The Basics. Four Modes of Discourse  Exposition – writing that explains or informs.  Narration – writing that tells a story  Description – writing.

The Basics

Four Modes of Discourse  Exposition – writing that explains or informs.  Narration – writing that tells a story  Description – writing that appeals to the five senses.  Argument/persuasion – writing that presents a position in hopes that the reader will accept an assertion.

Rhetorical Strategy A rhetorical strategy is the specific approach or approaches a writer employs to achieve an intended purpose.

PURPOSE Purpose is the reason why you or any other person chooses to communicate with an audience – the goal, the intended effect.

THE BASIC PURPOSES ARE:  To inform  To entertain  To question  To argue  To elicit an emotional response

Rhetorical Strategy How the writer accomplishes this purpose is called a rhetorical strategy.

RHETORICAL STRATEGIES INCLUDE:  Cause/Effect  Classification/division  Contrast/comparison  Definition  Description  Exemplification  Narration  Process/analysis  Persuasion

RHETORICAL DEVICES If a rhetorical strategy is the carefully developed plan for achieving a specific writing purpose, then rhetorical devices are the tools and mechanisms the writer employs to produce that plan, and the rhetorical technique is the manner in which the author uses these tools or devices.

RHETORICAL DEVICES The writing tools and mechanisms that an author uses to develop a specific strategy.

The most used and referred to rhetorical devices and figures of speech:  Alliteration  Allusion  Analogy  Antithesis  Apostrophe  Epithet  Hyperbole  Metaphor  Metonymy/ Synecdoche  Onomatopoeia  Oxymoron  Parallelism  Personification  Rhetorical Question  Simile  Understatement/ Litotes

ALLITERATION The repetition of the initial consonant sounds in a group of words. Tommy towed the tiny truck to the town dump.

ALLUSION  An indirect reference to another idea, person, place, event, artwork, etc. to enhance the meaning of the work in which it appears.  Allusions can be mythological, biblical, historical, literary, political, or contemporary.

“The killer wore the mark of Cain as he stalked his brother.”

ANALOGY A comparison between two different items that an author may use to describe, define, explain, etc. by indicating their similarities

From Norman Mailer’s The Armies of the Night? “…even the pale institutional green paint of the walls would be the same. Perhaps even the prison would not be so dissimilar.”

ANTITHESIS Two opposing ideas presented in a parallel manner. Sometimes I love…, and sometimes I hate…

From Charles Dickens’(s) A Tale of Two Cities “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness.”

APOSTROPHE A device or figure of speech that is most frequently found in poetry. When a writer employs apostrophe, he or she speaks directly to an abstract person, idea, or ideal. It is used to exhibit strong emotions.

Apostrophe Yeats, “Be with me Beauty, for the fire is dying.” Shakespeare, “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks.”

EPITHET An adjective or adjective phrase that an author uses to describe the perceived nature of a noun by accentuating one of its dominant characteristics, whether real or metaphorical.

Epithets “grey-eyed Athena” “The wide-ruling King warned the priest…” “Air” Jordan

HYPERBOLE An exaggeration or overstatement to emphasize a point or to achieve a specific effect that can be serious, humorous, sarcastic, or even ironic.

Hyperbole Robert Burns His love will last “until the seas run dry.”

UNDERSTATEMENT When a writer wishes to minimize the obvious importance or seriousness of someone or something, he/she uses understatement, assuming that the audience knows the subject’s significance.

Understatement A firefighter “just doing my job”

LITOTES A special type of understatement used for emphasis or affirmation, litotes asserts a point by denying the opposite.

Litotes 1)Our family did not fail to have its usual tension-filled vacation. 2) Our family had a tension-filled vacation

METAPHOR A direct comparison between two unlike things “Thine eyes are stars of morning” - Longfellow

SIMILE An indirect comparison of two unlike things using like or as. “The short story is like a room to be furnished; the novel is like a warehouse.” - Singer

METONYMY A metaphor in which the actual subject is represented by an item with which it is closely associated. Today, the White House issued a statement… The pen is mightier than the sword.

SYNECDOCHE A metaphor that uses a part to represent the whole. I just got a new set of wheels. many moons ago…

ONOMATOPOEIA The word imitating the sound being made. Buzz, sizzle, lisp, murmur, roar, splat I gulped my coffee

OXYMORON A paradoxical image created by using two contradictory terms together. bittersweet, jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly

PERSONIFICATION A metaphor that gives human attributes to subjects that are nonhuman, abstract, and/or without life. Shakespeare, “Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon/Who is already sick and pale with grief…”

PARALLELISM The writer employs grammatically similar constructions to create a sense of balance that allows the audience to compare and contrast the parallel subjects.

Parallel Structure Aristotle, “For the end of a theoretical science is truth, but the end of a practical science is performance.”

RHETORICAL QUESTION A question posed to an audience without the expectation of an answer. “Where are they now, the days of wine and roses?” “Got Milk?”

PARENTHESIS A construction (word, phrase, another sentence) that is placed as an unexpected aside in the middle of the rest of the sentence.

Parenthesis Parenthesis can be set off in two ways:  By parenthesis: The reporter assumed that what the eye-witness said was either true or (at least) closer to the truth than the tale of the accused.  By dashes: The members of the symphonic chorus all said how great – Ouch, how I hate that word!- the European tour was and how much they learned from their experience.

RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES How you use these tools (devices), when, where, and how often.

Techniques  DICTION  SYNTAX  ORGANIZATION  TONE & ATTITUDE  POINT OF VIEW

DICTION WORD CHOICE. It is the conscious decision the author makes when choosing vocabulary to create an intended effect.

Some terms used to describe diction: formal, informal, poetic, heightened, pretentious, slang, colloquial, ordinary, simple, complex

SYNTAX The grammatical structure of a sentence. The carefully chosen sentence structure and variety the writer uses to develop the subject, purpose, and/or effect.

To discuss syntax, you should have a working knowledge of each of the terms in the following list of basics.

Syntax:  Phrases (at the same time)  Main clauses (Horatio watches the “Today” show)  Subordinate clauses (before Horatio goes to work)  Declarative sentences (Horatio watches)

Syntax:  Imperative sentence (Horatio must watch.)  Exclamatory sentence (Horatio really watches!)  Interrogative sentence (Does Horatio watch the “Today” show?)  Simple sentence (Horatio watches the “Today” show.)

 Compound sentence (Horatio watches the “today” show, and he eats his breakfast at the same time.)  Complex sentence (As Horatio eats his breakfast, he watches the “Today” show.)  Compound-complex sentence (Before he goes to work, Horatio eats his breakfast, and he watches the “Today” show at the same time.)

Syntax:  Loose sentence (Horatio watches the “Today” show, and he eats his breakfast at the same time.)  Periodic sentence (Before going to work and while eating his breakfast, Horatio watches the “today” show.)  Inverted sentence (The “today” show Horatio does watch.)

Syntax:  Paragraphing  Punctuation and spelling

TONE AND ATTITUDE The author’s perception about a subject and its presentation to an audience.

Three categories of tone:  Informal – slang, colloquialisms, regional expressions.  Semi-formal – standard vocabulary, conventional sentence structure, few or no contractions.  Very formal tone – polysyllabic words, professional jargon, complex syntax.

ATTITUDE His or her relationship to the audience:  Talking down to the audience as an advisor  Talking down to the audience as a satirist  Talking to the audience as an equal.  Talking up to the audience as a subordinate or supplicant.

ORGANIZATION The way an author presents ideas to an audience.

Organizational Patterns  Chronological  Cause/effect  Spatial  Compare/contrast  Least to most important  General to specific  Specific to general  Most important to least  Flashback/flash forward

POINT OF VIEW The method the writer uses to narrate the story.  First Person  Third person Objective  Third person omniscient  Stream-of-consciousness  Interior monologue

The Basics. Four Modes of Discourse  Exposition – writing that explains or informs.  Narration – writing that tells a story  Description – writing.

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The Basics. Four Modes of Discourse  Exposition – writing that explains or informs.  Narration – writing that tells a story  Description – writing.

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