What is pathos?
Emotional appeal
Positive images or feelings
Negative images or feelings
What is ethos?
Establishment of credibility
Professional or expert opinions
Celebrity endorsements
What is logos?
Useful information
Benefits of use
Logical and straightforward
What is a motif?
A motif is an object, image, or idea that is referenced throughout a literary work. A motif helps to develop the theme of the work and contributes to the tone and mood. Motifs are not the same word repeated; instead, a motif of imprisonment might take the form of “chains,” “jail,” “bondage,” “dungeon,” “shackles,” “a bird whose wings are broken,” etc.
- What images, objects, or ideas are repeated throughout the text?
- What is the purpose of the repetition?
- What is the effect of the repetition?
What is syntax?
Syntax is word order, punctuation, sentence length, and the relationship between words and sentences. Remember, syntax affects pace, meaning, tone, and mood. Print and review a few of the syntactical devices writers use strategically.
- How are words and phrases arranged within sentences?
- Are there any unique or repeated patterns? What is their effect?
- What is the writer trying to accomplish through each syntactical choice?
- How are sentences punctuated? Does the writer use dashes, parentheses, fragments, ellipses, etc.? If so, what is the effect?
- Are sentences long, short, or varied? Is there a sudden change in syntax? If so, how does it change and what is the effect?
What is tone?
Tone is the writer’s attitude towards the subject of the text. The tricky part about analyzing tone is that tone can be created by the writer’s use of any or all of the other rhetorical strategies.
When analyzing tone, take care to choose the right word to describe the author’s tone. You may use this short list of tone words to get you started.
- How does the writer’s use of imagery, words, and other devices reveal the tone?
- What is the writer’s attitude toward the subject of the text?
- Are there any shifts in tone? If so, how and why does the tone change? What is the effect of the tone shift?
What is structure?
Recall that good writers strategically structure their ideas to create a powerful message and effective argument. For example, a well-crafted argument will not embed the most powerful evidence just anywhere in a text. Instead, the writer will find the exact spot in the text that the evidence will have the greatest impact on the reader and deliberately place it there.
- How does the speaker begin or end his or her text?
- What does the writer discuss in each paragraph? How are ideas related to one another?
- Why does the writer place each topic where he or she does in the argument?
- What mode does the writer most rely on (narration, comparison/contrast, description, explanation, etc.)?
- When does the writer shift tone? Why does he or she change tones? What is the effect on the audience?
- Is there a motif that the writer carries throughout the argument? How does it impact the tone and subsequently the audience?
What are prepositional phrases?
A modifying phrase consisting of a proposition such as “in,” ‘to,” etc.
What are gerundial phrases?
A verbal phrase beginning with a verb + -ing that always functions as a noun
What is participate phrases?
A verbal phrase beginning with a verb + -ing that always functions as an adjective
What are infinitive phrases?
A verbal phrase beginning with to + a verb that can function as a noun, adjective, or adverb
What is anaphora?
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences.
- Example: • Example: I told you to clean your room. I told you to put away your dishes. I told you to take out the garbage.
- Effect: Anaphora creates rhythm, adds emphasis, and builds tension or emotion.
What is chiasmus?
Chiasmus uses two clauses that are parallel but contain a reversal of similar words.
- Example: “Never let a Fool kiss you —or a kiss fool you.”
- Effect: Chiasmus makes an idea memorable and creates emphasis.
What is juxtaposition?
Juxtaposition is a device in which two seemingly opposite ideas are placed side by side in order to draw attention to important ideas.
- Example: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”—Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
- Effect: Juxtaposition draws attention to the contrasting elements of an idea or issue; it can impact the tone and the message by conveying an idea in comparison to another idea.
What is paralellism?
Parallelism is the repetition of the same or similar grammatical structures in successive phrases, clauses, or sentences.
- Example: “Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things…They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction…”—Barack Obama, Inaugural Address
- Effect: Parallelism creates rhythm, affects the pace, builds tension or emotion, and creates emphasis on ideas.
What is an inversion?
Inversion occurs when the normal order of words is reversed.
- Example: “Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines…”—William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18”
- Effect: Inversion draws attention to the idea or subject.
What are periodic sentences?
Periodic sentences place the main idea or most important information at the end of the sentence.
- Example: “Unprovided with original learning, uninformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved—to write a book.” —Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life
- Effect: Periodic sentences build curiosity and create emphasis by delaying revelation of the main idea of the sentence.
What are balanced sentences?
Balanced sentences feature two parts that are roughly equal in length, structure, and importance.
- Example: “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” —Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
- Effect: Balanced sentences create rhythm and emphasis on ideas.
What are loose sentences?
Loose sentences reveal the independent clause right away and unfold loosely after that through the use of subordinate phrases and clauses.
- Example: I came home in the wee hours of morning when the sun and the moon trade places.
- Effect: Loose sentences can create emphasis by piling phrases upon phrases after the main clause of the sentence.
What are simple sentences?
These sentences have one independent clause.
They are often short sentences.
Simple sentences do not often provide much information.
This is a common structure.
It is easy to understand.
- EXAMPLE: I am a writer
What are compound sentences?
These sentences have two or more independent clauses.
They tend to be longer sentences.
They are joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction, or a semicolon can be used to connect the two independent clauses.
They provide more information regarding the main idea of the sentence; this shows more sophistication than a simple sentence.
- EXAMPLE: I am a writer, so it’s important that I read many different types of texts.
What are complex sentences?
While these sentences have an independent clause, they will also use one or more dependent clauses, which will lengthen the sentence by providing more information.
By using complex sentences, the writer is able to vary sentence beginnings, thus adding another element to engage readers.
These sentences—comprised of clauses and phrases—must be punctuated correctly, which will require proper use of commas and/or dashes.
- EXAMPLE: Because I am a writer, it’s important that I read many different types of texts when I am in between writing projects.
