Englis h 5 7 3 0 rhetoric



Download 0.84 Mb.
Page7/16
Date15.01.2018
Size0.84 Mb.
#36095
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   ...   16

deduction
Method of reasoning wherein a conclusion is derived from comparison of general to particular premises.
-"Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were on a camping and hiking trip.  They had gone to bed and were lying there looking up at the sky.  Holmes said, 'Watson, look up. What do you see?' 
'Well, I see thousands of stars.'
'And what does that mean to you?'
'Well, I guess it means we will have another nice day tomorrow.  What does it mean to you, Holmes?'
'To me, it means someone has stolen our tent.'"

dehortatio

Dissuasive advice given with authority.
[L. "urging"]
-"Chastisement of Jehovah, my son, despise not, And be not vexed with His reproof, For whom Jehovah loveth He reproveth, Even as a father the son He is pleased with."
(Book of Proverbs, Chapter Three)
-"Sow seed--but let no tyrant reap:
Find wealth--let no impostor heap:
Weave robes--let not the idle wear:
Forge arms--in your defense to bear."
(Shelly, "A Song: 'Men of England'")
-"Never give all the heart." (William Butler Yeats)

diacope

Repetition broken up by one or more intervening words.
(Pronunciation: "di AK oh pee")
[Gk. "a cutting in two"]
-"Put out the light, and then put out the light."
(Shakespeare, Othello V.ii)
-"Urge and urge and urge,
Always the procreant urge of the world."
(Walt Whitman)
-"I want to be alone. . . . I just want to be alone."
(Greta Garbo in the 1932 film Grand Hotel)
-"Someone ate the baby,
It's rather sad to say.
Someone ate the baby
So she won't be out to play.
We'll never hear her whiney cry
Or have to feel if she is dry.
We'll never hear her asking, 'Why?'
Someone ate the baby."
(Shel Silverstein, "Dreadful")

dialectic   
"Socratic method" of one-on-one question and answer. Plato's Socrates usually presents it as an interactive method of argument aiming at truth, as against the uninterrupted and noninteractive speech of an orator, which presumably aims only to bamboozle the audience. Thus, in a loose sense, dialectic has come to mean a logical argument as opposed to the emotional, crowd-pleasing persuasion of rhetoric. However, recent studies (e.g., Lanham, Ong) argue that dialectic was originally a sophistic method.
-"Socrates: Polus has been taught how to make a capital speech, Gorgias; but he is not fulfilling the promise which he made to Chaerephon.
Gorgias: What do you mean, Socrates?
Soc. I mean that he has not exactly answered the question which he was asked.
Gor. Then why not ask him yourself?
Soc. But I would much rather ask you, if you are disposed to answer: for I see, from the few words which Polus has uttered, that he has attended more to the art which is called rhetoric than to dialectic.
Pol. What makes you say so, Socrates?
Soc. Because, Polus, when Chaerephon asked you what was the art which Gorgias knows, you praised it as if you were answering some one who found fault with it, but you never said what the art was.
Polus: Why, did I not say that it was the noblest of arts?
Soc. Yes, indeed, but that was no answer to the question: nobody asked what was the quality, but what was the nature, of the art, and by what name we were to describe Gorgias. And I would still beg you briefly and clearly, as you answered Chaerephon when he asked you at first, to say what this art is, and what we ought to call Gorgias: Or rather, Gorgias, let me turn to you, and ask the same question what are we to call you, and what is the art which you profess?
Gor. Rhetoric, Socrates, is my art.
Soc. Then I am to call you a rhetorician?
Gor. Yes, Socrates, and a good one too, if you would call me that which, in Homeric language, "I boast myself to be."
Soc. I should wish to do so.
Gor. Then pray do.
Soc. And are we to say that you are able to make other men rhetoricians?
Gor. Yes, that is exactly what I profess to make them, not only at Athens, but in all places.
Soc. And will you continue to ask and answer questions, Gorgias, as we are at present doing and reserve for another occasion the longer mode of speech which Polus was attempting? Will you keep your promise, and answer shortly the questions which are asked of you?
Gor. Some answers, Socrates, are of necessity longer; but I will do my best to make them as short as possible; for a part of my profession is that I can be as short as any one.
Soc. That is what is wanted, Gorgias; exhibit the shorter method now, and the longer one at some other time.
Gor. Well, I will; and you will certainly say, that you never heard a man use fewer words.
(Plato, from the opening of Gorgias)

distinctio

Explicit references to various meanings of a word--usually for the purpose of removing ambiguities.
-"If by light you mean 'clear,'  I am glad you do see them; if by light you mean of 'no weight,' I am sorry you do not feel them."
(Hoskyns)
-"It depends on what the meaning of the word is is. If is means 'and never has been,' that is one thing. If it means 'there is none,'  that was a completely true statement."
(Bill Clinton, Grand Jury testimony, 1998)
-"Don Cognasso will tell you that this commandment prohibits envy, which is certainly an ugly thing.  But there's bad envy, which is when your friend has a bicycle and you don't, and you hope he breaks his neck going down a hill, and there's good envy, which is when you want a bike like his and work your butt off to be able to buy one, and it's good envy that makes the world go round.  And then there's another envy, which is justice envy, which is when you can't see any reason that a few people have everything and others are dying of hunger.  And if you feel this fine sort of envy, which is socialist envy, you get busy trying to make a world in which riches are better distributed."
(Umberto Eco, "The Gorge," in The New Yorker, 7 March 2005)

   |    | 



English 5730 is taught by Dr. Richard Nordquist.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
Savannah, Georgia 31419
912-921-5991
e-mail: engl5730@lycos.com          


E N G L I S H   5 7 3 0  rhetoric
Rhetoric Home | News | Rhetorical Resources  |  Rhetorical Terms



Glossary of Rhetorical Terms

effectio to gradatio

effectio [effictio]  
Personal description; head-to-toe inventory of a person's charms.
[from Latin effingere, "to fashion"]
-(See Shakespeare's Sonnet 130)
-"Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size . . .
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips . . .
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
The joy in my feet . . .
It's the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breast,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal Woman,
That's me."
(Maya Angelou, "Phenomenal Woman")

ellipsis  
Omission of one or more words, which must be supplied by the listener or reader.
[Gk. "a falling short"]
-"If youth knew, if age could." (Henri Estienne)
-"True stories deal with hunger, imaginary ones with love." (Raymond Queneau)
-"Twenty-two years old, weak, hot, frightened, not daring to acknowledge the fact that he didn't know who or what he was . . . with no past, no language, no tribe, no source, no address book, no comb, no pencil, no clock, no pocket handkerchief, no rug, no bed, no can opener, no faded postcard, no soap, no key, no tobacco pouch, no soiled underwear and nothing nothing nothing to do . . . he was sure of one thing only: the unchecked monstrosity
of his hands."
(Toni Morrison, Sula)

Download 0.84 Mb.

Share with your friends:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   ...   16




The database is protected by copyright ©ininet.org 2024
send message

    Main page