Transcript Rhetorical Device Review

Rhetorical Device Review
Hyperbole/Exaggeration
Metonymy/Synecdoche
Anaphora/Epistrophe
Colloquialism/Jargon
Counterargument/Concession
Juxtaposition/Antithesis
Chiasmus/Antimetabole
Alliteration, consonance, assonance
Aphorism/Epigram
Connotation/Denotation
Allusion/ Reference
Imperative sentence/Declarative sentence
Parallelism/parallel structure
Parody/satire
Oxymoron/paradox
Hyperbole
Hyperbole: exaggeration for a purpose
“I am so hungry I could eat three cows.”
“I used to have to walk to school in the snow.
Barefoot. Uphill… both ways.”
“If Ms. Levine makes me stand up in front of the
class and sing that song one more time I’m going
to die!”
Metonymy / Synecdoche
Metonymy: when a thing/concept is called not by
its name but by the name of something associated
with it
“The Oval Office today release a statement about
the death of Nelson Mandela.”
(Oval Office = President/Presidential business)
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”
(pen = articulate ideas / sword = physical violence)
Synecdoche: when a part of something represents
the whole, or the word when you mean only a part
of it
“Let the hands go to dinner.” (hands=workers)
“San Francisco recently beat Seattle.”
(SF = 49ers / Seattle = Seahawks)
“Let’s take your wheels. Mine are parked far
away.” (wheels = car)
Anaphora
Anaphora: repetition of words or
phrases at the start of a sentence
Now is the time to make real the promises of
democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of
racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the
quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of
brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality
for all of God’s children.
MLK Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Epistrophe
Epistrophe: repetition of words or phrases at the
end of consecutive sentences or clauses
“… that government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth.“
(Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address)
"A day may come when the courage of men fails, when
we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship,
but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered
shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But
it is not this day! This day we fight!“
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Colloquialism / Jargon
Colloquialism: a word or phrase that is not formal
but rather used in every day conversation
“You gonna hit up 7-11 before going home?”
“At the end of the year the accounting
department showed that their investment was a
wash.“
“You don’t have the guts to taste that weird
looking food.”
Jargon: technical language specific to a particular
field and hard for others to understand
Examples of Police Jargon
• Suspect - A person whom the police think may have committed a
crime
• 10-4 - Radio jargon meaning Okay or I understand
• Code Eight - Term that means officer needs help immediately
• Code Eleven - A code that means the individual is at the scene of
the crime
• FTP - The failure of an individual to pay a fine
• Assumed room temperature: An individual has died
Counterargument / Concession
Counterargument: an argument opposing someone’s
main argument
Concession: acknowledging the validity of parts of the
opposing argument
Argument: School should start at 10am so that
students can have sufficient sleep and be better
prepared for their day.
Counterargument: If school started at 10am there
would not be enough time for sports in the afternoon.
Concession: I agree that sleep is important for
students, and that students need more sleep than they
are getting.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition: placing contrasting ideas, phrases,
images next to each other for emphasis
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was
the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us,
we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all
going direct the other way…”
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
By juxtaposing the more violent actions of Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim
movement with his followers’ own non-violent actions in “Letter from
Birmingham Jail”, MLK Jr. makes his own methodologies appear more
appealing.
Antithesis
Antithesis: a person or thing that is the opposite of
someone or something else
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together
as fools."
Martin Luther King, Jr., speech at St. Louis, 1964
"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here."
Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address
Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing.
~Goethe
Chiasmus / Antimetabole
Chiasmus / Antimetabole
Both of these have to do with the reversal of the
structure of a sentence. (ABBA)
Antimetabole: (use of same words but inverted)
"Eat to live, not live to eat.“
A
B
B
A
Chiasmus:
(use of different but similar words inverted)
“He knowingly led and we followed blindly”
A
B
B
A
Alliteration / Consonance / Assonance
Alliteration: repetition of sounds at the start of the sentence
Consonance: repetition on consonant sounds in the
beginning, middle or end of words
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds in beginning, middle
or end of words
Alliteration: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers.
Consonance:
Let the boy try along this bayonet blade
How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood;
Blue with all malice, like a madman's flash;
And thinly drawn with famishing for flesh.“
Assonance: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish
Aphorism / Epigram
Aphorism: a short and concise (sometimes witty)
statement of general truth or moral principal about
the world or life (aim is to reflect on truth)
Epigram: a short, concise, witty statement (aim is to
humor)
Aphorism: “Truth is a funny thing; you never
really know if you can trust someone, until you
find out you can’t.”
Epigram: “I don’t approve of political jokes; I
have seen too many get elected.”
Connotation / Denotation
Connotation: the ideas, images, feelings evoked by
a particular word
Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word
Snake
Denotation: elongated, legless, carnivorous
reptiles
Connotation: slimy, conniving, devious person
Allusion / Reference
Allusion: referring covertly or indirectly to a text, an
object or a circumstance that has occurred or existed in
an external context. It is left to the reader or hearer to
make the connection.
Insulting my family is my Achille’s heel.
When MLK Jr. begins his “I Have a Dream” speech with “Five
score years ago” he is making an allusion to Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address speech to highlight the equally historic
significance of the moment
Reference: directly referencing another text, object, or
a circumstance
Just as Achilles’s weakness was his heel, my
weakness is my family. I would do anything for
them.
If MLK Jr. had said “Just as Lincoln counted the years
since the founding of this great country, so will I,
noting that while we have come far since his great
proclamation we still have far to go.”
Imperative / Declarative Sentences
Imperative: a command (usually begins with a
verb”
Declarative: a statement
Imperative:
Get me some water.
Bring me that paper.
Don’t forget to study.
Declarative:
I need to study. I am thirst.
I want to get that paper.
Parallel Sentence Structure
Parallel Sentence Structure: The repetition of
similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.
CORRECT:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and bicycling.
Mary likes to hike, swim, and ride a bicycle.
INCORRECT:
Mary likes to hike, swim, and riding a bike.
Parody / Satire
Parody: a composition that imitates the style of
another composition, normally for comic effect
Satire: a composition that uses mockery, humor,
exaggeration of someone or something in order to
expose and criticize it
Stephen Colbert and South Park use satire in order
to comment on society trends and current events
Scary Movie is a parody of other horror movies.
While it may lead you to reflect on how stupid
other scary movies are, its intention is solely to
entertain
Oxymoron / Paradox
Oxymoron: the juxtaposition to two opposing words
Paradox: a statement that appear to contradict itself but
is also true
Oxymorons:
“Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate/ O
anything, from nothing first create/ O heavy
lightness! Serious vanity!”
~ Romeo and Juliet
Paradox:
You can save money by spending it.
"I can resist anything but temptation."-Oscar Wilde