Rhetorical and Literary Devices

1. Rhetorical and Literary Devices List of commonly used rhetoric and syntax for effect Powerpoint 2

2. Absolute construction • a phrase that stands apart from the syntactical sentence and is not attached to any single part of the sentence. Commonly confused with dangling participles. Insert the words “since” or “because” to see if you can make it an introductory phrase. • Examples: I stayed home from school today because I have the flu.Having the flu, I stayed home from school today. • This being the case, let us go. • The referee having finally arrived, the game began.

3. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • alliteration: a series of words that have the same initial consonant sound. • examples: “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day…” “Much Madness is divinest Sense –” • anecdote: a short story, usually from your own life. It might be used as an illustration of a point, but it may just be a funny story that fits into a conversation. • example: “My sons are very tall. When my oldest boy was getting taller and taller, people always asked him, "Do you play basketball?" He would answer, "Why? Do you play miniature golf?" He stopped saying that when he decided it was a smart aleck thing to say. To this day when little kids ask him how he got so tall he says, "I always ate all my vegetables."

4. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • assonance: repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words. • examples: "Flash with a rash gimme my cash flickin' my ashRunnin with my money, son, go out with a blast."(Busta Rhymes, "Gimme Some More," 1998) • "Strips of tinfoil winking like people"(Sylvia Plath, "The Bee Meeting") • allusion: a reference to a previously released, well-known work. • examples: “Five score years ago…” Dr. King • “…and where she walks, the crowd will part like the sea • for Israel.” Miller

5. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • aphorism: a concise formation of a principle or a terse formulation of a truth. • examples: a penny saved is a penny earned; less is more; well done is better than well said; honesty is the best policy apostrophe: a figurative element in which some absent or nonexistent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of understanding. examples: “Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.” “Then come, sweet death, and rid me of this grief.” "Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone/Without a dream in my heart/Without a love of my own.“ Clint Eastwood addressing the empty chair

6. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • balanced sentence—a balanced sentence is a sentence that employs parallel structure of approximately the same length and importance. • examples: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” "White chickens lay white eggs, and brown chickens lay brown eggs; so if white cows give white milk, do brown cows give chocolate milk?”

7. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • A loose sentence (also called a cumulative sentence) is a type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) is elaborated by the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases. • He went into town to buy groceries, to visit his friends, and to go to the bookstore. • "Bells rang, filling the air with their clangor, startling pigeons into flight from every belfry, bringing people into the streets to hear the news." • She drove her car to go to the movies, and got gas. • "I have been assured by a very knowing American friend of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nourished is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled; and I make no doubt it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout."

8. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • caricature—exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics.

9. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • cliché—an expression made trite by overuse • examples: …paralyzed with fear…my heart beat out of my chest… • raining cats and dogs…you’re the apple of my eye… • I love you so much it hurts…you complete me… • the love of a lifetime…Robert Patterson…etc… conceit—refers to a particularly fanciful figurative device (usually a metaphor) that's intended to surprise and delight readers by its cleverness and wit. Carried to extremes, a conceit may instead serve to perplex and annoy.

10. Rhetorical Devices and Literary Elements • conceit, metaphorical conceit in Donne’s “Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” • If they be two, they are two soAs stiff twin compasses are two;Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no showTo move, but doth, if th' other do.And though it in the centre sit,Yet, when the other far doth roam,It leans, and hearkens after it,And grows erect, as that comes home.Such wilt thou be to me, who must,Like th' other foot, obliquely run;Thy firmness makes my circle just,And makes me end where I begun.

11. Logic • syllogism—an argument the conclusion of which is supported by two premises, of which one (major premise) contains the term (major term) that is the predicate of the conclusion, and the other (minor premise) contains the term (minor term) that is the subject of the conclusion; deductive reasoning. • “If A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C.” • Major premise: All men are mortal.Minor premise: Socrates is a man.Conclusion: Socrates is mortal

12. Propositional Logic (description): • modus ponens—from the Latin, “the way that affirms by affirming.” If a condition and its antecedent are assumed to be true, then the consequence must be true. P implies Q, so if P is implied to be true, and Q is implied to be true, then their product may be true. • If it's raining, I'll meet you at the movie theater. It's raining. Therefore, I'll meet you at the movie theater. • If today is Tuesday, then John will go to work. Today is Tuesday. Therefore, John will go to work. • If his mouth is moving, then he is lying. He’s talking, so he is lying.

13. Propositional Logic (description): • modus tollens—from the Latin “the way that denies by denying.” The principle that whenever a conditional statement and the negation of its consequence are given to be true, the negation of its antecedent may be validly inferred. If P implies Q and Q is false, then P must be false. • If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium and this isn't Belgium so it's not Tuesday. • If the watch-dog detects an intruder, the dog will bark. The dog did not bark. Therefore, no intruder was detected by the watch-dog. • If I am the axe murderer, then I used an axe. I cannot use an axe. Therefore, I am not the axe murderer.

14. Classical Logic (description): • disjunctive syllogism—a valid argument form which is a syllogism having a disjunctive statement for one of its premises. • Either the breach is a safety violation, or it is not subject to fines. The breach is not a safety violation. Therefore, it is not subject to fines. • Either I will choose soup or I will choose salad. I will not choose soup. Therefore, I will choose salad. • It is either red or blue. It is not blue. Therefore, it is red.

15. Logic: write down how this is a syllogism • “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it." • ~Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address”;Monday, March 4, 1861