.
Ex: "I see a sound. KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. It looks like KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. It looks like gravity ripping. It looks like the jets on a spaceship. "I catch the sound and it takes me into the cold." (Emily Raboteau, The Professor's Daughter. Henry Holt, 2005)

93. Syntax- the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language.
Ex: "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." (Linguist Noam Chomsky created this sentence--which is grammatically correct but incomprehensible--to demonstrate that the rules governing syntax are distinct from the meanings words convey.)

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hesis Statement a proposition assumed as a premise in an argument.

Ex: "My thesis is simple: in the next century mankind must harness the nuclear genie if our energy needs are to be met and our security preserved." (John B. Ritch, "Nuclear Green," Prospect Magazine, March 1999)

95. Tone any sound considered with reference to its quality, pitch, strength, source, etc.
Ex: Tone and Diction "The main factor in tone is diction, the words that the writer chooses. For one kind of writing, an author may choose one type of vocabulary, perhaps slang, and for another the same writer may choose an entirely different set of words. . . . "Even such small matters as contractions make a difference in tone, the contracted verbs being less formal: It is strange that the professor had not assigned any papers for three weeks. It's strange that the professor hadn't assigned any papers for three weeks." (W. Ross Winterowd, The Contemporary Writer: A Practical Rhetoric, 2nd ed. Harcourt, 1981)

96. Transition - movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change: the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Ex: Transitional Words and Phrases "At first a toy, then a mode of transportation for the rich, the automobile was designed as man's mechanical servant. Later it became part of the pattern of living."

97. Trope - any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.
Ex: "What was abandoned in the course of the 19th century was the traditionally strict distinction between tropes and figures/schemes (Sharon-Zisser, 1993). It gave way to the overall terms 'figures du discours' (Fontanier), 'figures of speech' (Quinn), 'rhetorical figures' (Mayoral), 'figures de style' (Suhamy, Bacry), or simple 'figures' (Genette)." (H.F. Plett, "Figures of Speech," Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Oxford Univ. Press, 2002)

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U V
Ex:

nderstatement the act or an instance of understating, or representing in a weak

or restrained way that is not borne out by the facts.


Ex: "The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace." (Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress")

erisimilitude the appearance or semblance of truth; likelihood; probability; the

play lacked verisimilitude.


Depending on the origin of the array data, it may have the same verisimilitude as the original arrays. All of this is presented with energy and verisimilitude. The gang members' girlfriends are shown to have a much more thankless lot than even verisimilitude would require.

100. Voice the sound or sounds uttered through the mouth of living creatures, especially of human beings in speaking, shouting, singing etc.
Ex: Active and Passive Voice "I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people, probably over the airways, say 'The bullet has been dodged.'" (George W. Bush)

eugma the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is

appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to wage war and peace or On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.
Ex: "But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus an unweighed fear."(Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried)

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