Literary Devices and Rhetorical Techniques (for AP Lang)

Active Voice

The subject of the sentence performs the action.

Passive Voice

When the subject of the sentence receives the action.

Allusion

An indirect reference to something with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.

Anecdote

A brief recounting of a relevant episode.

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style.

Colloquial

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.

Connotation

The associations suggested by a word; implied meaning rather than literal meaning.

Denotation

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.

Jargon

The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.

Vernacular

Language or dialect of a particular country or regional clan or group.

Adage

A folk saying with a lesson.

Allegory

A story in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts.

Aphorism

A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle.

Ellipsis

The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author.

Euphemism

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

Figurative Language

Writing that is not meant to be taken literally.

Analogy

A comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration.

Idiom

A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.

Metaphor

Making an implied comparison, not using "like," as," or other such words.

Extended Metaphor

When the metaphor is continued later in the written work.

Simile

Using words such as "like" or "as" to make a direct comparison between two very different things.

Personification

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.

Imagery

Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind, usually involving the five senses.

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

Verbal Irony

When you say something and mean the opposite/something different.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience knows something that the character doesn't and would be surprised to find out.

Situational Irony

Found in the plot of a book, story, or movie, often making you laugh because it's funny how things turn out.

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

Mood

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction).

Oxymoron

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox.

Pacing

The speed or tempo of an author's writing.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

Parallelism

(Also known as parallel structure or balanced sentences.) Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row.

Parenthetical Idea

Parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence.

Parody

An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes. It borrows words or phrases from an original, and pokes fun at it.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.

Rhetoric

The art of effective communication.

Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle

The relationships, in any piece of writing, between the writer, the audience, and the subject.

Rhetorical Question

Question not asked for information but for effect.

Sarcasm

A generally bitter comment that is ironically or satirically worded.

Satire

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect.

Sentence

A sentence is group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.

Style

The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes.

Symbol

Anything that represents or stands for something else.

Syntax/sentence variety

Grammatical arrangement of words.

Tone

A writer's attitude toward his subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language and organization.

Understatement

The ironic minimizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is.

Argument

An argument is a piece of reasoning with one or more premises and a conclusion.

Premise

A statement that provides support for a conclusion.

Conclusion

The final statement that follows logically from the premises.

Aristotle's appeals

The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade an audience that one's ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else's.

Ethos

Credibility; being convinced by the credibility of the author.

Pathos

Emotional; persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions.

Logos

Logical; persuading by the use of reasoning, using true premises and valid arguments.

Concession

Accepting at least part or all of an opposing viewpoint to strengthen one's own argument.

Deductive argument

An argument in which the premises provide a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion.

Fallacy

An attractive but unreliable piece of reasoning.

Ad hominem

Latin for 'against the man'; personally attacking opponents instead of their arguments.

Appeal to authority

The claim that because somebody famous supports an idea, the idea must be right.

Appeal to the bandwagon

The claim that many people believe an idea, or used to believe it, or do it, as evidence for its truth.

Appeal to emotion

An attempt to replace a logical argument with an appeal to the audience's emotions.

False cause

Assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one.

Hasty generalization

A generalization based on too little or unrepresentative data.

Slippery slope

The assumption that once started, a situation will continue to its most extreme possible outcome.

Inductive argument

An argument in which the premises provide reasons supporting the probable truth of the conclusion.

Sound argument

A deductive argument that is valid and has true premises.