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| (Latin for "to the man") a fallacy of logic in which a person's character or motive is attacked instead of that person's argument |
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| (Latin for "to the crowd") a fallacy of logic in which the widespread occurrence of something is assumed to make it true or right; e.g. "The Escort is the most widely sold car in the world; therefore, it must be the best." |
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| A story in which the people, places, and things represent general concepts or moral qualities |
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| a brief reference to a person, place, event, or passage in a work of literature or the Bible assumed to be sufficiently well known to be recognized by the reader; e.g. "I am Lazarus, come from the dead." - T.S. Eliot |
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| A comparison between two things in which the more complex is explained in terms of the more simple; e.g. Comparing a year-long profile of the stock index to a roller-coaster ride. |
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| A short entertaining account of something happening, frequently person or biographical |
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| A sudden drop from the dignified or important in thought or expression to the commonplace or trivial, often for humorous effect |
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| Citation of information from people recognized for their special knowledge of a subject for the purpose of strengthening a speaker or writer's arguments. |
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| Exploration of a problem by investigating all sides of it; persuasion through reason |
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| A fallacy of logical argument that assumes as true the very thing that one is trying to prove; e.g. 1. The Bible is the infallible word of God. 2. The Bible says that God exists. Therefore, 3. God exists. |
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| Examination of the causes and/or effects of a situation or phenomenon; e.g. Essay topics such as "How did the incumbent mayor lose the election?" or "What causes obesity?" are well suited to cause and effect exposition. |
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| Arrangement in the order in which things occur; may move from the past to present or in reverse chronological order, from the present to past. |
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| Classification as a means of ordering |
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| Arrangement of objects according to class e.g. media classified as print, television, and radio. |
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| words and phrases used in everyday speech but avoided in formal writing; e.g. Jack was bummed out about his chemistry grade instead of Jack was upset about his chemistry grade. |
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| Damning with faint praise |
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| Intentional use of a positive statement that has a negative implication; e.g. "Your new hairdo is so...interesting." |
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| Deduction (deductive reasoning) |
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| A form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies the generalization to a specific case or cases; opposite to induction. |
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| 1. In grammar, the omission of a word or words necessary for complete construction but understood in context. E.g. "If (it is) possible, (you) come early." 2. The sign (...) that something has been left out of a quotation. "To be or not...that is the question." |
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| The use of a word or phrase that is less direct, but that is also less distasteful or less offensive than another; e.g. "he is at rest" is a euphemism for "he is dead." |
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| Writing that explains or analyzes. |
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| A fallacy of logical which is committed when too few of the available alternatives are considered, and all but one are assessed and deemed impossible or unacceptable; e.g. A father speaking to his son says, "Are you going to go to college and make something of yourself, or are you going to end up being an unemployable bum like me?" The dilemma is the son's supposed choice of limitation; either he goes to college or he will be a bum. This dilemma is false, because the alternative of not going to college but still being employable has not been considered. |
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| An extravagant exaggeration of fact, used either for serious or comic effect |
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| Lively descriptions which impress the images of things upon the mind; figures of speech. |
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| Induction (inductive reasoning) |
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| A form of reasoning which works from a body of fact to the formulation of a generalization; opposite to deduction; frequently used as a principle form of reasoning in science and history. |
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Definition
Reversing the normal word order of a sentence. E.g. "Whose woods these are I think I know." - Robert Frost
The sentence goes prepositional phrase, verb, subject. |
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Definition
Reversing the normal word order of a sentence
This sentence goes prepositional phrase, subject, verb. |
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