This document provides an overview of rhetorical devices and figures of speech that were covered, including rhetorical questions, parallelism, repetition, irony, allusion, alliteration, rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and metaphors. It defines each concept and provides examples. It then explains an in-class assignment where students will create posters defining and illustrating one assigned rhetorical device or figure of speech to present to the class.

1. Rhetoric Notes

2. Rhetorical Devices We’ve Covered So Far…
• Rhetorical Questions
• “Do I look stupid to you?!”
• Parallelism
• “What goes around comes around.”
• Repetition
• “Mr. Sandman is a bland man made of sand.”
• Irony
• “A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking
tickets.”

3. Rhetorical Devices
• Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter at the beginning of
adjacent or closely connected words.
Sara’s seven sisters slept soundly in sand.
Quincy’s quilters quit quilting quickly.
Alice’s aunt ate apples and acorns around August.

4. Rhetorical Devices
• Allusions are references to well-known people, places, events, or
literary works. Expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to
spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.
“I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.”
“Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.”

5. Rhetorical Devices
• Rhetorical Appeals are the three elements to the art of persuasion.
An appeal is an attempt to earn audience approval or agreement by
playing to natural human tendencies or common experiences.

6. Appeals
• Ethos is an appeal based on
character or authority.
• The source’s credibility, the
speaker’s authority
"Doctors and pharmacists all over
the world recommend this type of
treatment."

7. Appeals
• Pathos is an appeal based on
emotions.
"If you don’t give me that cheese,
my poor little kitty heart will
stop."

8. Appeals
• Logos is an appeal based on
logic.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury:
we have not only the fingerprints,
the lack of an alibi, a clear motive,
and an expressed desire to
commit the robbery… We also
have video of the suspect
breaking in. The case could not be
more open and shut."

9. Figurative Language We’ve Covered So Far…
• Simile
• “You’re as cute as a button!”

10. Figurative Language
• A metaphor is a comparison of unlike things in which one thing is
actually said to be another.
“You are my sunshine.”
The detective listened with a wooden face.

11. Rhetoric Groups
1. Rhetorical Question
2. Parallelism
3. Repetition
4. Simile
5. Irony
6. Allusion
7. Alliteration
8. Ethos
9. Pathos
10. Logos
11. Metaphor

12. In Class Assignment
• Spend 20 minutes creating a poster for your rhetorical device or
figure of speech. Your poster must include:
• The definition.
• One complete sentence using the rhetorical device or figure of
speech.
• A picture illustrating the sentence.
• All group member names, and the period written on the back.
You will present your posters to the class at the end of 20 minutes. The
best posters from all periods (1 per rhetorical device and figure of
speech) will be laminated and displayed in class.