AP English Language & Composition Vocab

Rhetorical Analysis

Analyzing the Construction of a text and how it conveys meaning

Rhetoric

The Art of Speaking or writing effectively

Rhetorical Choices

Tools and Techniques the author uses to create meaning

Scheme

An artful variation from the typical arrangement of words in a sentence

Trope

An artful variation from the typical or expected way a word or idea is expressed

Repetition

To repeat a word, phrase, or sound to emphasize a point, create rhythm, or reinforce an idea

Tone

The speakers attitude toward a subject shown in structure and contents

Attitude

Speakers personal feeling of an argument

Shifts

Changes in what was ongoing or consistent

Parallelism

A figure of balance and repetition using similar grammatical structures or phrases

Antithesis

Figure of speech placing two contrasting ideas or concepts next to each other in grammatical structure to create balanced contrast

Omission (Scheme)

Deliberate exclusion of words, phrases, or info

Ellipsis

The deliberate omission of word(s) that are easily understood from context

Asyndeton

The deliberate exclusion of conjunctions in a sentence

Alliteration

Same constant sound is repeated at beginning of nearby words

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a successive clause

Epistrophe

Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clause or sentences

Anadiplosis

A figure of speech involving the repetition of the last word of something at the beginning of the next one

Kind of like connecting sequences

Polysyndeton

The deliberate and repeated use of conjunctions

Chiasmus (associated more with poetry)

The connection of sentences that are inverses of one another

A-B-B-A

Personification

Gives human qualities, characteristics, or actions to non-human things

Syllepsis

Figure of Speech where a word governs two or more other words. However applies to them in a different sense, one literally and one figuratively

Onomatopoeia

Words mimic the sound of the thing they describe

Hyperbole

The intentional use of extreme exaggeration

Litotes

Figure of speech achieving emphasis through understatement

Avoiding a direct affirmative

Metonymy

Replaces the name of something with something else closely related to it

Synecdoche

A figure of speech where a part of something is used to represent the whole, vice versa

Semantic Inversion

A trope where words or phrases are used to convey a meaning opposite to the literal denotation

Irony

To say one thing but mean something else

Oxymoron

The combination of two seemingly contradictory words to create a deeper meaning

Paradox

A seemingly self-contradictory statement

Rhetorical Question

Question asked to create dramatic effect or to make a point rather than get an answer

Connotation

To examine for meaning beyond literal

Rhetorical Effects

Ethos Pathos Logos

Exigence

The motivation to make a statement, claim, or argument

Syntax

Sentence Structure