AP English Lang Argument Terms

Persuasion

An appeal in order to compel some action.

Argumentation

Forming reasons, drawing conclusions, and applying them to a case on a debate.

Argument Purposes

Support a cause, promote a change, refute a theory, arouse sympathy, increase interest, win an argument, and urge action

Audience Types

No opinion and do not care, no opinion but is interested to learn more, people who formed an opinion that they hold tightly, and people who have an opinion but are open to other points of view

Claim

Something asserted or maintained, the main point of an argument.

Subclaim

The subordinate point to a larger claim or position in your argument.

Support/Evidence

Support of evidence used to help strengthen your argument.

Concession

Conceding, acknowledging, or admitting in opponent’s point.

Refutation

To discredit an argument, particularly a counter argument.

Fact

An actual occurrence.

Example/Anecdote

An individual instance taken to be representative of a general pattern, usually a short narrative of a relevant episode.

Statistic

A collection of quantitative data.

Opinion

A judgement, view, or appraisal formed in the mind.

Authority/Expertise

Support from an authority on the subject

Analogy/Comparison

A connection to a directly parallel case.

Shared belief/values

When a writer argues that if something is widely believed or valued, then the reader should also accept it.

Causal Relationship

A writer asserts that one thing results from another.

Call to Action

Words that urge the reader or listener to take action.

Pathos

Appeal based on emotions.

Logos

Appeal based on logic or reasoning.

Ethos

Appeal based on character or speaker.

Classical Argument

Syllogism; major proposition, minor proposition, followed by conclusion.

Rogerian Argument

To solve a problem by compromise.

Deductive Reasoning

Reasoning on the form of if A, then B.

Inductive Reasoning

Reasoning which states specific then gets general (If B, then A).

Ad Hominem

Attacks the personality of the individual.

Ad Populum

A proposition held to be true because it is widely held to be true by a sector of the population.

Ad Vericundium

Belief that something said by a great person is true, even if times have changed or proven to be wrong.

Nonsequitur

When one statement isn’t logically connected to another.

False Analogy

When two cases aren’t sufficiently parallel.

Post Hoc

Circular Reasoning (which attempts to prove something by showing that because a second event followed a first event, the second event is a result of the first event)

Overgeneralization

Uses too few examples needed to reach a valid conclusion.

Stereotyping

An oversimplified conception that one is regarded as embodying a set type.

Begging the Question

Assumes something needs to be true that needs proof.

False Authority

When the person in question is not a legitimate authority on the subject.

Slippery Slope

The idea that one event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question

Equivocation

Use of expressions susceptible to double meaning.

Oversimplification

When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issues.

Double Standard

A set of principles permitting greater opportunity or liberty to one than to another.

Either or reasoning

Does not allow for any shades of meaning, compromise, or intermediate cases.

Smokescreen (Strawman)

Method of argument where an opponent creates a weakened, incomplete version of an argument and then destroys it.