ela vocab

1. Rhetoric

the study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available means of persuasion”

2. Speaker

a term used for the author or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing

3. Purpose

one’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing

4. Audience

one’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed

5. Context

the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc. (i.e. what is happening in the world politically, socially, economically, etc.)

6. Exigence

an urgent problem or issue that a writer feels compelled to address

7. Choices

the moves a writer makes to enrich his/her writing (through patterns of diction, syntax, organization, rhetorical strategies, etc.)

8. Appeals

rhetorical strategies, specifically these three: logos, pathos, and ethos; when used in a balanced way, they create an effective use of rhetoric

9. Tone

the speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience

10. Logos

a Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals

11. Pathos

a Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals. Think of this as an effort to incite empathy.

12. Ethos

a Greek term referring to the character of a person; his or her “ethics.” one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals

13. Narration

recalling an event or series of events; telling a story

14. Description

writing that includes many specific details and emphasizes the senses by painting a picture of how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes, or feels (utilizes imagery)

15. Exemplification

writing that provides a series of examples—facts, specific cases, or instances—and turns a general idea into a concrete one to make an argument clearer and more persuasive to the reader

16. Comparison/Contrast

writing that juxtaposes two things to highlight their similarities and differences

17. Classification/Division

writing that sorts material or ideas into major categories so that readers can make connections between things that might otherwise seem unrelated

18. Definition

writing that establishes common ground or identifies areas of conflict to ensure that writers and their audiences are speaking the same language

19. Cause/Effect

writing that analyzes the causes that lead to a certain effect or, conversely, the effects that result from a cause

20. Process Analysis

writing that explains how something works, how to do something, or how something was done

Trope

artful diction; the use of language in a non-literal way; also called a figure of speech

2. Diction

word choice

3. Scheme

a pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect (example: parallelism, as in “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”)

4. Syntax

sentence structure

5. Style

the distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech

6. Repetition

repeating a word or phrase within a sentence or poetical line in order to emphasize an idea

7. Parallelism

the repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns (“I came, I saw, I conquered.” ~Julius Caesar)

8. Antithesis

parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas (Example: “Money is the root of all evils; poverty is the fruit of all goodness.”)

9. Juxtaposition

placement of two things side by side for emphasis

Cumulative sentence

an independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply additional detail (Example: She cautiously walked to the door, wary of what was awaiting her on the other side.)

Periodic sentence

a sentence that builds toward and ends with the main clause (Example: Wary of what was awaiting her on the other side, she cautiously walked to the door.)

Hortative sentence/Hortatory

a sentence that urges or strongly encourages (Example: “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.” ~JFK)

Inverted sentence/Inversion

a sentence in which the verb precedes the subject (Example: “Always in motion is the future.” ~Yoda, Star Wars)

Rhetorical question

a question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer (Example: “What business is it of yours?”)

Alliteration

the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables (Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers…)

Anaphora

the repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses (Example: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” ~Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

Antimetabole

the repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen a contrast (Example: “Eat to leave, not live to eat.” ~Socrates)

Simile

a figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things (Example: He was as strong as an ox.)

Metaphor

a figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison (Example: She is fishing in troubled waters.)

Imagery

vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing) (Example: “The eerie silence was shattered by her scream.”)