AP LANG & COMP Diction, Rhetoric quiz

What does diction help with?

Diction helps the writer to express their

point of view.

Diction

word choice

Denotation

is the literal, dictionary definition of a word:

Connotation

refers to the response a word evokes in the reader or listener.

Diction can be:

sophisticated or colloquial

Formal

found in lectures & documents

Informal

language used in letters and conversations with friends

Technical

Language that is the specialized vocabulary of a specific subject; it often includes scientific terms or replaces well-known terms with something more specific and scientific

Euphemisms

Words or phrases that soften unpleasant realities; they can also be used to deceive or mislead

Jargon

Specialized language of members of a profession (overlaps with technical)

Bureaucratese

Use of sheer volume of words or complicated syntax to overwhelm the audience

Inflated Language

In general, makes the ordinary seem extraordinary

Ethos

Is created by the speaker’s credibility - Do we trust the speaker

Pathos

Emotional appeal, often used by the speaker to directly impact the audience

Logos

relies on logic (solid evidence, facts, statistics) to be effective

Rhetoric

the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques

The Rhetorical Situation

Of any text is the circumstance in which a speaker employs rhetoric for persuasion

Exigence

Is what motivates a rhetor to argue in the first place. Why does the rhetor need to make this point? What will this argument do for the world?

Immediate Audience

The individuals literally listening to or reading the rhetor’s argument. (A live audience listening to a speech)

Mediated Audience

The individuals for whom the argument is intended. These individuals may or may not actually listen to or read the rhetor’s argument.

Constraints

Are limitations within the rhetor must work; these limitation can be related to the genre, medium, register, audience, or the situation itself. These are usually obstacles the rhetor must overcome to be effective

Cumulative Sentence

begin with a standard sentence pattern and then add several details after 

Cumulative Sentence example

“The women moved through the streets as winged messengers, twirling around each other in slow motion, peeking inside homes and watching the easy sleep of men and women.” -Terry Tempest Williams

“It is a wilderness that is beautiful, dangerous, abundant, oblivious of us, mysterious, never to be conquered or controlled or second-guessed, or known more than a little.” -Wendell Berry

Cumulative Sentence effect

Sentence accumulates a string of modifiers to describe the subject.

Cumulative sentence allows author to smoothly include various modifiers in one sentence (listing)

Periodic Sentence

Begins with several details and holds off a standard sentence pattern, or its predicate (verb or verb phrase), until the end

Periodic Sentence example

“Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Often, after filling several notebooks with dozens of interviews, reading several books, diving into all manner of research materials, and making research trips, when I sit down to write, I do so without looking at my notes at all.” -Daniel Glick

Periodic Sentence effect

Builds anticipation until we get to the end of the thought

Inverted  Sentence

the writer flips the sentence around to have the verb before the subject.

Inverted  Sentence example

Tomorrow will come the decision.

“Everywhere was a shadow of death.” -Rachel Carson

“Under them areevergreen thickets of rhododendron.” -Wendell Berry

Inverted  Sentence effect

Slows the reader’s pace down because these sentences are more difficult to read.  

Short Simple Sentences

A short simple sentence consists of ONE independent clause, It has a subject and a verb.  

Short Simple Sentences example

1. There is a problem, though. 

2. The chances of this are miniscule.

The performers and audience were waiting.  *This is a compound subject (2 things) but it is still only one independent clause

Hortative Sentences

urges; gives a command or direction; calls one to action   

Hortative Sentences examples

“Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us!”

“Try it, at least once!”

Sentence fragments

is an incomplete sentence that readers understand to be complete, Missing a subject, verb, or both;  others may be dependent clauses.  

Sentence fragments example

“Wouldn’t it be better for the kids if the mother stayed at home?”  No offense, but no. 
Hurry, I urge my country.  Before it’s too late.  

Coordination

means combining two sentences or ideas that are of equal value

Coordination example

We essentially consider polluted water as normal now, and people who can afford it drink bottled water. (Ursula Franklin)
I want to go play outside, but I also have lots of homework to do.

Polysyndeton

deliberate use of a series of conjunctions

Asyndeton

deliberate omission of conjunctions

Polysyndeton effect

can speed up the pace of sentences 

can stress connections among linked things

Creates an emphasis on a “list” of details - more colloquial

Asyndeton effect

ironic effect of distinctly separating ideas

More formal writing

Adds poetic style to prose writing  

Polysyndeton example

Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcass of an unclean beast, or a carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. 

Mrs. Hurst and her sister allowed it to be so-but still they admired her and liked her, and pronounced her to be a sweet girl, and one whom they would not object to know more of. (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen)

Asyndeton example

I have a love far beyond the stars, the moon, the sky.

This is the villain among you who deceived you, who

cheated you,who meant to betray you completely…

(Aristotle, Rhetoric)

Modifiers

The extra details within a sentence. A modifier changes, clarifies, qualifies, or limits a particular word in a sentence in order to add emphasis, explanation, or detail. Modifiers tend to be descriptive words, such as adjectives and adverbs. Modifier phrases, such as adjective clauses and adverbial phrases, also exist and tend to describe adjectives and adverbs.

Modifiers example

Sarah was a sure fit for junior prom queen.

or

The blonde girl named Sarah, who was a foreign exchange student from England, quickly climbed the ladder of popularity during her junior year, smiling her way through cheerleading and an ASB presidency term she inched near the top and was a sure fit as junior prom queen.

Qualifiers

and intensifiers are words or phrases that are added to another word to adjust  its meaning, either by limiting it (He was somewhat busy) or by enhancing it (The dog was very cute).

Misplaced modifiers

must be moved closer to what they describe

Misplaced modifiers example

Churning in the Atlantic Ocean, we anxiously watched the weather report for information about the hurricane.

Raymond wore his one collared shirt to the job interview, which was unfortunately stained with yellow mustard.

Dangling modifiers

describe NOTHING mentioned in the sentence

Dangling modifiers example

Rummaging in her giant handbag, the sunglasses escaped detection.

With a sigh of disappointment, the expensive dress was returned to the rack.

Anaphora

Deliberate repetition of word or phrase at beginning of successive clauses 

Anaphora example

But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen...…when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of nobodiness… MLK Jr.

Anaphora effect

to make reader wait for the main point in the independent clause 

Antithesis

Contrast of thoughts in 2 phrases, clauses, or sentences. 

Antithesis example

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.  Neil Armstrong

One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws.  Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.  MLK Jr.

Antithesis effect

create clear contrast of words in order to emphasize the difference in meaning between them. 

Antimetabole

Identical or (near identical) repetition of words in one phrase or clause, in reverse order in the next phrase or clause.

Antimetabole example

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.  JFK 

He who questions training only trains himself at asking questions

Antimetabole effect

drama, help audience remember a point, emphasis!   The words used are the same, but their order is changed.  

Epistrophe

Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words.  (opposite of anaphora)

Epistrophe example

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." —Emerson
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you. [. . .]
Scarcity and want shall shun you,
Ceres' blessing so is on you.  — Shakespeare, The Tempest

Epistrophe effect

The speaker’s words have rhythm and cadence.

Can create rhyme scheme.

Anadiplosis

The repetition of the last word (or phrase) from the previous line or sentence at the beginning of the next. 

Anadiplosis example

The love of wicked men converts to fear,
That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both
To worthy danger and deserved death.
—Shakespeare, Richard II 5.1.66-68

The following shows anadiplosis of a phrase:
...and see the whole wide reach
of blue Atlantic. But he stayed ashore.
He stayed ashore and plowed, and drilled his rows...
                                     — Charles Bruce, “Biography”

Anadiplosis effect

Adds rhythm and cadence; builds in intensity to a climax 

Epanalepsis

Repetition of the same word or clause after intervening matter. The same word or phrase in the beginning is repeated in the end.

Epanalepsis example

"In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. " —Paul Harvey

"Believe not all you can hear, tell not all you believe." —Native American proverb

"A lie begets a lie." —English proverb

"To each the boulders that have fallen to each."
—Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"

Epanalepsis effect

achieve a sense of balance within a very short amount of text.

What is parallel structure?

Diction vs. Syntax

Word choice vs. Grammatical structures

Parallelism is a form of syntax.

Parallel words

He came, he saw, he conquered.

What happens if the words are not parallel?  

He came, sees, and was conquering. 

Parallel phrases

It has truly been said that never in history have so many educated people devoted so much attention to so few children.  Jane Howard 

Parallel clauses 

We perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence;  petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality.  Thoreau 

Independent (main) Clause

group of words that contain a subject, verb, and express a complete thought.  It is a sentence.

Independent Clause example

 Jim studied in the library for his chemistry quiz.

Dependent (subordinate) clause:

group of words that has a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought.  It cannot be a sentence....it is only a part of a sentence.

Dependent (subordinate) clause example

When Jim studied in the library....

What happens when there is a lack of parallelism? 

Sentences lack balance and force; they often sound awkward and “wordy” 

What happens when there is a lack of parallelism?  example

Why should we live with such hurry and to waste life?   

Why create parallelism?

Writers use it to emphasize, contrast, repeat, or connect ideas.