updated 13 February 2006
RHETORICAL TERMS WITH EXAMPLES: 2006 [A-G group c]
(updated 13 February 2006)

WARNING: Although most of the terms below are illustrated appropriately, some are mistakenly identified, some others are unclearly identified (especially in longer passages, where it may not be obvious which part of the passage illustrates the term), and still others are incompletely identified. Soon we'll be making some clarifications and corrections to the terms and examples on this page. Don't feel hurt if your contributions are corrected or qualified in any way: the main purpose of this exercise is to help deepen and clarify your understanding of the terms.

For the most part, your contributions have been copied and pasted into the web page without any alterations. If you spot any errors in the quotations that you sent me, please notify me via e-mail. In many cases, original formatting has been lost, and so the layout has gotten a little messy (a major problem with texts that were not submitted as Word attachments). Sorry! If texts arrived without names, contributors are identified by e-mail addresses.

Terms A-G: GROUP A
Stephanie Roberts
Lisa Hom
Macrae Carreker
Mary Culp
Tara Gergacs
Alex Barbee
Nicholas Stripling
Ashley Walden

Terms A-G: GROUP B
Alex Barbee (version 2)
Artisheia Brown
Nicki Peebles
Autumn Flynn
Tiffany Carabello

Terms A-G: GROUP C
Lindsey Estepp
Katharine Phipps
Kia Cooper
Stephanie Deal
Emilie Tuminella
Bisceglia Coleman
Leslie Moses

Terms H-Z: GROUP D
Katharine Phipps
Lisa Hom
Autumn Flynn
Stephanie Roberts
Ashley Walden
Artisheia Brown
Tiffany Lynn Carabello
Tara Gergacs

Terms H-Z: GROUP E
Leslie Moses
Mary Culp
Alex Barbee
Emilie Tuminella
Stephanie Deal
Macrae Carreker
Bisceglia Coleman
Lindsey Estepp
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Lindsey Estepp

69) Anaphora

I will not play at tug o’ war, I’d rather play at hug o’ war, where everyone hugs instead of tugs, Where everyone giggles And rolls on the rug, Where everyone kisses, And everyone grins, And everyone cuddles, And everyone wins. (Shel Silverstein, “Hug O’War)

70) Dysphemism

"Wendy, darling. Light of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya... I'm just gonna bash your brains in."

-Jack Nicholson (The Shining)

71) Chiasmus

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)

72) Epizeuxis

“back back back in the back of your mind

are you learning an angry language…

back back back in the dark of your mind

where the eyes of your demons are gleaming

are you mad mad mad

about the life you never had

even when you are dreaming” (Ani Difranco, “Back back back”)

73) Epithet

Honey, that baby is just as sweet as candy!

(random southern woman)
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Katharine Phipps

74) Antithesis: Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.

“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”-- Barry Goldwater

75) Asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.

“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.” --Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

76) Catachresis: a n extreme, far-fetched, or mixed metaphor; strained or deliberately paradoxical figure of speech; deliberate situation of an inexact word in place of the correct one.

“I listen vainly, but with thirsty ear.”-- MacArthur, Farewell Address

77)_Diacope: Repetition broken up by one or more intervening words.

“We give thanks to Thee, 0 God, we give thanks . . . .” --Psalm 75:1 (NASB)

78) Epanalepsis: Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause.

“ In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” --John 16:33 (NASB)
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Kia Cooper

79) Bdelygmia – a litany of abuse- a series of critical epithets, descriptions, or attributes

Ex. “I do hate a proud man, as I do hate the engend’ring of toads.” Shakespeare’s Trolius and Cressida.

80) 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 or of an experience.

Ex. “But we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience trial; and trial hope; and hope confoundeth not, because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.”- St. Paul in the Bible

81) . Epiplexis- asking questions to reproach rather than to elicit answers.

Ex. “Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?” – Bible, Job 3:11

82). Diacope- repetition broken up by one or more intervening words.

Ex. “All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!” – Shakespeare’s play, Tempest

83). Euphemism- substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively

explicit.

Ex.- “ Nay, nothing, all is said. His tongue is now a stringless instrument.” – Shakespeare’s Richard II , King Richard inquires about a character that has been murdered, John of Gaunt, and this is the answer Richard receives.
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Stephanie Deal

84) Aposiopesis:

“Well, don't worry. Don't worry. I'm not gonna to do what you all think I'm gonna to do, which is just FLIP OUT! But let me just, let me just say, as I ease out of the office I helped build -- I'm sorry, but it's a FACT! -- that there is such a thing as manners, a way of treating people.”

Tom Cruise, Jerry Maguire

85) Epideictic:

20:6 “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection.”

Revelation

86) Erotesis:

"How long, How long must we sing this song? How long?"

U2, Sunday Bloody Sunday

87) Gradatio:

"Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hatred; hatred leads to conflict; conflict leads to suffering."

Yoda, Star Wars: Episode I

88) Antonomasia:

“The One” to refer to Neo, in The Matrix.

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Emilie Tuminella

89) Antony said, “You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?”-epanalepsis

90) Horace Walpole from the book “The World According to Garp” said, “…the world is comic to those who think and tragic to those who feel.”-antithesis

91) Maya Angelou from her poem, “Still I Rise” said, “You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”-exuscitatio

92) Holden Caulfield states in the last line of “Catcher in the Rye”, “Don’t ever tell anyone anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”-concession

93) Emilie Tuminella says, “Living is only living when your experiences exceed any expectation.”-anaphora

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Bisceglia Coleman

94) Alliteration

"To raise a happy, healthy, and hopeful child, it takes a family; it takes teachers; it takes clergy; it takes business people; it takes community leaders; it takes those who protect our health and safety. It takes all of us." Hillary Rodham Clinton

95) Antonomasia

Of all my roommates I’m the mother

96) Chiasmus

"It is not enough to preach about family values, we must value families. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton

97) Cliché

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

98) Enthymeme

"Senator Quayle, I knew Jack Kennedy. I worked with Jack Kennedy. And I can tell you, you’re no Jack Kennedy." Lloyd Bentsen

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Leslie Moses 2-6-06

99. chreia—elementary exercise where the rhetor elaborates on a famous event or saying

In Matthew 5:43 Jesus:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…”

100. apostrophe—breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, or nonexistent character

In the poem, “To a Stranger Born in Some Distant Country Hundreds of Year from Now” by

Billy Collins

Nobody here likes a wet dog.
No one wants anything to do with a dog
that is wet from being out in the rain
or retrieving a stick from a lake.
Look how she wanders around the crowded pub tonight
going from one person to another
hoping for a pat on the head, a rub behind the ears,
something that could be given with one hand
without even wrinkling the conversation.

But everyone pushes her away,
some with a knee, others with the sole of a boot.
Even the children, who don't realize she is wet
until the go to pet her,
push her away
then wipe their hands on their clothes.
And whenever she heads toward me,
I show her my palm, and she turns aside.

O stranger of the future!
O inconceivable being!
whatever the shape of your house,
however you scoot from place to place,
no matter how strange and colorless the clothes you may wear,
I bet nobody likes a wet dog either.
I bet everyone in your pub,
even the children, pushes her away.

101. dehortatio—dissuasive advice given with authority

images.jpstopsigne.jpe (2935 bytes) a stop sign

102. antirrhesis—rejecting an argument because of its insignificance, error, or wickedness

1 Corinthians 1:12-15 Paul to the Corinthians:

Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or where you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.

103. energia—generic term for a visually powerful description that vividly recreates something

from a song we used to sing as kids about being buried:

Don’t you ever laugh as a hearse goes by

For you may be the next to die

The bury you up in a big black box

And cover you up with dirt and rocks

All goes well for ‘bout a week

And then your coffin begins to leak

The worms crawl in

The worms crawl out

The worms play pinochle on your snout

They eat your eyes

They eat your nose

They eat the jelly between your toes…

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