AP Rhetorical Devices and Terms: Key Concepts for Analysis

Claim

A statement that asserts something is true

Evidence

Any information, object, or testimony presented to establish or refute a claim

Commentary

The sentences where an author explains how or why their evidence supports a specific claim, rather than just summarizing the facts

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 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, 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 that a claim is certain rather than probable

Juxtaposition

Placing two ideas side by side or close together for the purpose of comparison

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

Oxymoron

A self contradictory combination of words

Ethos

Appealing to the audience's shared values

Logos

Appealing to logical reasoning and sound evidence

Pathos

Evoking and manipulating emotions

Irony

The discrepancy between appearance and reality: verbal, situational, dramatic

Repetition

The recurrence of something that has been said or written

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

Simile

A comparison that uses 'like' or 'as'

Metaphor

A comparison that does not use like or as

Extended Metaphor

A literary device that stretches a single figurative comparison across multiple lines, paragraphs, or an entire text

Personification

Giving human qualities to non-human things

Qualifier

A statement that indicates the force or conditions of the argument

Narration

A story presenting events in an orderly, logical sequence