APEL logical fallacies and terms

Ad Hominem

a fallacy that attacks the person's character or personality rather than dealing with the real issue in dispute

"Sleepy Joe Biden is senile, stupid, corrupt, and immoral."

Ad Misericordiam

an evasion of the issue by appealing to sympathy

"Do not consider the defendant's guilt or innocence. Consider his old age, his years of service to the company, his sick wife, and all the pain this humiliation has brought him."

allegory

an extended metaphor happening on two tracks parallel to each other wherein the submerged (2nd) narrative comments on the surface narrative

ex) "babe" - on the surface level, the movie is about a pig not wanting to be eaten; on the second level, it's about ostracism and discrimination/tribalism + finding community

alliteration

the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning or in the middle of two or more adjacent words

allusion

a reference in a written or spoken text to another text or to some particular body of knowledge

anadiplosis

repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause

anaphora

the repetition of a group of words at the beginning of successive clauses

anecdote

a brief narrative offered in a text to capture the audience's attention or to support a generalization or claim

antagonist

the character that opposes the interests protagonist

antanaclasis

words that sound alike but have different meanings

ex fowl most foul

antihimeria

taking one part of speech and rendering it into something a bit unusual; when you "verb" something (turning a noun or adj into a verb)

" In two fridays we will have THE WALK"

• walk becomes a noun from a verb

"text"

• noun to verb

antimetabole

the repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order

"You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy."

antithesis

the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas; often in parallel structures

"Place your virtues on a pedestal; put your vices under a rock"

apologist

A person or character who makes a case for some controversial, even contentious, position.

apology

a elaborate statement justifying some controversial, even contentious, position.

apostrophe

type of soliloquy where nature is addressed as though human

appeal

One of three strategies for persuading audiences--logos, appeal to reason; pathos, appeal to emotion; and ethos, appeal to ethics.

appositive

A noun or noun phrase that follows another noun immediately or defines or amplifies its meaning

aristotelian triangle

A diagram showing the relations of writer or speaker, audience (reader or listener), and text in a rhetorical situation.

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of two or more adjacent words

asyndeton

the omission of conjunctions between related clauses

" I came, I saw, I conquered"

bathos

an unintentional climax resulting from a failure to retain sublimity of style

when you expect more but don't expand; "let down", anticlimactic

begging the question

the situation that results when a writer or speaker constructs an argument on an assumption that the audience does not accept.

Begging the question

one proposition is rolled into the conclusion

"Chevrolets are unreliable cars. I drive a Ford. That's why I can't count on a Chevy."

canon

One of the traditional elements of rhetorical composition -- invention, arrangement, style, memory, or delivery.

causal relationship

the relationship expressing "if x is the cause then y is the effect" or "if y is the effect, then x caused it"

"If the state builds larger highways, then traffic congestion will just get worse because because more people will move to the newly accessible regions"

claim

The ultimate conclusion, generalization, or point, backed up by support, of an argument.

complex sentence

A sentence with one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses

compound sentence

a sentence with two or more independent clauses

compound subject

the construction in which two or more nouns, noun phrases, or noun clauses constitute the grammatical subject of a clause.

compound-complex sentence

a sentence with two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses

conclusion (of syllogism)

the ultimate point or generalization that a syllogism expresses

confirmatio

in ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech in which the speaker or writer could offer proof or demonstration of the central idea

connotation

the implied meaning of a word, in contrast to its directly expressed "dictionary meaning"

data (as evidence)

Facts, statistics, and examples that a speaker or writer offers in support of a claim, generalization, or conclusion.

deductive reasoning

reasoning that begins with a general principle and concludes with a specific instance that demonstrates the general principle

denotation

the "dictionary definition" of a word, in contrast to its connotation, or implied meaning

diction

Word choice, which is viewed on scales of formality/informality, concreteness/abstraction, Latinate derivation/Anglo-Saxon derivation, and denotative value/connotative value.

double entendre

the double (or multiple) meanings of a group of words that the speaker or writer has purposely left ambiguous

Either/or

oversimplifying an issue as offering only two choices

"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

ellipsis

The omission of words, the meaning of which is provided by the overall context of a passage.

"we are held together by our courage, by cowardice divided"

enthymeme

Logical reasoning with one premise left unstated

epistrophe

the repetition of a group of words at the end of successive clauses

"They saw no evil, spoke no evil, and heard no evil"

epithet

a word or phrase adding a characteristic to a person's name

actual name is included

ex "Richard the Lion-Hearted"
"grey-eyed Athena"

Equivocation

Using an ambiguous term in more than one sense, thus making an argument misleading.

"I have never slept with that woman!"

ethos

The appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator

euphemism

an indirect expression of unpleasant information in such a way as to lessen its impact

eliminated vs fired

exordium

in ancient Roman oratory, the introduction of a speech; literally, the "web" meant to draw the audience into the speech

False Analogy

misinterpretation of the issue by illogically paralleling it to something unrelated

"Hillary Clinton would make a great president because she is like her husband, capable, organized, and communicative."

figures of rhetoric

Schemes = variations from typical word or sentence formation

tropes = variations from typical patterns of thought.

genre

A piece of writing classified by type- for example, letter, narrative, eulogy, or editorial.

hasty/sweeping/glittering generalization

obscure the issue by generalizing too broadly

"All lawyers are scum"

hyperbole

an exaggeration for effect

Hypothesis Contrary to Fact

improperly drawing conclusions from a premise that is contrary to fact and thereby offers no support

"If I had been born into a musical family, my talents would be much more loved"

Ignoring the Question

a speaker's attempt to divert the attention of the audience from the matter at hand

"I'm glad you asked me about the war Iraq. The problem with Iraq is lack of freedom and democracy in the Middle East. If you look at Syria, Jordan, and Iran, they're not free."

image

a passage of text that evokes sensation or emotional intensity

imagery

language that evokes particular sensations or emotionally rich experiences in a reader

implied metaphor

a metaphor embedded in a sentence rather than expressed directly as a sentence

"his voice cascaded through the hallways"

inductive reasoning

reasoning that begins by citing a number of specific instances or examples and then shows how collectively they constitute a general principle.

irony

writing or speaking that implies the contrary of what is actually written or spoken

jargon

the specialized vocabulary of a particular group

litotes

a form of understatement wherein one affirms something by stating the opposite of its negative

logos

the appeal of a text based on the logical structure of its argument or central ideas

loose sentence

a sentence that adds modifying elements after the subject, verb, and complement

metaphor

an implied comparison that does not use like or as

"his voice was a cascade of emotion"

metonymy

an entity referred to by one of its attributes or associations; more representative, almost symbolic

"the admissions office claims applications have risen"

• ex LA for the dodgers

mnemonic device

a systematic aid to memory

narration

In ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech in which the speaker provided background information on the topic.

Non Sequitur

drawing a patently illogical conclusion from an unrelated premise

"Chloe is the coolest music authority I know. She'd make a great flight attendant."

onomotopia

a literary device in which the sound of a word is related to its meaning ex "buzz"

oxymoron

juxtaposed words with seemingly contradictory meanings

specific; words rather than ideas, often hyphenated

"jumbo shrimp"

paradox

A statement that seems untrue on the surface but is true nevertheless

a "greater" idea; less specific / antithesis or comparison of ideas

parallelism

a set of similarly structured words, phrases, or clauses that appears in a sentence or paragraph

paranormasia

words alike in sounds but different in meaning

ex civil war; sybil war

parenthesis

An insertion of material that interrupts the typical flow of a sentence.

pathos

the appeal of a text to the emotions or interests of the audience

periodic sentence

a sentence with modifying elements included before the verb and/or complement

periphrasis

the substitution of an attributive word or phrase for a proper name, or the use of a proper name to suggest a personality characteristic

"That young pop singer thinks she's a real Madonna."

peroration

In ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech in which the speaker would draw together the entire argument and include material designed to compel the audience to think or act in a way consonant with the central argument.

persona

the character that a writer or speaker conveys to the audience

personification

portraying an object as something with human like qualities

persuasion

The changing of people's minds or actions by language.

petitio principii

begging of the question; disagreeing with premises or reasoning

point of view

the perspective or source of a piece of writing.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (False Cause)

the false assumption that because one event follows another, the first event is the cause

"The young woman floated because she was a witch."

premise, major

The first premise in a syllogism; states an irrefutable generalization.

premise, minor

The second premise in a syllogism;offers a particular instance of the generalization state in the major premise.

pun

a play on words.

purpose

The goal a writer or speaker hopes to achieve with the text—for example, to clarify difficult material, to inform, to convince, and/or to persuade.

Also called aim and intention.

In a dramatic pentad, its the words a writer uses to describe something that happened or happens

recursive

referring to the moving back and forth from invention to revision in the process of writing

refutation

In ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech in which the speaker would anticipate objections to the points being raised and counter them.

rhetor

The speaker who uses elements of rhetoric effectively in oral or written text.

rhetoric

The art of analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective; the specific features of texts, written or spoken, that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners in a situation.

rhetorical choices

The particular choices a writer or speaker makes to achieve meaning, purpose, or effect.

rhetorical intention

involvement and investment in and ownership of a piece of writing

rhetorical question

A question posed by the speaker or writer not to seek an answer but instead to affirm or deny a point simply by asking a question about it.

rhetorical situation

The convergence in a situation of exigency (the need to write), audience, and purpose.

rhetorical triangle

A diagram showing the relations of writer or speaker, reader or listener, and text in a rhetorical situation.

sarcasm

The use of mockery or bitter irony

similie

a type of comparison that uses like or as