AP Lang Final Study Guide

SPACE CAT?

SPACE CAT?

SPACE for introduction, CAT for effective commentary in rhetorical analysis; Speaker, Purpose, Audience, Context, Exigence, rhetorical Choices, persuasive Appeals, Tone Task Tie to Thesis.

Speaker

The person who wrote or said the text, including information about their background and how it may impact the meaning of the text.

Purpose

The goal or intention of the speaker in creating the text, such as to inform, persuade, inspire, or entertain.

Audience

The intended and actual audience of the text, and how the speaker's assumptions about the audience may influence the content and delivery of the text.

Context

The historical and cultural background in which the text was produced, including the issues and events that may have influenced the speaker's message.

Exigence

The catalyst or spark that prompted the speaker to create the text, often tied to a specific event or series of events.

Rhetorical Choices

The deliberate choices made by the speaker in terms of language, style, and tone to achieve a specific effect or purpose.

Persuasive Appeals

The use of ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), logos (logic), and kairos (timing) to influence the audience's response to the text.

Tone

The author's attitude towards the subject, conveyed through their choice of words and language.

Task

The specific goal or objective that the author and audience are working towards through the text.

Tie to Thesis

How the rhetorical choices made by the author support and reinforce the main argument or thesis of the text.

DIDLS?

Diction, Imagery, Details, language, Syntax

Diction

The author's word choice, including the denotation and connotation of words, phrases, and figurative language.

Imagery

The use of figurative language to appeal to the senses and create vivid mental images.

Details

Specific facts and information that bring characters, settings, and situations to life in the text.

Language

The entire body of words used in the text, including vocabulary, syntax, and style.

Syntax

The sentence structure and organization of words to create meaning and convey the author's message.

Assertion, Evidence, Commentary (AEC)

The pattern used in body paragraphs of argumentative essays, where the author makes a claim, provides evidence to support it, and offers commentary to explain the significance of the evidence.

Accumulation

A list of words or ideas that share a common quality, used to build meaning and emphasize a point.

Example of Accumulation

itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini

Allegory

The use of extended metaphor throughout a narrative to equate objects, persons, and actions with meanings outside of the text.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of successive words to enhance memory retention, add emphasis, or create rhythm.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines for emphasis.

Allusion

A brief, indirect reference to a person, place, or literary work, real or fictional.

Allusion example

chocolate was her Achilles' heel

Analogy

A comparison between two different ideas or things to explain or give meaning to a complex idea by comparing it to something familiar.

Analogy Example

atom's structure is like Solar System, nucleus is the Sun, electrons are planets revolving

Anecdote

A short narrative or account of an interesting incident used to illustrate or support a point.

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses for rhetorical effect.

Example of Antithesis

"you're easy on the eyes and hard on the heart"

Aristotelian Triangle

The connection between the speaker, audience, and topic in a text.

Asyndeton

The omission of conjunctions between a series of words, phrases, or clauses for a specific effect.

asyndeton example

"are all their conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, shrunk to this little measure?"

Audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of the text.

Apostrophe

When a speaker directly addresses someone or something that is not present.

Apostrophe example

Macbeth talking to his dagger, Romeo talking to death

Antonomasia

The use of an epithet or phrase in place of a proper name, often as a kind of metonymy.

Antonomasia example

"The Bard" to mean Shakespeare

Appositive

A noun or noun phrase that follows and provides information about another noun or noun phrase.

Chiasmus

The repetition of words, grammatical constructions, or concepts in reverse order for rhetorical effect.

Chiasmus example

"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate" -JFK

Connotation

The use of a word to suggest a different association than its literal meaning.

Dependent Clause

A phrase that has become disconnected from the main clause and cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

Diction

The author's word choice, including metaphors, similes, personification, and hyperbole.

Example of Diction

metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole

Ethos

The credibility and reputation of the author or speaker as a reliable source of information.

Epizeuxis

The repetition of words or phrases in quick succession for emphasis.

epizeuxis example

alone, alone, all, all, alone

Evidence

Facts, statistics, examples, expert statements, and other sources used to support an argument.

Exemplification

The use of specific instances or examples to clarify a point or persuade the audience.

Exemplification example

we have a close family; we have weekly Sunday dinne

Exigence

The issue, problem, or situation that prompted the speaker to write or speak.

Epistrophe

The repetition of the same word or

Epistrophe example

gov of the people, by the people, for the people

Fallacy

a failure in reasoning that renders an argument invalid

Slippery slope

The arguer claims that a sort of chain reaction, usually ending in some dire consequence, will take place, but there’s really not enough evidence for that assumption.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

“After this, therefore, because of this” fallacy is the assumption that because B comes after A, A caused B. But sometimes, two events that seem related aren’t really related as cause and effect; correlation isn’t the same as causation.

Red herring

Partway through an argument, the arguer goes off on a tangent, raising a side issue that distracts the audience from what’s really at stake.

Figurative Language

the use of words in a way that deviates from the conventional order and meaning in order to convey a complicated meaning, colorful writing, clarity, or evocative comparison

Rhetorical Analysis

The process of examining the strategies and techniques used by a speaker or writer to convey their message effectively.

Accumulation

A list of words or ideas which embody similar abstract/physical qualities or meanings; the words/ideas are listed together to build meaning because of their shared quality.

Allegory

The rhetorical strategy of extending a metaphor through an entire narrative so that objects, persons, and actions in the text are equated with meanings that lie outside the text.

Allusion

A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or literary work - real or fictional.

Analogy

A comparison between ideas or things that are quite different from one another; its goal is to explain/give meaning to a more complex idea or thing by comparing it to something familiar.

Apostrophe

When a speaker directly addresses someone or something that isn't present.

Chiasmus

A rhetorical term in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order and in the same form or a modified form.

Euphemism

An inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or harsh.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration and overstatement for emphasis and effect.

Hypophora

A figure of speech in which the speaker poses a rhetorical question and then answers the question.

Imagery

The use of figurative language to appeal to the senses; helps convey tone & style.

Juxtaposition

A literary technique in which 2 or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.

Independant clause

a group of words that could be a complete sentence all by itself

Logos

an appeal to logic/way of persuading with reason, using facts and figures

Litotes

an ironic understatement that expresses a positive sentence using its negative form in order to emphasize an idea/situation, rather than minimizing its importance

Litotes example

you won't be sorry

Language

entire body of words in a text

Metaphor

Compares one thing to another; X is Y.

Metonymy

When a word associated with/related to something is used to refer to that thing.

Metonomy example

"crown" for "king/queen/monarchy"

Occasion

time and place

Oxymoron

contradiction; two contradictory terms or ideas used together

Oxymoron example

"parting is such sweet sorrow" "jumbo shrimp"

parallelism

a device in which grammatically, structurally, aurally, or semantically similar components are used throughout.a sentence or passage to create balance

parallelism example

"I've done some good, offered some service, shed some light, healed some wounds..."

Pathos

an appeal to emotion; a way of convincing the audience of an argument by creating an emotional response

Pleonasm

the use of redundant words within a phrase to emphasize an idea

Pleonasm example

burning fire

persona

"mask" the face, role, or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience

Personification

the attribution of human characteristics to something nonhuman

Personification example

leaves danced across the yard

Polysyndeton

a technique in which conjunctions (and, but, or) are used repeatedly in quick succession, often with no commas, even when the conjunctions could be removed

Polysyndeton example

we have ships and men and money and stores

Pun

a play on words in which a homophone is repeated but used in a different sense

Pun example

"You have dancing shoes / With nimble soles. I have a soul of lead." -Romeo

Purpose

speaker’s goal

repetition

the repeating of a word or phrase

rhetoric

the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing; “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion” -Aristotle

Rhetorical question

a written question which expects no answer; used to make points, persuade, and get audience thinking

Simile

compare two things using the words “like,” “as,” or “than”

spatial order

when you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space