AP Lang Test Terms - 1st Set (11)

ambiguity

a statement with two or more meaning that may seem to exclude each other, lexical and structural

lexical ambiguity

more common, a word that could mean multiple things (ex: pen, suit, call, draw, shot, run, deep, dry, hard)

structural ambiguity

phrase or sentence has more than one underlying structure, phrase can be represented two structurally different ways (ex: Tibetan history teacher)

anecdote

a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident; used to illustrate a point

appeals

ethos, pathos, logos

ethos

character (demonstrates credibility)

logos

logic (reasoning and clear ideas)

pathos

appeals to emotions

concession

showing an audience that you have anticipated potential opposition and have an answer (defuses ability to oppose you); if there are points where you agree, conceding their points creates respect

deductive

reasoning from “top-down”, more general to more specific (theory → hypotheses → observations → confirmations)

inductive

moving from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories (begin with specifics, notice patterns, formulate hypotheses, general conclusions)

logical fallacies

a component of an argument that is demonstrably flawed in its logic or form (ex: ad hominem, begging the question)

syllogism

major premise = general statement, always universal; minor premise = can be universal or particular so that from these premises you can make a valid conclusion (ex: 1. All men are mortal. 2. Socrates is a man. → 3. Socrates is mortal.)

enthymeme

a partial syllogism, based on the probable rather than the positive premises, based on implicit conjectures shared by speaker and audience (speaker gives a premise and assumes the audience will supply the missing knowledge) (ex: Socrates is mortal because he’s a man)