-
Ad Hominem
An argument based on the failings of an adversary rather than on the merits of the case; a logical fallacy that involves a personal attack.
-
Adjective
The part of speech (or word class) that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
-
Adverb
The part of speech (or word class) that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.
-
Allegory
Extending a metaphor so that objects, persons, and actions in a text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text.
-
Alliteration
The repetition of an initial consonant sound.
-
Allusion
A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event--real or fictional.
-
Ambiguity
The presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage.
-
Analogy
Reasoning or arguing from parallel cases.
-
Anaphora
The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.
-
Antecedent
The noun or noun phrase referred to by a pronoun.
-
Antithesis
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.
-
Aphorism
(1) A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion. (2) A brief statement of a principle.
-
Apostrophe
A rhetorical term for breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing.
-
Appeal to Authority
A fallacy in which a speaker or writer seeks to persuade not by giving evidence but by appealing to the respect people have for a famous person or institution.
-
Appeal to Ignorance
A fallacy that uses an opponent's inability to disprove a conclusion as proof of the conclusion's correctness.
-
Argument
A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood.
-
Assonance
The identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words.
-
Asyndeton
The omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses (opposite of polysyndeton).
-
Character
An individual (usually a person) in a narrative (usually a work of fiction or creative nonfiction).
-
Chiasmus
A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.
-
Circular Argument
An argument that commits the logical fallacy of assuming what it is attempting to prove.
-
Claim
An arguable statement, which may be a claim of fact, value, or policy.
-
Clause
A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate.
-
Climax
Mounting by degrees through words or sentences of increasing weight and in parallel construction with an emphasis on the high point or culmination of a series of events.
-
Colloquial
Characteristic of writing that seeks the effect of informal spoken language as distinct from formal or literary English.
-
Comparison
A rhetorical strategy in which a writer examines similarities and/or differences between two people, places, ideas, or objects.
-
Complement
A word or word group that completes the predicate in a sentence.
-
Concession
An argumentative strategy by which a speaker or writer acknowledges the validity of an opponent's point.
-
Confirmation
The main part of a text in which logical arguments in support of a position are elaborated.
-
Conjunction
The part of speech (or word class) that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences.
-
Connotation
The emotional implications and associations that a word may carry.
-
Coordination
The grammatical connection of two or more ideas to give them equal emphasis and importance. Contrast with subordination.
-
Deduction
A method of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises.
-
Denotation
The direct or dictionary meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative or associated meanings.
-
Dialect
A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, and/or vocabulary.
-
Diction
(1) The choice and use of words in speech or writing. (2) A way of speaking, usually assessed in terms of prevailing standards of pronunciation and elocution.
-
Didactic
Intended or inclined to teach or instruct, often excessively.
-
Encomium
A tribute or eulogy in prose or verse glorifying people, objects, ideas, or events.
-
Epiphora
The repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several clauses. (Also known as epistrophe.)
-
Epitaph
(1) A short inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone or monument. (2) A statement or speech commemorating someone who has died: a funeral oration.
-
Ethos
A persuasive appeal based on the projected character of the speaker or narrator.
-
Eulogy
A formal expression of praise for someone who has recently died.
-
Euphemism
The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit.
-
Exposition
A statement or type of composition intended to give information about (or an explanation of) an issue, subject, method, or idea.
-
Extended Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.
-
Fallacy
An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid.
-
False Dilemma
A fallacy of oversimplification that offers a limited number of options (usually two) when in fact more options are available.
-
Figurative Language
Language in which figures of speech (such as metaphors, similes, and hyperbole) freely occur.
-
Figures of Speech
The various uses of language that depart from customary construction, order, or significance.
-
Flashback
A shift in a narrative to an earlier event that interrupts the normal chronological development of a story.
-
Genre
A category of artistic composition, as in film or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content.
-
Hasty Generalization
A fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence.
-
Hyperbole
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement.
-
Imagery
Vivid descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the senses.
-
Induction
A method of reasoning by which a rhetor collects a number of instances and forms a generalization that is meant to apply to all instances.
-
Invective
Denunciatory or abusive language; discourse that casts blame on somebody or something.
-
Irony
The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is directly contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
-
Isocolon
A succession of phrases of approximately equal length and corresponding structure.
-
Jargon
The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or other group, often meaningless to outsiders.
-
Litotes
A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.
-
Loose Sentence
A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by subordinate phrases and clauses. Contrast with periodic sentence.
-
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.
-
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty").
-
Mode of Discourse
The way in which information is presented in a text. The four traditional modes are narration, description, exposition, and argument.
-
Mood
(1) The quality of a verb that conveys the writer's attitude toward a subject. (2) The emotion evoked by a text.
-
Narrative
A rhetorical strategy that recounts a sequence of events, usually in chronological order.
-
Noun
The part of speech (or word class) that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action.
-
Onomatopoeia
The formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
-
Oxymoron
A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.
-
Paradox
A statement that appears to contradict itself.
-
Parallelism
The similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
-
Parody
A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.
-
Pathos
The means of persuasion that appeals to the audience's emotions.
-
Periodic Sentence
A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word--usually with an emphatic climax.
-
Personification
A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
-
Point of View
The perspective from which a speaker or writer tells a story or presents information.
-
Predicate
One of the two main parts of a sentence or clause, modifying the subject and including the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the verb.
-
Pronoun
A word (a part of speech or word class) that takes the place of a noun.
-
Prose
Ordinary writing (both fiction and nonfiction) as distinguished from verse.
-
Refutation
The part of an argument wherein a speaker or writer anticipates and counters opposing points of view.
-
Repetition
An instance of using a word, phrase, or clause more than once in a short passage--dwelling on a point.
-
Rhetoric
The study and practice of effective communication.
-
Rhetorical Question
A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.
-
Running Style
Sentence style that appears to follow the mind as it worries a problem through, mimicking the "rambling, associative syntax of conversation"--the opposite of periodic sentence style.
-
Sarcasm
A mocking, often ironic or satirical remark.
-
Satire
A text or performance that uses irony, derision, or wit to expose or attack human vice, foolishness, or stupidity.
-
Simile
A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by "like" or "as."
-
Style
Narrowly interpreted as those figures that ornament speech or writing; broadly, as representing a manifestation of the person speaking or writing.
-
Subject
The part of a sentence or clause that indicates what it is about.
-
Syllogism
A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.
-
Subordination
Words, phrases, and clauses that make one element of a sentence dependent on (or subordinate to) another. Contrast with coordination.
-
Symbol
A person, place, action, or thing that (by association, resemblance, or convention) represents something other than itself.
-
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it.
-
Syntax
(1) The study of the rules that govern the way words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. (2) The arrangement of words in a sentence.
-
Thesis
The main idea of an essay or report, often written as a single declarative sentence.
-
Tone
A writer's attitude toward the subject and audience. Tone is primarily conveyed through diction, point of view, syntax, and level of formality.
-
Transition
The connection between two parts of a piece of writing, contributing to coherence.
-
Understatement
A figure of speech in which a writer deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
-
Verb
The part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being.
-
Voice
- (1) The quality of a verb that indicates whether its subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive voice).
- (2) The distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or narrator.
-
Zeugma
The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be grammatically or logically correct with only one.
|
|