Rhetorical Devices 3By: Pyper Moore & Anneka Lewis
Ad Hominem (ad ˈhämənəm): Going after someone who makes a statement rather than the statement they made. Ex. How can you argue for vegetarians, but enjoy eating a steak yourself?
Allusion: a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize. Ex. “Don’t be a pre-Madonna!”
Analogy: making a comparison between two objects. Ex.“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Antithesis (anˈtiTHəsəs): A claim that is opposition of one’s claim. Ex."That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." - Neil Armstrong.
Aphorism (ˈafəˌrizəm): A short statement of an opinion or truth. Ex. If you have nothing, you can’t lose anything.
Ignorance Argument: An argument saying something is true because it has never been proved wrong. Ex. Science has been unable to create life from non-life; therefore, life must be a result of divine intervention.
Bandwagon: Doing what everyone else is doing. Ex. Alexis started playing soccer after all of his cousins started playing because he thought it looked cool and he didn’t want to be left out.
Begging the Question: A question that has a word that needs to be defined before being able to answer the question. Ex. “How do you feel about the new political system?” “What is a political system?”
Connotation: Moods that go with a word. Ex. A dove implies peace and gentleness.
Denotation: Dictionary meaning of a word. Ex. Happy: feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.
