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Glossary Of Rhetorical Terms
Owing to its origin in ancient Greece and Rome, English rhetorical theory frequently employs Greek and Latin words as terms of art. This page explains commonly used rhetorical terms in alphabetical order. The brief definitions here are intended to serve as a quick reference rather than an in-depth discussion. For more information, click the terms. A *''Absurdity.'' The exaggeration of a point beyond belief. *''Accumulatio.'' The emphasis or summary of previously made points or inferences by excessive praise or accusation. *'' Acutezza.'' Wit or wordplay used in rhetoric. *'' Ad hominem.'' Rebutting an argument by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making it rather than the substance of the argument itself. *'' Adianoeta.'' A phrase carrying two meanings: an obvious meaning and a second, more subtle and ingenious one. *'' Adjunction.'' When a verb is placed at the beginning or the end of a sentence instead of in the middle. For example (from ''Rhetoric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically related city-states and other territories. Most of these regions were officially unified only once, for 13 years, under Alexander the Great's empire from 336 to 323 BC (though this excludes a number of Greek city-states free from Alexander's jurisdiction in the western Mediterranean, around the Black Sea, Cyprus, and Cyrenaica). In Western history, the era of classical antiquity was immediately followed by the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine period. Roughly three centuries after the Late Bronze Age collapse of Mycenaean Greece, Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC, ushering in the Archaic period and the colonization of the Mediterranean Basin. This was followed by the age of Classical G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anecdote
An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous, anecdotes differ from jokes because their primary purpose is not simply to provoke laughter but to reveal a truth more general than the brief tale itself. Anecdotes may be real or fictional; the anecdotal digression is a common feature of literary works and even oral anecdotes typically involve subtle exaggeration and dramatic shape designed to entertain the listener. An anecdote is always presented as the recounting of a real incident involving actual people and usually in an identifiable place. In the words of Jürgen Hein, they exhibit "a special realism" and "a claimed historical dimension" . Etymology and usage The word ''anecdote'' (in Greek: ἀνέκδοτον "unpublished", literally "not given out") comes from Procopius of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anastrophe
Anastrophe (from the el, ἀναστροφή, ''anastrophē'', "a turning back or about") is a figure of speech in which the normal word order of the subject, the verb, and the object is changed. For example, subject–verb–object ("I like potatoes") might be changed to object–subject–verb ("potatoes I like"). Examples Because English has a settled natural word order, anastrophe emphasizes the displaced word or phrase. For example, the name of the City Beautiful urbanist movement emphasises "beautiful". Similarly, in "This is the forest primeval", from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's ''Evangeline'', the emphasis is on "primeval". If the emphasis that comes from anastrophe is not an issue, the synonym ''inversion'' is perfectly suitable. Anastrophe is common in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry, such as in the first line of the ''Aeneid'': :''Arma virumque cano, Troiæ qui primus ab oris'' ::("I sing of arms and the man, who first from the shores of Troy") In the example, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anapodoton
An anapodoton (from Ancient Greek ''anapódoton'': "that which lacks an apodosis, that is, the consequential clause in a conditional sentence), plural anapodota, is a rhetorical device related to the anacoluthon; both involve a thought being interrupted or discontinued before it is fully expressed. It is a figure of speech or discourse that is an incomplete sentence, consisting of a subject or complement without the requisite object. The stand-alone subordinate clause suggests or implies a subject (a main clause), but this is not actually provided. As an intentional rhetorical device, it is generally used for set phrases, where the full form is understood, and would thus be tedious to spell out, as in "When in Rome o as the Romans" or " If the mountain won't come to Muhammad uhammed will go to the mountain" Anapodota are common in Classical Chinese and languages that draw from it, such as Japanese, where a long literary phrase is commonly abbreviated to just its condition. For ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anaphora (rhetoric)
In rhetoric, an anaphora (, "carrying back") is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginnings of neighboring clauses, thereby lending them emphasis. In contrast, an epistrophe (or epiphora) is repeating words at the clauses' ends. The combination of anaphora and epistrophe results in symploce. Functions Other than the function of emphasizing ideas, the use of anaphora as a rhetorical device adds rhythm to a word as well as making it more pleasurable to read and easier to remember. Anaphora is repetition at the beginning of a sentence to create emphasis. Anaphora serves the purpose of delivering an artistic effect to a passage. It is also used to appeal to the emotions of the audience in order to persuade, inspire, motivate and encourage them. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech, he uses anaphora by repeating "I have a dream" eight times throughout the speech. Usage Today, anaphora is seen in many different c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analogy
Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject (the analog, or source) to another (the target), or a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. In a narrower sense, analogy is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as opposed to deduction, induction, and abduction, in which at least one of the premises, or the conclusion, is general rather than particular in nature. The term analogy can also refer to the relation between the source and the target themselves, which is often (though not always) a similarity, as in the biological notion of analogy. Analogy plays a significant role in problem solving, as well as decision making, argumentation, perception, generalization, memory, creativity, invention, prediction, emotion, explanation, concep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anadiplosis
Anadiplosis ( ; el, ἀναδίπλωσις, ''anadíplōsis'', "a doubling, folding up") is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence. Examples *Noust in the grass / grass in the wind / wind on the lark / lark for the sun / Sun through the sea / sea in the heart / heart in its noust / nothing is lost —John Glenday, Noust * "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." —Yoda * "For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, Young Lycidas and hath not left his peer." —John Milton, ''Lycidas'' *"Queeg: 'Aboard my ship, excellent performance is standard. Standard performance is sub-standard. Sub-standard performance is not permitted to exist. —Herman Wouk, ''The Caine Mutiny''. *"Mine be thy love, and thy love's use their treasure." —Shakespeare, ''Sonnet 20''. *"Having power makes otalitarian leadershipisolated; isolation breed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anacoluthon
An anacoluthon (; from the Greek ''anakolouthon'', from ''an-'': "not" and ἀκόλουθος ''akólouthos'': "following") is an unexpected discontinuity in the expression of ideas within a sentence, leading to a form of words in which there is logical incoherence of thought. Anacolutha are often sentences interrupted midway, where there is a change in the syntactical structure of the sentence and of intended meaning following the interruption. An example is the Italian proverb "The good stuff – think about it." This proverb urges people to make the best choice. When anacoluthon occurs unintentionally, it is considered to be an error in sentence structure and results in incoherent nonsense. However, it can be used as a rhetorical technique to challenge the reader to think more deeply or in "stream of consciousness" literature to represent the disjointed nature of associative thought. Anacolutha are very common in informal speech, where a speaker might start to say one thing, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anacoenosis
Anacoenosis is a figure of speech in which the speaker poses a question to an audience in a way that demonstrates a common interest. Discussion The term comes from the Greek (''anakoinoûn''), meaning "to communicate, impart". Anacoenosis typically uses a rhetorical question, where no reply is really sought or required, thus softening what is really a statement or command. Asking a question that implies one clear answer is to put others in a difficult position. If they disagree with you, then they risk conflict or derision. In particular if you state the question with certainty, then it makes disagreement seem rude. Particularly when used in a group, this uses social conformance. If there is an implied agreement by all and one person openly disagrees, then they risk isolating themselves from the group, which is a very scary prospect. If I am in an audience and the speaker uses anacoenosis and I do not agree yet do not speak up, then I may suffer cognitive dissonance between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amplification (rhetoric)
Amplification or Amplified or Amplify may refer to: Science and technology * Amplification, the operation of an amplifier, a natural or artificial device intended to make a signal stronger * Amplification (molecular biology), a mechanism leading to multiple copies of a chromosomal region within a chromosome arm * Amplify Tablet, Android-based tablet * Polar amplification, the phenomenon describing how the Arctic is warming faster than any other region in response to global warming * Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a molecular biology laboratory method for creating multiple copies of small segments of DNA * Twitter Amplify, a video advertising product that Twitter launched for media companies and consumer brands * Amplification of the ground acceleration during an earthquake which is called seismic site effects Music * Instrument amplifier, the use of amplifiers in music *Amplified (band), a Hong Kong rock band * ''Amplified'' (Q-Tip album) * ''Amplified'' (Mock Orange album) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argument
An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialectical and the rhetorical perspective. In logic, an argument is usually expressed not in natural language but in a symbolic formal language, and it can be defined as any group of propositions of which one is claimed to follow from the others through deductively valid inferences that preserve truth from the premises to the conclusion. This logical perspective on argument is relevant for scientific fields such as mathematics and computer science. Logic is the study of the forms of reasoning in arguments and the development of standards and criteria to evaluate arguments. Deductive arguments can be valid, and the valid ones can be sound: in a valid argument, premisses necessitate the conclusion, even if one or more of the premises is false ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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