AP Lang Term (rhetorical)

Ad hominem

Directed against an opponent’s personal character rather than the position they are maintaining

Ad populum fallacy

(bandwagon appeal): a fallacy that occurs when evidence boils down to “Everybody’s doing it, so it must be a good thing to do”

Allegory

an extended narrative in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface story: the underlying meaning may be moral, religious, political, social, or satiric

alliteration

the repitition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words

allusion

a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical

ambivalent

having or showing simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings toward something or someone

analogy

a comparison that explains one thing in terms of another to highlight the ways in which they are alike

anaphora

a rhetorical device of repeating the same word or words at the start of two or more lines of poetry or successive phrases or sentences in prose

Anecdote

a brief story used to illustrate a point or claim

anticlimactic

referring to an event, period, or outcome that is strikingly less important or dramatic than expected

antithesis

a rhetorical device contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, balancing one against the other in strong opposition. The contrast is reinforced by similar grammatical strucutre

appeal to authority

an argument made in which truth is attributed to a statement based on the authority of the speaker or the authority of someone supporting the statement

appeal to ignorance

an argument made in which an assumption of a conclusion is based primarily on lack of evidence to the contrary

aphorism

a concise statement which expresses succinctly a general truth or idea often using language that isn’t meant to be taken literally using rhyme of balance

Apostrophe

a rhetorical device in which an absent or imaginary person or an abstraction is directly addressed as through present

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds between different consonants

asyndeton

the omission or absence of conjunctions between a series of related clauses, used for the stylistic purpose of increasing rhythmic speed or emphasis

cacophony

harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony

circular reasoning

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

chiasmus

a rhetorical device in which two or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect

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 v alue

a claim that argues whether something is good or bad or right or wrong

clause

a group of words with a subject and its verb in it

colloguialism

informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing

Complex sentence

a sentence that contains at least one independent clause and at least one dependent clause

Compound-complex sentence

a sentence that contains at least two independent clauses at at least one dependent clause

compound sentence

a sentence that contains at least two independent clauses

conceit

an elaborate figure of speech in which two seemingly dissimilar things or situations are compared

concession

an acknowledgement that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable

confirmation

the part of a speech or essay providing logical arguments in support of a position

connotation

the implied or associative meaning of a word

consonance

The repetition of a consonant sound used to create a rhyme or cadence that typically refers to the repetition of sounds at the end of the word but can also refer to repeated sounds in the middle word

couterargument

an opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward

comulative sentence

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

deduction

a method of reasoning in which one reaches a conclusion by starting with a general principle and applying it to a specific case; the process is usually demonstrated in the form of a syllogism

denotation

the literal meaning of a word

dependent or subordinate clause

a group of words with a subject and its verb that cannot stand alone

diction

word choice

didactic

intended to teach, particularly in conveying moral instruction; might be used to describe a writer’s or speaker’s tone

dissonance

the grating sounds that are harsh or do not go together

ellipsis

the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context

epiphora

a rhetorical device of repeating the same word or phrase at the end of several clauses

​Ethos:

​the ethical appeal based on the character, credibility, or reliability of the speaker/writer persuading the audience that the person making the argument is worth listening to

​Euphemism:

​an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

​Euphony:

​a succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the opposite of cacophony

​Fallacy:

​an erroneous argument dependent upon an unsound or illogical contention

​False Dilemma:

​a fallacy of oversimplification, presenting the audience with a limited number of options (usually two) when more are actually available

​Fanciful​:

characterized by imagination rather than by reason and experience

​Foil​:

a character who, by contrast, highlights the characteristics of another character

​Hasty generalization​:

a fallacy in which a conclusion is not logically justified given the evidence at hand (meaning insufficient or discernibly biased evidence)

​Hyperbole:

​deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or emphasis

​Ibidem​:

a Latin word meaning “in the same place” (used in footnotes to indicate that information presented in one note came from the same place as the information in the previous note)

​Independent clause​:

a group of words with a subject and its verb that can stand alone

​Induction:

​a method of reasoning in which specific details move towards a generalized conclusion (as opposed to deduction)

​Irony:

​a situation or statement where the truth is the opposite of appearances

​Invective:

​Speech or writing that attacks, insults, or denounces a subject, generally in an abusive, injurious manner

​Inversion​:

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

​Jargon:

​the use of specific words and phrases by those in a particular area of study, profession, or trade

​Juxtaposition​:

placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences

​Litotes:

​a type of understatement in which something affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite

​Logos:

​the appeal to reason, relying on logic. Logos often relies on the use of inductive or deductive reasoning

​Metonymy:

​a figure of speech that uses the name of an object, person, or idea to represent something with which it is associated, such as using “the crown” to refer to a monarch

​Modes of Discourse:

​Systems of thoughts composed of different beliefs, practices, ideas, and attitudes, which present a subject in a particular way. The four main modes are exposition, narrative, description, and argument.

​Motif:

​a standard theme or dramatic situation which recurs in various works

​Mood:

​the atmosphere that pervades a literary work with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or feeling from the audience.

​Non Sequitur:

​an inference that does not logically follow from the premise(s)

​Ode:

​a long lyric poem, usually serious and elevated in tone; often written to praise someone or something

​Onomatopoeia:

​the formation of a word from the imitation of natural sounds, such as ​hiss

​Oxymoron:

​an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined

​Parable:

​a short tale that teaches a moral; similar to but shorter than an allegory

​Paradox:

​a statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have a rational meaning,

​Parallelism​:

similarity of grammatical structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

​Pathos:

​the appeal to emotion/passion, relying on the manipulation of the audience’s sentiments as a means of persuasion

​Periodic sentence​:

sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end

​Polysyndeton:

​the use of many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect

​Qualified argument​:

an argument that is not absolute and acknowledges the merits of an opposing view but still develops a stronger case for its own position

​Rebuttal​:

​Rebuttal​: a part of an argument in which the writer or speaker ​explains why the opposing position is wrong or shows how it is false

​Red herring​:

a fallacy that results when a speaker skips to a new and irrelevant topic in order to avoid the topic of discussion

​Rejoinder​:

an answer to a reply

​Refutation:

​the part of an argument in which the speaker/writer confronts (and, ideally, dismantles) the contradicting point of view

​Rhetoric:

​the art of effective, persuasive speaking or writing, especially through the use of figurative language and compositional techniques

​Rogerian argument​:

argument based on the assumption that fully understanding an opposing position is essential to responding to it persuasively and refuting it in a way that is accommodatin rather than alienating

​Romantic​:

imaginary; having no basis in fact

​Satire​:

the use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual

​S​imple sentence​:

sentence that contains a subject and a verb but contains only ​one​ independent clause

​Stock Character:

​a standard character who may be stereotyped, such as the miser or the fool, or universally recognized, like the hard-boiled private eye in detective stories

​Straw Man Fallacy​:

a fallacy that occurs when a speaker chooses a deliberately poor or oversimplified example in order to ridicule and refute an opponent’s viewpoint

​Syllepsis:

​the linking of one word with two other words in two strikingly different ways

​Syllogism:

​a kind of logical argument using deductive reasoning; two (or more) propositions are asserted to be true, and a conclusion follows.

​Symbol:

​an object which is something in itself yet is used to represent something else

​Synechdoche:

​the use of one part of an object to represent the entire object, such as using “boards” to mean “a stage” or “wheels” to mean “a car”

​Synesthesia:

​Describing one kind of sensation in terms of another, e.g., sound as color, color as sound, sound as taste, color as temperature

​Synthesize​:

to combine two or more ideas in order to create something more complex in support of a new idea

​Syntax:

​the arrangement of words within a sentence – includes sentence length and complexity; the variety and pattern of sentence form; inversion of natural word order; unusual juxtaposition; repetition; parallelism; use of active or passive voice; level of discourse

​Tautology:

​needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding

​Tone:

​the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience

​Transition:

​words and phrases providing connections between ideas, sentences, and paragraphs, thus increasing flow and presenting the piece as a unified whole

​Understatement:

​the deliberate representation of something as less in magnitude than it really is

​Zeugma:

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