Persuasive Devices Terms and Definitions

You need to read through the following persuasive devices and match them up with the correct
definition. Use the example statements and place the correct term next to each one.

1. Authoritative statement  When words or phrases are repeated

2. Conditional mood  The creation of an image through the use of particular words,
phrases or figurative language

3. Direct address to the  A personal narrative or story that a speaker/writer uses to

audience/inclusive engage the audience
language

4. Hyperbole  Strong use of words for emphasis – appeals to emotions

5. Repetition  A comparison of two things where something is said to be like

or as something else

6. Tricolon  A question that does not require a response but makes the
audience think about what is being said

7. Anecdote  Language used that allows the audience to feel included

8. Description  Using something funny to help persuade

9. Simile  A statement that is recognised or accepted as being true or

reliable – said with authority

10. Emphatic statement  Where something is said to be something else

11. Metaphor  A common, everyday expression

12. Personification  A sentence with three consecutive words or phrases that add
emphasis
13. Idiom  A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound

14. Imagery  Statements that show emphasis on particular ideas

15. Rhetorical question  Sentences that describe

16. Emotive language  Where human qualities are given to non-human things

17. Humour  A statement where something is dependent upon the outcome

of something else
18. Irony  Statements used to express direct requests or commands for
the effect of excluding arguments
19. Sarcasm  Words used to express the level of certainty by the
writer/speaker
20. Imperative mood  An exaggeration for effect

21. Modality  The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its
literal meaning
Children must learn to read and write:

If you believe that I am the best person for the job:

We are at a crossroads. It is time for us to act:

I have told you a hundred times to clean your room:

I will be the best person for the job. I will do as I have promised:

Romeo loves hard, fights poorly, and dies young:

My sons are very tall. When my oldest boy was getting taller people would always ask if he was a

basketball player:

On one corner of my dresser sits a smiling toy clown on a tiny unicycle--a gift I received last Christmas

from a close friend:

She is as pretty as a rose:

The koala population is threatened:

The skies of his future began to darken:

The silence crept:

Don’t have enough to make ends meet:

The pitter-patter of the rain against the window:

Is this a dagger which I see before me?

The vile and vicious criminal was put behind bars:

“young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food,

whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled” (A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift):

In 1912 the Titanic was touted as "100% unsinkable", and yet the ship sank on its maiden voyage:

Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed:

We must stop logging of forests immediately:

I say with absolute certainty that cars are bad for the environment: