updated 13 February 2006
RHETORICAL TERMS WITH EXAMPLES: 2006 [H-Z group d]
(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
Terms H-Z: GROUP E
Leslie Moses
Mary Culp
Alex Barbee
Emilie Tuminella
Stephanie Deal
Macrae Carreker
Bisceglia Coleman
Lindsey Estepp
________________________
Katharine Phipps
1) Metonymy
The pen is mightier than the sword.
2) Onomatopeia
"Anytime
you’re around me, please don't turn off your cell phone. You hear an annoying sound.
I hear ka-ching! ka-ching!"
Virginia governor and telecom jillionaire Mark Warner
3) Tricolon
Some people call me the space cowboy;
yeah
Some call me the gangster of love;
Some people call me Maurice; -- The Steve Miller Band, The Joker
4)
Syllepsis
You held your breath and the
door for me —Alanis Morissette
5) Litotes
It isn't very serious.
I have this tiny little tumor on the brain. —J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the
Rye
____________________________________
Lisa Hom
6)
Zeugma: "For war, billions more,
but no more for the poor," Lowery added as Bush sat behind him on the speaker's
platform.
Washington Post 9 Feb 06
7)
Prolepsis:
When the
going gets tough, the tough press the locking rear differential button. Ad for Toyota Tacoma Truck
8)
Refutation:
"We
actually didn't get a letter," the chairman said.
"You
did get a letter," Kennedy insisted.
"Now,
wait a minute: You don't know what I got."
"Yes,
I do, senator, since I sent it."
After a
few more minutes, Specter growled thusly:
"I
take umbrage at your telling me what I received. I don't mind your telling me what you
mailed. But there's a big difference between what's mailed and what's received. And you
know that." Mark Leibovich, Washington Post, February 8, 2006; Page C01
9)
Oxymoron:
“Takes
you from 60 to zero faster than any other sofa” Ad
for La-Z-Boy sofa
10)
Hypophora: Raising questions and
answering them.
You might
not think of the Black Chippendales as an Arts Pick, but why not? After all, it’s 2006, in our post-modern
times, the line between art and performance has been blurred, and who’s to say a
bunch of dudes parading around in loincloths doesn’t qualify as art? Wasn’t Michelangelo’s “David”
really just a naked guy? I have no doubt
Genuwine, Hershy, Jay and the other Black Chippendales will speak at length about the
Chippendales’ place in the cultural hierarchy of artistic relevance. Then, they’ll get naked and dance. By all accounts, the ladies love it – and as
the night drags on, the party gets wilder and wilder.
Truly, the Black Chippendales are well-endowed with artistic ability. Chris Humpage, Savannah Morning News, Feb 9, 2006
______________________________
Autumn Flynn
Rhetorical Terms: H-Z
11) Hypocrisis
"I've
been racking my brain about this 'healing a divided nation' stuff, and I think the fastest
way to unify everybody is a war. I'm serious. A war is very togethering. People put aside
their differences to fight a common enemy. But how do ya’ pick the right enemy? I
asked Jim Baker the best way to go about looking, and he shook his head and said
'Simpleton.' But he's wrong. I don't think it's going to be easy at all."
(SatireWire's
daily BushBlog [found on
politcalhumor.about.com])
12) Identification
“Oh my dear girls—for to such only
am I writing—listen not to the voice of love, unless sanctioned by paternal
approbation: be assured, it is now past the days of romance: no woman can be run away with
contrary to her own inclination: then keel down each morning, and request kind heaven to
keep you free from temptation, or, should it please to suffer you to be tried, pray for
fortitude to resist the impulse of inclination when it runs counter to the precepts of
religion and virtue.”
(Susanna Rowson, Charlotte Temple)
13) Invented ethos
George: You
have no idea of the magnitude of this thing. If she is allowed to infiltrate this world
then George Costanza as you know him ceases to exist. You see, right now I have
Relationship George. But there is also Independent George. That's the George you know, the
George you grew up with . . . Movie George, Coffee Shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George.
Jerry: I love
that George.
George: Me
too, and he's dying. If Relationship George walks through this door, he will kill
Independent George. A George divided against itself cannot stand!
(Seinfeld, "The Pool Guy")
14) Situated Ethos
Jerry:
Interesting. She doesn't care for you, then a stern warning, suddenly a phone call. Seems
Elaine's made you the bad boy. And Anna digs the bad boy.
George: I'm the
bad boy. I've never been the bad boy.
Jerry: You've been
the bad employee, the bad son, the bad friend . . .
George: Yes, yes .
. .
Jerry: The bad
fiancé‚ the bad dinner guest, the bad credit risk . . .
George: Okay, the
point is made.
Jerry: The bad
date, the bad sport, the bad citizen . . . (looks at table as George exits) The bad
tipper!
(Seinfeld "The Little Kicks")
I know, I know. I can’t get away from Seinfeld. But I just can’t help it—when I read
about these terms, these are the examples that first come to my mind. Seinfeld must be the most rhetorical sitcom
of all time! Although these examples of
invented and situated ethos are both about different “Georges,” there is a
fundamental difference. The invented
“Georges” are personas George puts on in different environments. The situated “Georges” (“the bad
son, the bad tipper, etc.”) are how people see him.
15) Trope
“ . . . [T]he
trope culminates the implicit list of wonderments that the young African experiences at
the marvels of the West. As Equiano narrates:
‘I had often seen my master and Dick employed in reading;
and I had a great curiousity to talk to the books, as I thought they did; and so to learn
how all things had a beginning: for that purpose I have often taken up a book, and have
talked to it, and then put my ears to it, when alone, in hopes it would answer me; and I
have been very much concerned when I found it remained silent.’
A watch, a portrait, a book that speaks: these are the elements of wonder that the
young African encounters on his road to Western culture.”
(Henry Louis Gates,
Jr., “The Trope of the Talking Book” from The Signifying Monkey: A Theory
of Afro-American Literacy Criticism)
_________________________
Stephanie
Roberts
16)
Hypophora:
What of the mother
whose house is in flames
and both of her children
are in their beds crying
and she loves them both
with the whole of her heart
but she knows she can only
carry one at a time?
She's choking on the smoke
of unthinkable choices
She is haunted by the voices
of so many desires
She's bent over from the business
of begging forgiveness
while frantically running around
putting out fires.
Source: Ani DiFranco, “School
Night”
17)
Kairos:
President Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call
homosexuality an abomination.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr.
President. The Bible does.
President Bartlet: Yes it does. Leviticus.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
President Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have
you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown
sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What
would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of
Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be
put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police?
Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town:
touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear
gloves, can the Washington
Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West
Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my
brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small
family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those
questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly
meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands,
nobody sits.
Source: Martin Sheen as President Bartlet in The West Wing
18) Parenthesis:
. . . Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins,
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say)
satisfactory.
Source: T.S.
Eliot, “The Journey of the Magi”
19) Phatic Communication:
It’s four in the morning, the end
of December
I’m writing you now just to see if you’re better
New York is cold, but I like where I’m living
There’s music on Clinton Street all through the evening.
I hear that you’re building your little house deep in the desert
You’re living for nothing now, I hope you’re keeping some kind of record.
Source: Leonard Cohen, “Famous Blue
Raincoat”
20) Zeugma:
CJ: The theme of the Egg Hunt is "learning is delightful
and delicious" - as, by the way, am I.
Source: Allison Janney as CJ Cregg in The West Wing
__________________________________________________
Ashley Walden
21) Syllepsis:
-“You
took my hand and breath away” (Tyler Hilton, “You, My Love”)
22) Paranomasia:
-“Are
you putting us on?” (Kenneth Cole slogan)
23) Maxim:
-“The last temptation is the greatest
treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.” (T.S Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral)
24) Tricolon:
-“Mad world! mad kings! mad
composition!” (Shakespeare, King John, 2.1)
25) Isocolon:
-“Pity is the feeling which arrests the
mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it
with the sufferer. Terror is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of
whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret
cause.” (James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist
as a Young Man)
_____________________________________
Artisheia Brown
26). Paranomasia
-O dreamy eyes,
They tell sweet lies of Paradise;
And in those eyes the lovelight lies
And lies--and lies--and lies! (Anita
Owens)
27) Polyptoton
- "The only thing we have to fear is
fear itself" (F.D.Roosevelt).
28) Tricolon
-"I
want to stop gun violence, to reinvigorate the war on drugs, to end discrimination
wherever I find it." (Attorney General John Ashcroft)
29) Sprezzatura
-"Observe
Decorum, that is to say the suitability of action, dress, setting and circumstances to the
dignity or lowliness of the things which you wish to present....Let the movements of an
old man not be like those of a youth, nor those of a woman like those of a man, nor those
of a man like those of a child." (Leonardo)
30) Synathroesmus
-Of all the
bete, clumsy, blundering, boggling, baboon-blooded stuff I ever saw on the human stage,
that thing last night beat-as far as the story and acting went-and of all athe affected,
sapless, soulless, beginningless, endless, topless, bottomless, topsyturviest, tuneless,
scrannelpipiest-tongs and boniest-doggerel of sounds I ever endured the deadlines of, that
eternity of nothing was the deadliest, as far as its sound went. (John
Ruskin)
_____________________________
Tiffany Lynn Carabello
31. oxymoron
32. hyperbole
“I will cross the ocean for you”
33. simile
“Artificial sweetener is like a hug from a mannequin.”
- Maxine, the comic
34. paradox
“My life closed twice before its close.”
- Emily Dickinson
35. polysyndeton
“Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war -- not history's
forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor
ideas, nor kinds of government -- not any other thing. We are the killers.”
- Katherine Hepburn, The Lion in
Winter
_______________________________________
Tara Gergacs
36) Polyptoton- “With eager
feeding food doth choke the feeder.” John
of Guant – William Shakespeare’s Richard II .
37) Polysyndeton- "It's [football] a way of life, really,
to those particular people who are a part of it. It's more than a game, and regardless of
what level it's played upon, it still demands those attributes of courage and stamina and
coordinated efficiency and goes even beyond that for [it] is a means -- it provides a
mental and physical relaxation to everybody that watches it, like yourself." Vince Lombardi
38)
Rhetorical question- “Why not come into our store and see for yourself?” The
Gregg Reference Manual Tenth Edition.
39) Synecdoche- "Give us this day our daily bread." The New Testament- Mathew 6:11
40)
Tricolon- “I think we've all arrived
at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically.” Captain Jack
Sparrow- “Pirates of the Caribbean”
_____________________________
Return to A-G Group A
Return to A-G Group B
Return to A-G Group C
Proceed to HZ Group E
____________________________________________
English 5730 is taught by Dr. Richard Nordquist.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
updated 13 February 2006