AP Lang Rhetorical Terms

Alliteration

Repetition of the same 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.

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence or passage.

Analogy

A comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.

Anaphora

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

Anecdote

A brief story used to illustrate a point or claim.

Annotation

The taking of notes directly on a text.

Antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order.

Antithesis

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

Aphorism

A terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth and moral principle.

Archaic Diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words.

Argument

A process of reasoned inquiry. A persuasive discourse resulting in a coherent and consideration movement from a claim to a conclusion.

Assertion

A statement that presents a claim or thesis.

Asyndeton

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

Audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text.

Claim

Also called an assertion or proposition, this states the argument’s main idea or position. This differs from a topic or subject in that it has to be arguable.

Closed Thesis

A closed thesis is a statement of the main idea of the argument that also previews the major points the writer intends to make.

Colloquialism

Words or phrases that have a conversational feel and are not generally used in formal written English.

Complex Sentence

A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

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.

Cumulative Sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.

Denotation

The strict, literal dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude or color.

Diction

A speaker’s choice of words.

Emphasis

This allows the writer to place importance on a particular idea.

Ethos

Greek for “character.” Speakers appeal to this to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic.

Euphemism

Greek for “good speech,” these are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. May be used to adhere to political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement.

Figurative Language

Nonliteral language, sometimes referred to as tropes or metaphorical language, often evoking strong imagery, these often compare one thing to another either explicitly (simile) implicitly (metaphor).

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect; an overstatement to make a point.

Imagery

A description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds.

Imperative sentence

Sentence used to command or enjoin.

Inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the Subject-Verb-Object order).

Irony

A figure of speech that occurs when a speaker or character says one thing but means something else, or when what is said is the opposite of what is expected, creating a noticeable incongruity.

Jargon

Specialized terminology used by a particular group of people. Obscure and often pretentious language.

Juxtaposition

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

Logos

Greek for “embodied thought.” Speakers appeal to 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.

Metonymy

Figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it or emblematic of it.

Modifier

An adjective, adverb, phrase, or clause that modifies a noun, pronoun, or verb.

Mood

The feeling or atmosphere created by a text.

Narration

In classical oration, the factual and background information, establishing why a subject or problem needs addressing; it precedes the confirmation, or laying out of evidence to support claims made in the argument.

Nominalization

The process of changing a verb into a noun.

Occasion

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

Open thesis

An open thesis is one that does not list all of the points the writer intends to cover in an essay.

Oxymoron

A paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words.

Paradox

A statement or situation that is seemingly contradictory on the surface, but delivers an ironic truth.

Parallelism

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

Pathos

Greek for “suffering” or “experience.” Speakers appeal to this 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.

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of multiple conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

Propaganda

The spread of ideas and information to further a cause.

Purpose

The goal the speaker wants to achieve.

Rhetoric

Aristotle defined this as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” In other words, it is the art of finding ways of persuading an audience.

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.

Satire

The use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual.

Scheme

Artful syntax; a deviation from the normal order of words.

Simile

A figure of speech used to explain or clarify an idea by comparing it explicitly to something else, using the words like, as, or as though.

Speaker

The person or group who creates a text.

Stance

A speaker’s attitude toward the audience (differing from tone, the speaker’s attitude toward the subject).

Style

A writer’s specific way of saying things.

Subject

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

Symbol

Generally, something that represents or stands for something else.

Synecdoche

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

Syntax

The arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. This includes word order (subject-verb-object, for instance, or an inverted structure); the length and structure of sentences (simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex); and such schemes as parallelism, juxtaposition, antithesis, and antimetabole.

Synthesize

Combining two or more ideas in order to create something more complex in support of a new idea.

Text

While this term generally means the written word, in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be “read”— meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, and much more.

Theme

A writer’s thoughts on a topic. It is not JUST the topic, but what the author develops in terms of what he believes about the topic.

Tone

A speaker’s attitude toward the subject conveyed by the speaker’s stylistic and rhetorical choices.

Trope

Artful diction; from the Greek word for “turning,” a figure of speech such as metaphor, simile, hyperbole, metonymy, or synecdoche.

Understatement

A figure of speech in which something is presented as less important, dire, urgent, good, and so on, than it actually is, often for satiric or comical effect. Also called litotes, it is the opposite of hyperbole.

Vernacular

The speech patterns of a particular group of people or region.

Voice

The unique flavor of a piece based upon the author.

Wit

In rhetoric, the use of laughter, humor, irony, and satire in the confirmation or refutation of an argument.

Zeugma

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

Position

To put an idea in a certain place structurally to create emphasis.

Proportion

To allocate a greater amount of words to create emphasis.

Isolation

To separate a key word or phrase to create emphasis.

Repetition

To repeat the wording to create emphasis.