AP Lang Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical devices that can be used in an AP Lang essay

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, intended to illustrate or support a point.

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 the thesis

Allusion

a brief reference to a person, event, or place - real or fictitious - or to a work of art.

Generalization

When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts a claim is certain rather than plausible.

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, indirect, or agreeable expression for a word or phrase perceived as socially unacceptable or harsh.

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, words, objects, phrases, or actions that tend to unify the work.

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, situational, dramatic.

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, truth, or opinion. Often found in fields like law, politics, and art

Lending Credence

In arguing a point, a speaker should always lend his opponent some credit for his/her ideas. In this way, the speaker persuades the audience that he is fair and has done the research, thereby strengthening the argument.

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, action, and setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of a story. The underlying meaning usually has a moral, social, religious, or political significance

Syllogism

A formula for presenting an argument logically. In its simplest form, it consists of three divisions: a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

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, attitudes, and subjective evaluation

Claim of policy

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

Claim of Value/Judgement

claims involving opinions, attitudes, and subjective evaluations of things

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, logical sequence.

Description

Using sensory language and physical characteristics of a person, place, or thing to communicate to readers.

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.

Definition

Explaining what something, or even someone, is - that is, its essential nature.

Exemplification

Writing that provides a series of facts, specific cases, or instances that relate to a general idea.

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, specific things.

Colloquialism

words characteristic to familiar conversation

Denotation

specific, exact meaning of a word as defined

Connotation

The emotional implications that a word may carry

Polysyndeton

repetition of conjunctions inc 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, nor complex. (1 subject, 1 predicate.)

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, but with the parts reversed

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)