AP Lang Rhetorical Devices Glossary

Thesis

The central claim and overall purpose of a work

Bias

a predisposition or subjective opinion

Call to action

Writing that urges readers to action or promote a change

Anecdote

A short account of an interesting or humorous incident

Analogy

A comparison to a directly parallel case

the process of drawing a comparison between two things based on a partial similarity of like features

Idiom

An expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words

Tone

the voice and attitude the writer has chosen to project

Mood

The overall atmosphere of a work and the mood is how that atmosphere makes a reader feel

Antithesis

A contrast in language to bring out a contrast in ideas

Allusion

a brief reference to a person

Generalization

When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable

Juxtaposition

Placing two ideas side by side or close together

Anticipating Audience Response

The rhetorical technique of anticipating counterarguments and offering a refutation

Euphemism

Substitutions of an inoffensive

Paradox

a phrase or statement that while seeming contradictory or absurd may actually be well founded or true

Used to attract attention or to secure emphasis

Motif

recurrent images

Persona

the character that the speaker portrays

Cliche

A timeworn expression that through overuse has lost its power to evoke concrete images

Irony

The discrepancy between appearance and reality: verbal

Oxymoron

a self contradictory combination of words

Logos

Appealing to logical reasoning and sound evidence

Ethos

appealing to the audience's shared values

Pathos

Evoking and manipulating emotions

Aphorism

A concise or tersely phrased statement in principle

Often found in fields like law

politics

Lending Credence

In arguing a point

In this way

the speaker persuades the audience that he is fair and has done the research

Rhetorical Question

A question asked solely to produce an effect and not to elicit a reply

Refutation

When a writer delivers relevant opposing arguments

Allegory

A narrative in which character

The underlying meaning usually has a moral

social

Syllogism

A formula for presenting an argument logically

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Metonymy

The substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself

Claim of Value

Claims involving opinions

Claim of policy

claims advocating courses of action that should or should not be undertaken

Claim of Value/Judgement

claims involving opinions

Claim of definition

claims exploring what something means or what something is made up of

Grounds

the evidence offered in support of a claim

Warrant

the assumption the speaker makes about the audience

Qualifier

a statement that indicates the force of the argument

Declarative Sentence

makes a statement (sentence type)

Interrogative Sentence

asks a question (sentence type)

Imperative sentence

gives a command (sentence type)

Exclamatory sentence

makes an interjection (Sentence type)

Narration

A story presenting events in an orderly

Description

Using sensory language and physical characteristics of a person

Classification and Division

Division is the process of breaking down a whole into smaller parts

Classification is the process of sorting individual items into categories

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Exemplification

Writing that provides a series of facts

Compare/Contrast

Writing that highlights the similarities and differences between 2 or more topics

Process Analysis

Text that explains how to do something or how something occurs

Deductive reasoning

Method of reasoning that moves from a general premise to a specific conclusion

Inductive Reasoning

Method of reasoning that moves from specific evidence to a general conclusion based on this evidence

Diction

choice of words in a work and an important element of style

Abstract Language

Language describing ideas and qualities

Concrete Language

Language describing observable

Colloquialism

words characteristic to familiar conversation

Denotation

specific

Connotation

The emotional implications that a word may carry

Polysyndeton

repetition of conjunctions ine lose succession

Synecdoche

part is used for a whole or the whole for a part

Satire

genre of writing used to critique or ridicule through humor or sarcasm

Parody

exaggerated imitation of a serious work or subject

Syntax

how a sentence is constructed

Simple sentence

a complete sentence that is neither compound

Compound sentence

a sentence that contains 2 independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction

Complex sentence

An independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses

Antecedent

the word to which a pronoun refers

Parallelism

when the arrangement of parts of a sentence is similarly phrased or constructed

Loose sentence

When a sentence is grammatically complete before its end

Periodic sentence

when a sentence is not grammatically complete before its end

Anaphora

the same expression is repeated at the beginning of 2 or more consecutive lines

Chiasmus

second half of an expression is balanced against the first

Anastrophe

any variation of the normal word order

Freight Train Sentence

3 or more very short independent clauses joined by conjunctions

Litotes

a form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite

Either-or reasoning

reducing an argument to two polar opposites and ignoring any alternatives or middle ground

Ad Hominem

attacking a person's motives or character instead of his argument or claims

False Analogy

When 2 cases are not sufficiently parallel

Non Sequitur

introducing irrelevant evidence to support a claim

Red Herring

something used to distract the audience's attention from the real issue or argument

Slippery Slope

failure to provide evidence showing that one event will lead to a chain of events

Straw Man

misrepresenting opponent's position to make it easier to attack (taking things out of context