aplang final review

tone

the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.

alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

assonance

in poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible (e.g., penitence, reticence ).

consonance

the recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity (chiefly as used in prosody).

mood

state of mind or feeling.

repetition

the action of repeating something that has already been said or written.

diction

the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

synecdoche

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”).

connotation

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

metonymy

the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing.

personification

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

denotation

the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

allusion

an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.

allegory

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

ethos, pathos, logos

appeals to credibility, emotion, logic

hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

syntax

the particular order in which words and phrases are arranged in a sentence

juxtaposition

the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

oxymoron

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).

antithesis

a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

paradox

a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

analogy

a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

rhetorical question

a question asked to make a point, rather than get an answer

parallelism

the state of being parallel or of corresponding in some way.

chiasmus

a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form; e.g. ‘Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best mind

paralipsis

the device of giving emphasis by professing to say little or nothing about a subject, as in not to mention their unpaid debts of several million.

understatement

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

juvenilian satire

a form of literary satire that is characterized by its harshness, bitterness, and moral indignation. 

horatian satire

a type of satire that aims to gently mock and criticize its subject through humor, wit, and playful irony.

persona

the aspect of someone's character that is presented to or perceived by others.

anaphora

the use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition, such as do in I like it and so do they.

epistrophe

the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences

polysyndeton

a rhetorical device that uses multiple repetitions of the same conjunction (like "and", "but", "if") in close succession within a sentence

asyndeton

the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.

aristotle’s triangle

ethos, pathos, logos

SPACE CAT (for rhetorical)

speaker, purpose, audience, context, exigence, choices, appeals, tone

CHORES (for argument)

current events, historical events, our experiences, reading/literature, entertainment, sports/science

slippery slope

someone argues that a certain action will lead to a series of increasingly negative outcomes, with each step in the chain being presented as inevitable

straw man

someone misrepresents an opponent's argument by making it weaker or easier to attack.

appeal to fear

where someone attempts to convince others of a particular viewpoint by exaggerating or creating fear about negative consequences

red herring

a clue or piece of information that is, or is intended to be, misleading or distracting.

false dilemma

presents a situation with only two possible options when, in reality, there are more

hasty generalization

where a conclusion is drawn about a population based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence

ad hominem

(of an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.

ad populem/bandwagon

someone assumes that because something is popular or widely believed, it must be true, correct, or good

post hoc

occurring or done after the event, especially with reference to the fallacious assumption that the occurrence in question has a logical relationship with the event it follows.

faulty analogy

where an argument uses a comparison between two things that are not sufficiently similar, leading to an invalid inference

equivocation

the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself; prevarication.

false authority

someone who is incorrectly perceived as an expert or authority in a particular field, despite having no relevant expertise or qualifications

begging the question

an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, rather than providing evidence or reasoning to support it

circular reasoning

an argument that comes back to its beginning without having proven anything