AP Lang Rhetoric terms (50 required)

Alliteration

repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.

Allusion

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fiction) or to a work of art.

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage

Analogy

a comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.

Anaphora

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines

Anecdote

a brief story used to illustrate a point or claim

Aphorism

a terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth and moral principle

Argument

a process of reasoned inquiry. A persuasive discourse resulting in a coherent and consideration movement from a claim to conclusion

Audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text.

Claim,

also called an assertion or proposition, states the argument’s main idea or position. differs from a topic or subject in that it has to be arguable.

Colloquialism

words or phrases that have a conversational feel and are not generally written English

Connotation

meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition or denotation.

Context

the circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text. (helps to better understand the given text)

Denotation

the strict, literal dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color

Diction

A speaker’s choice of words.

Emphasis

this allows the writer to place importance on a particular idea. (can be created through position, proportion, isolation, and repetition within a text)

Ethos

Greek for character, speakers appeal to this to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a topic. it is established by both who you are and what you say

Euphemism

greek for “good speech”. these are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. may be used to adhere to political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement.

figurative language (figure of speech)

nonliteral language, sometimes referred to as tropes or metaphorical language, often evoking strong imagery, figures of speech often compare one thing to another either explicitly or implicitly.

Hyperbole

deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect, an overstatement to make a point

Imagery

a description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds. uses literal or figurative language to appeal to the senses.

Irony

a figure of speech that occurs when a speaker or character says one thing but means something else, or when what is said is the opposite of what is expected, creating a noticeable incongruity.

Jargon

specialized terminology used by a particular group of people. obscure and often pretentious language.

Juxtaposition

placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences.

Logos

Greek for embodied thought. speakers appeal to this or reason by offering clear rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back them up.

Metaphor

figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as

Mood

The feeling or atmosphere created by a text

Narration

in classical oration, the factual and background information, establishing why a subject or problem needs addressing. it precedes the confirmation or laying out of evidence to support claims made in the argument

Oxymoron

a paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words

Paradox

a statement or situation that is seemingly contradictory on the surface but delivers an ironic truth

Parallelism

similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

Pathos

Greek for suffering or experience. speakers appeal to it to emotionally motivate their audience. more specific appeals might play on the audience’s values, desires, and hopes on one hand- fears and prejudice on the other

Persona

Greek for mask. the face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience

Personification

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea

Purpose

the goal the speaker wants to achieve

Rhetoric

aristotle defined this as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”- in other words it is the art of finding ways to persuade an audience

Rhetorical Appeals

rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. the three major ones are ethos pathos and logos

Rhetorical Question

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetoric effect rather than for getting an answer

Satire

the use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual

Simile

a figure of speech used to explain or clarify an idea by comparing it explicitly to something else- using words such as like, as, or as though

Style

a writer’s specific way of saying things. this includes arrangement of ideas, word choice, syntax, and figurative language.

Syntax

The arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. this includes word order (subject-verb-object or an inverted structure); the length and structure of sentences (simple, compound, complex, etc); and schemes such as parallelism and juxtaposition.

Theme

A writer’s thoughts on a topic. it is not JUST the topic, but what the author develops in terms of what about the topic.

Tone

a speaker’s attitude towards the subject conveyed by the speaker’s stylistic and rhetorical choices.

Understatement

a figure of speech in which something is presented as less important, dire, urgent, good, and so on than it actually is, often for satirical or comical effect. it is the opposite of a hyperbole.

Vernacular

the speech patterns of a particular group of people or region

Voice

the unique flavor of a piece based upon the author. an author adds this to a piece by creating a tone with diction, suntax, imagery, etc. this is what makes the author’s writing personal and unique