AP Lang Rhetorical Devices - "Words Worth Knowing"

Alliteration

The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables.

Allusion

An indirect reference to another text or an historic event.

Aristotelian Triangle

A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience, also known as the Rhetorical Triangle.

Analogy

An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things

Assertion

An emphatic statement; often a declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.

Assumption

A belief or statement taken for granted without proof

Anaphora

The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses

Asyndeton

Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses

Anecdote

A short account of an interesting event

Audience

One's listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed

Antecedent

The noun to which a later pronoun refers

Antithesis

Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas

Aphorism

A short, astute statement of a general truth

Apostrophe

The device of calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person or to a place, thing, or personified abstraction

Appositive

A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun

Argument

A statement put forth and supported by evidence

Concession

A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding

Connotation

That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning

Context

Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning

Counterargument

A challenge to a position; an opposing argument

Cumulative Sentence

An independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply additional detail

Declarative Sentence

A sentence that makes a statement

Deduction

Reasoning from general to specific

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition

Dialect

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area

Diction

Word choice

Elegiac

Mournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone

Ethos

A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals

Chiasmus

Might be called 'reverse parallelism,' since the second part of a grammatical construction is balanced or paralleled by the first part, only in reverse order

Figurative Language

The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond the literal meaning to achieve literary effect

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis

Idiom

A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in 'keep tabs on'

Imagery

Vivid use of language that evokes a reader's senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing)

Imperative Sentence

A sentence that requests or demands

Induction

Reasoning from specific to general

Inversion

A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject; the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase

Irony

A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things side by side for emphasis

Logos

A Greek term that means 'word'; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals

Metaphor

A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit connection

Metonymy

Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole

Occasion

An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two contradictory ideas

Pacing

The relative speed or slowness with which a story is told or an idea is presented

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory but may reveal a truth

Persona

The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing

Personification

Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects

Polemic

An argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions

Premise; major and minor

Two parts of a syllogism

Pronoun

A word used to replace a noun or noun phrase

Parallelism

The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns

Parody

A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule

Pathos

A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals

Periodic Sentence

A sentence that builds toward and ends with the main clause.

Propaganda

Writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information

Purpose

One's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing

Rhetoric

The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the 'available means of persuasion'.

Rhetorical question

A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer

Satire

An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it

Sentence patterns

The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions - such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise

Syntax

Sentence structure

Thesis

The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer

Tone

The speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience

Simile

A figure of speech that uses 'like' or 'as' to compare two things

Simple sentence

A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause

Voice

In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of the writing

Speaker

A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing

Straw man

A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position; misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent's position

Style

The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech

Subject

In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing

Understatement

Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect

Subordinate clause

Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause

Sentence variety

Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect

Bias

Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue

Colloquialism

An informal or conversational use of language

Complex Sentence

A sentence that includes one independent

clause and at least one dependent clause