AP Lang Rhetorical Terms

Alliteration*

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

Allusion*

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) 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. Often, it uses something simple or familiar to explain something unfamiliar or complex.

Anaphora*

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

e.g. not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are… -- John F. Kennedy

Anecdote*

A brief story used to illustrate a point or claim.

Annotation

The taking of notes directly on a text

Antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order.

e.g.[A]sk not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country. -- John F. Kennedy

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

e.g. [W]e shall… support any friend, oppose any foe… -- John F. Kennedy

Aphorism*

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

Archaic Diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words

e.g.beliefs for which our forebears fought… -- John F. Kennedy

Argument*

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

Assertion

A statement that presents a claim or thesis.

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunction between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. 

e.g. [W]e shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. -- John F. Kennedy

Audience*

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text. Most texts are likely to have multiple of these.*

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.*

Closed Thesis

a statement of the main idea of the argument that also previews the major points the writer intends to make.

Colloquialism*

Words or phrases that have a conversational feel and are not generally used in formal written English.*

Complex Sentence

A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

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.*

Cumulative Sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.

Denotation*

The strict, literal dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude or color.*

Diction*

A speaker’s choice of words. Analysis of this looks at these choices and what they add to the speaker’s message.*

Emphasis* - Position, Proportion, Isolation, Repetition

 allows the writer to place importance on a particular idea.*

Ethos*

Greek for “character.” To demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic. Is established by both who you are and what you say. *

Euphemism*

Greek for “good speech,” they 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*

Nonliteral language, sometimes referred to as tropes or metaphorical language, often evoking strong imagery, often compare one thing to another either explicitly (simile) implicitly (metaphor)*

*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. It may use literal or figurative language to appeal to the senses*

Imperative sentence

Sentence used to command or enjoin.

Inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the Subject-Verb-Object order)

*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 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.*

Metonymy

Figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it or emblematic of it.

Modifier

An adjective, adverb, phrase, or clause that modifies a noun, pronoun, or verb. The purpose of a this is usually to describe, focus, or qualify.

*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.*

Nominalization

The process of changing a verb into a noun

Occasion

The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written.

Open thesis

A thesis that does not list all of the points the writer intends to cover in an essay.

*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 this to emotionally motivate their audience. More specific appeals to this might play on the audience’s values, desires, and hopes, on the one hand, or fears and prejudices, on the other. *

Periodic sentence

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end

*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.*

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of multiple conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. 

e.g. I paid for my plane ticket, and the taxes, and the fees, and the charge for the checked bag, and five dollars for a bottle of water.

Propaganda

The spread of ideas and information to further a cause. In its negative sense, it is the use of rumors, lies, disinformation, and scare tactics in order to damage or promote a cause.

*Purpose

The goal the speaker wants to achieve.*

*Rhetoric

“the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” In other words, it is the art of finding ways of persuading an audience. *

*Rhetorical Appeals

Rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. The three major appeals are to ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion)*

*Rhetorical Question

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.*

*Satire

The use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual.*

Scheme

Artful syntax; a deviation from the normal order of words. Common ones include parallelism, juxtaposition, antithesis, and antimetabole.

*Simile

A figure of speech used to explain or clarify an idea by comparing it explicitly to something else, using the words like, as, or as though.*

Speaker

The person or group who creates a text. This might be a politician who delivers a speech, a commentator who writes an article, an artist who draws a political cartoon, or even a company that commissions an advertisement.

Stance

A speaker’s attitude toward the audience (differing from tone, the speaker’s attitude toward the subject)

*Style

A writer’s specific way of saying things. Includes arrangement of ideas, word choice, syntax, and figurative language.*

Subject

The topic of a text

Symbol

Generally, something that represents or stands for something else.

Synecdoche

Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.

*Syntax

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

Synthesize

Combining two or more ideas in order to create something more complex in support of a new idea.

Text

While this term generally means the written word, in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be “read”— meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated.

*Theme

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

*Tone

A speaker’s attitude toward the subject conveyed by the speaker’s stylistic and rhetorical choices.*

Trope

Artful diction; from the Greek word for “turning,” a figure of speech such as metaphor

*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 satiric or comical effect. Also called litotes, it is the opposite of 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 by creating a tone with diction, syntax, imagery, etc. It’s what makes his or her writing personal and unique.*

Wit

In rhetoric, the use of laughter, humor, irony, and satire in the confirmation or refutation of an argument

Zeugma

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings. 

e.g. When you open a book, you open your mind. Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden . . . — John F. Kennedy