SLO Vocabulary Terms

Evaluate

Examine and judge carefully. To judge or determine the significance, worth, or quality of something; to assess

Analysis

The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another

Explicit

Clearly expressed or fully stated in the actual text

Connotation

The range of associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its dictionary meaning

Irony

Incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected result

Inference

A judgement based on reasoning rather than on a direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances

Refutation

Countering of anticipated argument

Juxtaposition

Placing one thing adjacent to another, especially for comparison and contrast

Rhetoric

The art and study of effective writing and speech

Diction

Specific word choices an author makes to persuade or to convey tone

Clause

A group of words containing at least one paired subject and predicate

Phrase

A group of words that do not contain at least one paired subject and predicate

Ethos

Mode of persuasion requiring speakers to establish their credibility, skill, or morality on a given subject to an intended audience

Pathos

Mode of persuasion speakers use when appealing to the various emotions of the audience, including fear, inspiration, intimidation, idealism, anger, nostalgia, despair, optimism, etc

Logos

Mode of persuasion speakers use when appealing to the audience’s ability to distinguish, through discourse, the difference between what is reasonable or unreasonable

Evidence

Proof coming from sources, fieldwork, and research that validates any logical support of an argument

Reasons

Statements of logic that offer support for an argument

Comma Splice

A type of Run-On sentence in which the writer has erroneously placed only a comma between two independent clauses, resulting in a failure to link the two according to grammatical convention

Claims

Any statements of beliefs that can be contested; argument

Claim of Value

A statement made to show hat something is moral or immoral

Claim of Policy

A statement made to endorse specific courses of action

Claim of Fact

A statement made to verify the authenticity of something

Fused Sentence

A type of Run-On sentence in which the writer has failed to make any attempt either to link or separate two independent clauses, utilizing neither punctuation, nor conjunctions

Fallacy

Rationales for claims that might seem reasonable, but are actually unsound—and usually false

Parallelism

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

Periodic Sentence

A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final world

Ambiguity

The presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage

Concession

An argumentative strategy by which a speaker or writer acknowledges the validity of an opponent’s point

Loose Sentence

A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by subordinate phrases and clauses

Tone

The attitude of the author towards the audience, characters, subject or the work itself