Term
Apposition: Placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first(noun cluster).
Example: "This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air."
(The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald)
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Definition
| Function: The description that is provided after the first clause is used to create imagery. This rhetorical effect is useful because it allows the author to provide explanation to his or her audience. Also this device can also be used to appeal to the readers senses as in this piece. |
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Term
Parenthesis: The insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal flow of a sentence. One obvious way to use parenthesis is to use the punctuation, parenthesis. However, there are other ways to insert a comment into a sentence. One might use commas, or dashes, for example.
Example: “I've had to resist and to attack sometimes – that’s only one way of resisting – without counting the exact cost, according to the demands of such sort of life as I had blundered into.” (Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad) |
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Definition
| Function: The purpose of this rhetoric device is to allow a more specific explanation or description that interrupts the flow of the sentence on purpose. The use of this device in this exert is to make it clear his reasons for his actions. Because the author deliberately interrupted the reader his point was clearly made. |
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Term
Asyndeton: The deliberate omission of conjunctions between a series of related clauses.
Example: "Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click, Pic, Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom!"
(Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury) |
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Definition
| Function: Bradbury is recreating the quickness of the film. The stream of consciousness that uses rapid fire of quick short words. These words that are used mimic the images that are seen on the screen. Some words are descriptions of images on the screen and others reflect the thoughts of a potential viewer. |
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Term
Polysyndeton: The deliberate use of many conjunctions.
Example: "Most motor-cars are conglomerations (this is a long word for bundles) of steel and wire and rubber and plastic, and electricity and oil and petrol and water, and the toffee papers you pushed down the crack in the back seat last Sunday." (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car, Ian Fleming)
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Definition
| Function: Because the author used many conjunctions it creates a sense of slow down. It draws out the sentence and emphasizes that length of all the components being described. The use of words in this sentence conveys that this motor is composed of many different parts. By repetitive use of conjunctions that lengthen the sentence the reader can sense the overwhelming abundance of items in the motor. |
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Term
Litotes: The deliberate use of understatement.
Example: "We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all." (Farewell Address to the Nation, Ronald Reagan)
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Definition
| Function: Litotes are satirical devices that understatements of the truth. In this quote "not bad at all" is a litote, because the accomplishments achieved are very significant and deserve more credit than they were given. |
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