AP Lang Rhetorical Devices

Abstract

Not related to the concrete properties of an object; pertaining to ideas, concepts, or qualities.

Aesthetic

Pertaining to the value of art for its own sake or for form.

Allegory

A narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves, often personifying abstract qualities.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds or any vowel sounds within a formal grouping. Such as a poetic line or stanza, or in close proximity in prose

Allusion

A figure of speech that makes brief reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object to create resonance in the reader or to apply a symbolic meaning to the character or object of which the ______ consists.

Ambiguity

Use of language in which multiple meanings are possible; can be intentional or unintentional through insufficient focus on the part of the writer; in good writing, ——- is frequently intentional in the form of multiple connotative meaning, or situations in which either the connotative or the denotative meaning can be valid in a reading

Anachronism

Use of historically inaccurate details in a text.

Anadiplosis

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause.

Analogy

Comparison of two things that are alike in some respect; includes metaphors and similes.

Anaphora

Regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.

Anecdote

A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.

Antagonist

Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character, or protagonist.

Antihero

Protagonist of a literary work who does not embody traditional heroic qualities (Brave, kindness, intelligence).

Aphorism

A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present.

Appeal to authority

rhetorical arguments in which the speaker claims to be an expert or relies on information provided by experts; This sort of reasoning is fallacious when the person in question is not an expert. In such cases the reasoning is flawed because the fact that an unqualified person makes a claim does not provide any justification for the claim. The claim could be true, but the fact that an unqualified person made the claim does not provide any rational reason to accept the claim as true.

Appeal to emotion

Rhetorical arguments that attempt to affect the listener’s personal feelings.

Appeal to logic

Rhetorical arguments that persuade through deductive reasoning.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in successive or proximate words.

Asyndeton

the practice of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses; in a list, it give a more extemporaneous effect and suggest the list may be incomplete

Audience

The person(s) reached by a piece of writing.

Begging the question

to sidestep or evade the real problem; “This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because simply assuming that the conclusion is true (directly or indirectly) in the premises does not constitute evidence for that conclusion. Obviously, simply assuming a claim is true does not serve as evidence for that claim. This is especially clear in particularly blatant case

Bildungsroman

a novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character; A novel of development, which is sometimes referred to as a coming of age story. A novel of education.

Canon

the works of an author have been accepted as authentic; in the realm of fiction and literature, the ——- is the accepted body of works for a particular author or group of writers. —— novels, short stories and plays are studied in academic circles, and they are often considered representative of a period or genre

Catharsis

Purification or cleansing of the spirit through the emotions of pity and terror as witnessed in a tragedy.

Chiasmus

A figure of speech where the order of terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed in the second.

Colloquial

Ordinary language; the vernacular.

Connotation

What is implied by a word, differing from its actual definition.

Consonance

The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels. Such as pitter-patter, splish-splash, and click-clack

Contradiction

A direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency.

Deductive

The reasoning process by which a conclusion is drawn from a set of premises and contains no more facts than these premises

Delayed sentence

A sentence that withholds its main idea until the end.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word; the direct and specific meaning.

Deus ex machina

Latin for "god from the machine" and it originated with Greek and Roman theater, when a mechane (a crane used in theater) would lower a god or gods onstage to resolve a hopeless situation; as in Greek theater, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly.

Devices

A particular word pattern or combination of words used in a literary work to evoke a desired effect or arouse an effect in a reader

Diction

An author”s choice of words to convey a tone or effect.

Didactic

Literature intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson.

Doppelganger

A ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego.

Elegy

A poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person.

Epigraph

quote set at the beginning of a literary work or at its divisions to set the tone or suggest a theme; a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component.

Epiphany

A sudden intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of something usually brought on by a simple or common occurrence or experience.

Epistolary

A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters.

Epitaph

A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person.

Ethos

in dramatic literature, the moral element that determines a character’s actions, rather than thought or emotion

Eulogy

A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, often delivered in honor of a deceased person.

Euphemism

Substitution of a milder or less direct expression for one that is harsh or blunt.

Exigence

The context, occasion, or circumstances of a piece of writing.

Expletive

A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words, commonly, ——— are set off by commas.

Foil

A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast.

Foreshadow

To hint at or present things to come in a story or play.

Formal Language

Language that is lofty, dignified, or impersonal.

Genre

Term used to describe literary forms, such as tragedy, comedy, novel, or essay.

Hyperbole

An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language.

Imagery

Sensory details in a work; the use of figurative language to evoke feelings or describe objects.

In medias res

opening a story in the middle of the action, requiring filling in past details by exposition or flashback;

Inductive

Reasoning whereby observation about a part is applied to the class as a whole.

Invective

The use of angry and insulting language in satirical writing.

Irony

A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected and what actually happens.

Isocolon

Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar in grammatical structure and length.

Juxtaposition

Placing two items side by side to create a certain effect or reveal an attitude or accomplish some other purpose.

Litote

A form of understatement using the negative of the contrary to achieve emphasis and intensity.

Mood

The feeling or ambience resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator’s attitude and point of view.

Motif

A recurrent device or situation that often signals the appearance of a character or event.

Nostalgia

Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time.

Onomatopoeia

a word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes, such as buzz or hiss

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements. as in “jumbo

shrimp” or “deafening silence”

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.

Parallelism

Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the part or sentence are equal in importance

Parody

A satirical imitation of a work of art for the purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.

Persona

the voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who may or may not share the values of the actual author

Personification

Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person.

Perspective

A character’s view of the situation or events in the story.

Point of view

The view the reader gets of the action and characters in a story.

Propaganda

Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution.

Prose

The ordinary form of written language without metrical structure.

Protagonist

The chief character in a work of literature.

Realism

The literary practice of describing life and nature without idealization and with attention to detail.

Sarcasm

a sharp caustic remark; a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually bitterly or harshly critical

Satire

A literary style used to ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness.

Syllogism

A form of deduction; a subtle or deceptive argument.

Syntax

The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Theme

The central or dominant idea or concern of a work; the main idea or meaning

Thesis

Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the discussion is based.

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words or phrases.

Tone

The attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme.

Transition words

Words and devices that bring unity and coherence to a piece of writing.

Utopia

An imaginary place of ideal perfection; the opposite of dystopia.

Voice

The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of words of the story.

Zeugma

grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two or more direct objects; the linking shows a relationship between ideas more clearly; The word comes from Greek meaning yoke