AP Lang Exam - Rhetorical Terms

Allegory

Using a character or story to represent an idea or moral truth

Alliteration

Repeating sounds to emphasize meaning, unify ideas, or create a musical sound

Allusion

A reference to a commonly known piece of literature, art, or history (or person, too)

Ambiguity

Multiple meanings or uncertainty

Analogy

Comparing two things to explain or clarify something

Anaphora

Using repetition - starting sentences with the same word

• Ex: I don’t want to get out of bed. I don’t want to get dressed. I don’t want to go to school.

Anecdote

A short narrative example

Antithesis

Expressing different/contrasting ideas in a parallel (similar/same) grammatical structure

• Ex: Tough on stains, gentle on skin. Small business, big future. Keep your mouth shut & your eyes open.

Chiasmus or Inversion

Reversing terms for emphasis

• Ex: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Colloquialism

Slang or informal writing

Deduction

Making a specific conclusion based on a general idea or assumption. Isn’t always true or logical.

• Ex: “All dogs have ears, and golden retrievers are dogs, so they must have ears.

Induction

Making a general conclusion based on a specific idea

• Ex: 95% of grads go to get PhD’s, and Emma is a grad, so she’s going to get a PhD.

Syllogism

A type of deductive reasoning. Says: If A = B & B = C, then A = C.

• Ex: Apples are fruit. Fruit is healthy. So, apples are healthy.

Euphemism

A less offensive way of saying a word or phrase

• Ex: saying someone “passed away” instead of “died”

Juxtaposition

Putting close together different items/ideas to compare or contrast them

• Ex: Sweet & sour sauce, “You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Metonymy

Substituting a name for something/someone

• Ex: “The White House declared this”, instead of saying “The President declared this”. Both work and are known as the same thing, but one was substituted for the other.

Oxymoron

Combining contradicting or opposite terms. Creates an ironic effect.

• Ex: Small crowd, Bittersweet, Honest Thief, Walking Dead

Paradox

Seems false but is true

Parallelism

Using similar grammatical structures or phrases to connect ideas

• Ex: “She likes hiking, dancing, and swimming,” “He came, he saw, he conquered.”

Parody

Imitating a style, manner, or another work or person to make a comical point.

Personification

Giving inanimate objects or concepts human attributes

Satire

Using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to write about a flaw or error

Simile

Comparison using “like” or “as”

Metaphor

Comparison of two unlike/unrelated things without using “like” or “as”