RHETORICAL DEVICES

Ms. MauerENG 3U

Rosedale Heights School of the Arts

ALLEGORY

An extended metaphor; a narrative in which the characters and sometimes the setting represent general concepts and ideas

Example: fables in which personified animals are used to teach lessons of human conduct (e.g.: The Tortoise and the Hare)

DENOTATION

The dictionary definition of a word, the specific and literal meaning

Example: “House” denotes the place where a person lives

CONNOTATION

Implied or suggested meaning which attach personal meaning to the word

Example: “Home” connotes intimacy, privacy, coziness

HYPERBOLE

Exaggeration

Example: “My opponent in the wrestling ring was a hundred feet tall and made of concrete.”

IMAGERY

An appeal to one or more of the senses by creating a vivid impression through the use of concrete details, adjectives, and figures of speech

Example: “The giant tree was ablaze with the orange, red, and yellow leaves that were beginning to make their decent to the ground.”

REPETITION

Used for emphasis and/or rhythm

Example: “It was a strange night, a hushed night, a moonless and restless night.”

ANALOGY

An attempt to help the reader understand something unfamiliar by comparing it to something which they know

Example: Comparing an anthill to an urban centre helps to convey the fact that anthills are heavily populated, busy, and have regular patterns of movement

ANECDOTE

A short, amusing, or interesting story, especially one that is true

Example: A mother tells her child about a family vacation she took while she was young.

ABNORMAL WORD ORDER

Modifying the typical subject-verb sentence pattern

Example: normal word order (subject-verb) – “The actor’s worst nightmare stood laughing at him from the shadows.”

Example: abnormal word order (verb-subject) – “Laughing at him from the shadows stood the actor’s worst nightmare.”

BALANCED SENTENCE

Two ideas are compared with each other in statements that are grammatically similar

Example: “Silence is as deep as eternity; speech is as shallow as time”

BALANCED SENTENCE (CONTRASTING)

Two ideas are contrasted with each other in statements that are grammatically similar

Example: “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”

CLIMACTIC WORD ORDER

Presents several facts in order, from least to most important

Example: “The young politician’s career rise was meteoric; after beginning as a municipal councilor, she became mayor, and three years later a Member of Parliament.”

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

Repeats words, phrases, or clauses in a series, for emphasis.

Example: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people…”

PERIODIC SENTENCE

Withholds an important part of the sentence until the end so that it doesn’t make complete sense until the last word is read.

Example: “Whether playing as a young, wild adventurer, a fugitive from the law, or a U.S. President, there is one actor whose films always make money – Harrison Ford.”

REVERSALS

Making a balanced sentence more memorable by repeating the words in reverse order

Example: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

RHETORICAL QUESTION

A question in which the answer is already known or implied; it is not the author’s intention to have the question answered by the reader.

Example: “Can anyone deny that the microchip has revolutionized communication?”

SENTENCE FRAGMENT

Incomplete, grammatically incorrect, word chunks which place emphasis on key words to create an overall effect, such as humour or suspense

Example: A cold room. A lonely room. A bare room. No place to spend twenty years of a life.

UNDERSTATEMENT

Creates the reverse effect (and adds a touch of irony) by making a fact seem less significant.

Example: “Bruce Willis’ on-screen characters frequently find themselves in a bit of a jam.”

ALLITERATION

Repetition of the initial sounds of words

Example: “As Frankenstein, Boris Karloff rambled, raged, and roared.”

ONOMATOPEIA

Words that imitate or suggest sounds

Example: “Today’s films are as likely to feature the bleeps and buzzes of computers as the chirps of birds. Cascading waterfalls have been replaced by humming machines and whirring laser swords.”

ALLUSION

The use of a well-known reference to draw a comparison

Example: “Her roles in films such as E.T. and Irreconcilable Differences made Drew Barrymore the Shirley Temple of the eighties.”

NOW…IT’S YOUR TURN!

Look at the handout titled “Second Examples”

Use your notes from this presentation to identify the rhetorical devices used in the examples on this sheet

You may work alone or with one partner on this task

This will be taken up before the end of class today, or at the start of class tomorrow