Rhetoric, Arguent, and Style Vocab

ap lang vocab

rhetoric

rhetoric

using language effectively to persuade, inform, educate, or entertain

the rhetorical situation

context (setting and occasion), exigence, audience, purpose, writer, and message

context

influences (historical, cultural, social movements at the time, time, place, circumstances)

exigence

what makes the rhetorical situation urgent

occasion

specific circumstances and events of text

purpose

goal of the writer/speaker

rhetorical triangle

relationship between speaker (persona), audience, and subject

persona

face/character the writer shows to the audience

message

main idea or position the writer conveys about the subject. different than purpose

rhetorical appeals

ethos, logos, and pathos

ethos (writer’s ethos/character)

combination of expertise, knowledge, experience, sincerity, shared values- writers build ethos by having proper credentials

logos (reason)

writers reasoning for writing- helps to have a clear main idea and specific details

concession

most common counter argument: to agree that some is true but acknowledges limitations of argument (concede)

refutation

using evidence to deny the argument’s validity

rebuttal

present contrasting perspective

pathos

appeals to emotions, values, desires hopes, fears, and prejudices

diction

purposeful word choices- can reveal author’s biases

denotation

a word’s meaning

connotations

emotional triggers

level of formality

how appropriate you must be to audience

syntax

how words are combined to form sentences

tone

overall impression aka writers attitude (ex- casual, direct, or other adjectives)

*look out for shifts in tone

argument

persuasive discourse, movement from the claim to conclusion

*every argument has a claim

claims of fact

true or not true (argument based off if something is factual)

claims of value

good or bad, right or wrong, valued, desired (ethics)

claims of policy

proposes change

personal observations, experience, testimonies

type of evidence to humanize an issue

anecdote

stories about other people you observed, been told, or researched

analogies

comparisons between two unrelated things- often used to clarify one

current events

real world issues

historical information

can be a tool to establish ethos

expert opinion

credible knowledge

quantiative evidence

evidence based of numbers

persuasive in logos, shocking stats for pathos