AP Lang LoC Terms

Audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text. Most texts are likely to have multiple.

Concession

An acknowledgment that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable. In a strong argument, it is usually accompanied by a refutation challenging the validity of the opposing argument.

Connotation

Meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation.

Context

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.

Counterargument

An opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward.

Ethos

Greek for "character." Speakers appeal to this to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic.

Logos

Speakers appeal to reason, by offering clear, rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back them up.

Occasion

The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written.

Pathos

Speakers appeal ___ to emotionally motivate their audience.

Persona

The face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience.

Polemic

An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others.

Propaganda

The spread of ideas and information to further a cause.

Purpose

the goal the speaker wants to achieve

Refutation

A denial of the validity of an opposing argument.

Rhetoric

"the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion."

Rhetorical Appeals

Rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling.

Rhetorical Triangle

A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text.

SOAPS

A mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker.

Speaker

The person or group who creates a text.

Subject

The topic of a text. What the text is about.

Text

While this term generally means the written word, in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be "read" — meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated.

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.

Allusion

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.

Antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order.

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

It places two opposing ideas next to each other in a balanced way to emphasize their difference.

Archaic Diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words.

Asyndeton

Omission (deletion) of conjunctions (ex: FANBOYS) between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words

Cumulative Sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.

Hortative Sentence

Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.

Imperative Sentence

Sentence used to command or enjoin.

Inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order)

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences.

Metaphor

Figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as

Oxymoron

Paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another

Parallelism

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Periodic Sentence

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.

Personification

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea

Rhetorical Question

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.

Synecdoche

Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.

Zeugma

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings

Polysyndeton

Deliberate use of many conjunctions

Ex. "he ran and jumped and laughed for joy"

Hyperbole

exaggeration, overstatement

Litotes

A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite.

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using like or as

Diction

word choice

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases

Tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character

Mood

Feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader

Figurative Language/Figure of Speech

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.

Pacing

the movement of a text from one point or one section to another

Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

Satire

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, to criticize.

Exigence

an issue, problem, or situation that causes or prompts someone to write or speak; urgency

Message

whatever a speaker communicates to someone else

Ad Hominem

a fallacy that attacks the person rather than dealing with the real issue in dispute

Ad Populum (bandwagon appeal)

This fallacy occurs when evidence boils down to "everybody's doing it, so it must be a good thing to do."

Appeal to False Authority

This fallacy occurs when someone who has no expertise to speak on an issue is cited as an authority.

Argument

A process of reasoned inquiry; a persuasive discourse resulting in a
coherent (put together) and considered (thought-over) movement from a claim to a conclusion.

Assumption

A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.

Backing

In the Toulmin model, backing consists of further assurances or data without which the assumption lacks authority.

The additional evidence or reasoning used to support your warrant

Begging the Question

A fallacy in which a claim is based on evidence or support that is in doubt.

A form of logical fallacy in which an argument is assumed to be true without evidence other than the argument itself.

It does not mean “to raise the question”.

Circular Reasoning

A fallacy in which the writer repeats the claim as a way to provide evidence

Claim

Also called an assertion or a proposition, a claim states the argument's main idea or position.

A claim differs from a topic or subject in that a claim has to be arguable.

Claim of Fact

A claim that asserts that something is true or not true.

Claim of Policy

A claim that proposes a change.

Claim of Value

A claim that argues that something is good or bad, right or wrong.

Classical Oration

five-part argument structure used by classical rhetoricians

Introduction

Introduces the reader to the subject under discussion.

Narration

Provides factual information and background material on the subject at hand or establishes why the subject is a problem that needs addressing.

Confirmation

Usually the major part of the text which includes the proof needed to make the writer's case.

Refutation

Denies the validity of a counterargument by decisively proving it false, illogical, or weaker than your own claim.

It is a bridge between the writer's proof and conclusion.

Closed Thesis

This type of thesis is a statement of the main idea of the argument that also previews the major points the writer intends to make.

Syllogism/Deduction

A logical process whereby one reaches a conclusion by starting with a general principle or universal truth (a major premise) and applying it to a specific case (a minor premise).

either/or (false dilemma)

A fallacy in which the speaker presents two extreme options as the only possible choices.

Faulty Analogy

A fallacy that occurs when an analogy compares two things that are not comparable

First-Hand Evidence

Evidence based on something the writer knows, whether it's from personal experience, observations, or general knowledge of events.

Hasty Generalization

A fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified by sufficient or unbiased evidence.

Induction

A logical process whereby the writer reasons from particulars to universals, using specific cases in order to draw a conclusion, which is also called a generalization.

Logical Fallacy

An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid

Open Thesis

A thesis is one that does not list all the points the writer intends to cover in an essay.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

This fallacy says that it is incorrect to always claim that something is a cause just because it happened earlier.

Qualifier

In the Toulmin model, the ____ uses words like usually, probably, maybe, in most cases, and most likely to temper the claim, making it less absolute.

Quantitative Evidence

Evidence that includes things that can be measured, cited, counted, or otherwise represented in numbers — for instance, statistics, surveys, polls, census information.

Rubuttal

refutation; response with contrary evidence

Reservation

Explains the terms and conditions necessitated by the qualifier.

A rhetorical strategy where a writer acknowledges the limitations, conditions, or exceptions to their own argument.

Rogerian Arguments

A type of argument based on the assumption that having a full understanding of an opposing position is essential to responding to it persuasively and refuting it in a way that is accommodating rather than alienating.

Second-Hand Evidence

Evidence that is accessed through research, reading, and .investigation. It includes factual and historical information, expert opinion, and quantitative data

Straw Man

A fallacy that occurs when a speaker chooses a deliberately poor or oversimplified example in order to ridicule and refute an idea.

Toulmin Model

Because (evidence as support), therefore (claim), since (warrant or assumption), on account of (backing), unless (reservation).
Ex: Because it is raining, therefore I should probably take my umbrella, since it will keep me dry on account of its waterproof material, unless, of course, there is a hole in it.

Warrant

In the Toulmin model, the ____ expresses the assumption necessarily shared by the speaker and the audience.

Synthesis

Involves considering various viewpoints in order to create a
new and more informed viewpoint.

Bias

Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.