AP English Language Glossary of Rhetorical Terms

Vocabulary flashcards defining key rhetorical terms from Mr. Scheller's AP English Language and Composition glossary.

alliteration

Repetition of the same consonant sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.

allusion

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.

anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.

antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order.

antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

archaic diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words.

assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words to create rhythm, mood, or emphasis.

asyndeton

Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text.

auditory imagery

Language that appeals to the sense of hearing.

colloquial diction

The use of informal, everyday language, slang, or regional expressions (sometimes called 'local color') reflecting how people actually speak.

concession

An acknowledgment that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable.

connotation

Meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation.

context

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.

counterargument

An opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward.

cumulative sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning the sentence and then builds and adds on. Also called a loose sentence.

diction

A speaker's choice of words, shaping tone, style, and meaning.

ethos

Greek for 'character.' Speakers appeal to ethos to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic.

euphemism

Mild or indirect language used in place of language that might be harsh, unpleasant, or offensive.

exigence

The urgent problem, issue, or situation that prompts a speaker to communicate. It is the 'why now?' behind a rhetorical text.

figurative language

Language that is not to be interpreted literally, using figures of speech that communicate in creative ways.

gustatory imagery

Language that appeals to the sense of taste.

hortative sentence

Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.

hyperbole

A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect.

imperative sentence

Sentence used to command or enjoin.

inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order).

jargon

The specialized language or terminology used by a particular profession, group, or field, often difficult for outsiders to understand.

juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences.

kinesthetic imagery

Appealing to the sense of motion.

litotes

A rhetorical figure in which a point is affirmed by negating its opposite, often creating understatement.

logos

Greek for 'embodied thought.' Speakers appeal to logos, or reason, by offering clear, rational ideas and using specific details, examples, facts, statistics, or expert testimony to back them up.

metaphor

Figure of speech that compares two things without using 'like' or 'as.'

occasion

The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written.

olfactory imagery

Language that appeals to the sense of smell.

onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the natural sound it represents, contributing to auditory imagery.

oxymoron

A paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another.

parallelism

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

pathos

Greek for 'suffering' or 'experience.' Speakers appeal to pathos to emotionally motivate their audience.

periodic sentence

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.

persona

Greek for 'mask.' The face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience.

personification

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea.

polemic

Greek for 'hostile.' An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others.

polysyndeton

The deliberate use of many conjunctions (like and, or, but) in close succession, often slowing the rhythm and adding emphasis or a sense of abundance.

propaganda

The spread of ideas and information to further a cause.

purpose

The goal the speaker wants to achieve in the audience, whether effecting change in the audience's feeling, belief, or action.

refutation

A denial of the validity of an opposing argument.

rhetoric

As Aristotle defined the term, 'the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.'

rhetorical accumulation

The listing or piling up of words or phrases on the same idea to emphasize its importance.

rhetorical appeals

Rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find most important or compelling.

rhetorical question

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.

rhetorical triangle (Aristotelian triangle)

A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text.

rule of three

The principle in rhetoric that ideas presented in groups of three are more memorable, effective, and persuasive than when given in other numbers.

SPACE CAT

A mnemonic device to remember key features of the rhetorical situation (the SPACE surrounding the text: Speaker, Purpose, Audience, Context, Exigence) and the text as it is constituted to function most effectively in that space: Craft, Appeals, and Tone.

speaker

The person or group who creates a text.

subject

The topic of a text. What the text is about.

synecdoche

Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.

synesthetic imagery

Appealing to the senses in a way where one sense is appealed to using another.

syntax

A speaker's structure/arrangement of words, conveying meaning with choices of structure, order, length, and emphasis.

tactile imagery

Language that appeals to the sense of touch, including texture or temperature.

telegraphic sentence

A very short sentence that uses only the most essential words, often omitting articles, conjunctions, and other small function words, delivering information quickly and directly.

text

While this term generally means the written word, it has come to mean the act or instance of rhetoric, any cultural product that can be 'read' – meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated.

visual imagery

Language that appeals to the sense of sight.

zeugma

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings.