AP Lang+Comp pt.3

Purpose

One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.

Refute

To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.

Rhetoric

The art of speaking or writing effectively.

Rhetorical modes

Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose, including narration, description, and argumentation.

Rhetorical question

A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.

Rhetorical triangle

A diagram representing the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience.

Satire

An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that argues against something while claiming to argue for it.

Sentence patterns

The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions.

Sentence variety

Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.

Simile

A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.

Source

A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.

Speaker

The author, speaker, or person whose perspective is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.

Straw man

A logical fallacy that misrepresents and then attacks an opponent’s position.

Style

The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by word selection and arrangement.

Subject

The topic the author addresses in a piece of writing.

Subordinate clause

A clause that modifies an independent clause, created by a subordinating conjunction.

Subordination

The dependence of one syntactic element on another in a sentence.

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning supported by a major and minor premise.

Syntax

Sentence structure.

Synthesize

Combining two or more elements to produce something more complex.

Thesis

The central idea in a work to which all parts refer.

Thesis statement

A statement of the central idea in a work, which may be explicit or implicit.

Tone

The speaker��s attitude toward the subject or audience.

Topic sentence

A sentence that announces the paragraph’s idea and connects it to the work’s thesis.

Trope

Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way.

Understatement

Lack of emphasis in a statement, often used for ironic effect.

Voice

The relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive) or a distinctive quality in writing style and tone.

Zeugma

A construction in which one word modifies or governs two or more words in different ways.