AP Lang: figures of speech, syntaxes, and fallacies

Allusion: definition, purpose, example

a reference to a person, an event, other piece of work; to reference characters or events outside of their own work; good samaritan references a biblical story

anachronism: definition, purpose, example

anything placed in the wrong time period; comedic or engagement purpose; an iphone in the middle ages

Anadiplosis: definition, purpose, example

the final word of a sentence is repeated at the beginning of the next sentence; to emphasize or make sentences flow more smoothly; “fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate” -yoda

Anaphora: definition, purpose, example

the repetition of a word; to emphasize a point; martin luther king jr’s i have a dream speech

Anastrophe: definition, purpose, example

inverting a sentence; rhyming or emphasis; the road less travelled

Anthimeria: definition, purpose, example

using one part of speech as another, like a verb to a noun; to make writing more interesting; googling

Antimetabole: definition, purpose, example

reversing a sentence or phrase; show irony or how two topics are connected; “fair is foul and foul is fair” -shakespeare

Antithesis: definition, purpose, example

comparing two ideas in a parallel structure; to show the difference in two ideas; “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” -neil armstrong

Antonomasia: definition, purpose, example

replaces a person’s name with an epithet; to add humor or irony to writing or to show their reputation; “bard of avon” for william shakespeare

Aphorism: definition, purpose, example

a short philosophy about life; to condense experiences into a simple sentence; “all that glistens is not gold” -william shakespeare

Aposiopesis: definition, purpose, example

purposefully breaking up a sentence; dramatic effect; “if you scratch my car, i’ll—”

Apostrophe: definition, purpose, example

a figure talks to someone who is dead, an object, or an idea; creates dramatic effect; macbeth talking to a skull

Assonance: definition, purpose, example

repetition of a vowel rhyme in a sentence; creates rhyme; she feels the heat beneath her feet

Asyndeton: definition, purpose, example

purposefully leaving out and or but; speeds up the rhythm of a sentence; “veni, vidi, vici” -julius caesar

Chiasmus: definition, purpose, example

first half of a sentence is mirrored in a sentence half of a sentence; creates rhythm; “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going”

Consonance: definition, purpose, example

repetition of a consonant sound at the end of words in a sentence; rhythm and rhyme; he struck the clock with a quick flick

Diction: definition, purpose, example

a writer’s vocabulary and writing style; can communicate tone with nuance; formal style or writing versus informal style of writing

Juxtaposition: definition, purpose, example

to contrast two objects, people, or ideas when placed next to each other; to show the difference between the two subjects; a blooming garden versus a dying one

Polysyndeton: definition, purpose, example

and, or, or nor are repeated frequently; to build tension or slow down the rhythm speed; “i went to the store and the park and the pool and my friend’s house and the mall and went back to my house.”

Simile: definition, purpose, example

using like or as; to compare two ideas; she was mad as a raging storm

Symbolism: definition, purpose, example

using a symbol to represent an idea; to show ideas in an object; the green light representing gatsby’s dream of getting with daisy in the great gatsby

Synecdoche: definition, purpose, example

a part of something replaces the whole; to make writing more vivid; all hands on deck

Tone: definition, purpose, example

a feeling or way of writing to convey an idea; to communicate a feeling with the reader; a serious tone versus a silly tone

Understatement: definition, purpose, example

describing something to make it less important; to not draw attention to something; saying it’s a little hot outside when there is a heatwave going on

Zeugma: definition, purpose, example

a word modifies two other words; to surprise, delight, or confuse an audience; “she stole his coat and his heart”

Ethos: definition, purpose, example

an argument that appeals to an audience through credibility and authority; to create trust in the reader through credibility; medical advice from Facebook versus a medical professional

Pathos: definition, purpose, example

appealing to the audience through emotion; to create trust through emotions; an emotional story to encourage you to donate to charity

logos: definition, purpose, example

appealing to the audience through logic; to argue something is true through facts and logic; presenting or citing a source during an argumentative essay

periodic sentence: definition, purpose, example

a complex sentence that puts the main idea at the end; to create suspense; “yesterday while i was walking down the street, i saw him”

telegraphic sentence: definition, purpose, example

convey important information by cutting out unnecessary words; to communicate clearly and quickly; “stop the car.”

cumulative/loose sentence

a sentence with a main clause with modifying phrases or clauses; to keep things relaxed and direct; “I went to the movies today, bought a drink, and went shopping at the mall.”

compound sentence

a sentence with two independent clauses; to join two complete sentences; “i finished my homework and walked the dog.”

complex sentence

a sentence with one independent and one dependent clause; provides more information to main point; “even though it rained today, i still had fun on my vacation.”

compound-complex sentence

a sentence with two independent and one dependent clause; to express one big idea; “even if i fail my test, i can always take test corrections or i could study harder for the next test.”

dependent clause

a clause that does not create a simple sentence by itself; to add detail to a sentence; “although the dress was pretty,”

independent clause

a clause that creates a simple sentence by itself; to express a complete thought; “i ate my lunch today.”

begging the question

when the premise in an argument is assumed to be correct; “i am correct because i said so.”

false analogy

when an argument relies on a false comparison of two things; “plants are green because they can photosynthesize. if you paint yourself green you can photosynthesize too!”

ad hominem

attacking the other person instead of sticking to the argument; “well you’re stupid anyway, your argument’’ wrong.”

hasty/sweeping generalization

a rule generally accepted is used incorrectly; “if cutting people with knives are wrong, then surgeons are criminals.”

false dilemma

providing only two options when there are more options available; a politician saying “support us or be on the side of terrorists!”

equivocation

using an ambiguous term in more than one sense, thus making the argument misleading. “if all banks are next to rivers, and chase bank is a bank, then all chase banks are next to rivers.”

red herring

introducing irrelevant topics to distract from the main issue; “we need to be on task, we’re two weeks behind schedule.” “why are we talking about that when the coffee machine is broken?”

appeal to doubtful authority

saying a claim is true because the government said so; “covid isn’t harmful because the government said so.”

misleading statistics

using factually true but misleading data to support a false claim; saying that eating ice cream can cause pickpocketing because ice cream sales increase with pickpocketing crimes

post hoc

because an event happened after the previous event, the previous event must have caused the event; wearing your lucky socks to your soccer match and winning, believing the lucky socks caused the win

non sequitur

the conclusion doesn't follow from the premises; “i have a test tomorrow, so i should wear my lucky socks tomorrow.”

Ad populum

believing something is true because many people follow it; buying something thinking it’ll be good because it’s popular

Straw Man

exaggerating an argument or creating a character to get upset about; “we should have more vegetarian options so students can eat healthier!” “so you wanna force veganism and ban meat?!”

Slippery Slope

claiming one small action will cause a domino effect without any reasoning; “if i don’t submit this assignment, i’ll fail the class. then, i won’t be able to graduate because i failed the class. if i don’t graduate, i’ll be jobless and homeless.”