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AP Lang - Rhetorical Strategy 

Rhetorical strategy :: A specific approach(s) a writer employs to achieve an intended purpose

  • Used to persuade audience

  • Organize evidence

  • Plan to convince/persuade readers

Have to use rhetorical devices

Imagery :: language and description that appeals to our five senses

  • built on literary devices

  • appeals to senses

creates a more vivid image

Rhetorical Devices:

  • Alliteration :: Repetition of same-sound and the beginning of successive word

    • bright blue ball

  • Epanalepsis :: Repetition of same word or clause after and intervening matter

    • a minimum wage, that is not a supporting wage, is not a minimum wage

  • Anastrophe :: Normal syntactical arrangement is violated for emphasis

    • troubles, everybody’s got

  • Parenthesis :: Insertion the interrupts syntax flow

    • the cat (which was the cutest thing ever) was so soft

  • Asyndeton :: Omission of conjunction → slower rhythm + emphasis

    • Can use semicolon to break thought up

    • I came, i saw, i conquered vs. i came, i saw and i conquered

  • Polysyndeton :: Adding in many conjunctions between clauses → hurried rhythm + pileup effect

    • i wore a hat and a coat and a scarf and mittens and boots

  • Apostrophe :: Breaking off discord to address a person or personified thing

    • Talking to inanimate objects or people that aren't there

    • NOT personification

    • O’ wise one…

  • Pleonasm :: Use more words than necessary

    • with these very eyes, i saw him do it, i heard it with my ears

  • Hyperbole :: Rhetorical exaggeration

    • I told you a million times…

  • Oxymoron :: Paradoxical image with two contradicting terms

    • awfully pretty, tragic comedy, open secret

Imagry Devices

  • Anadiplosis :: the repetition of the last word/phrase from the previous line at the begging of the next

    • she opened a cafe. a cafe that was to be the most popular in town.

  • Metaphor :: giving an inanimate object/person a meaning/action that is not literal

    • the waves roared, the wind whispered,

  • Simile :: one thing is likened to another

    • life’s like a box of chocolates, she ran like a cheetah

  • Personification :: an animal/inanimate object is given human qualities

    • the sun smiled down on us

  • Synaesthesia :: mixing sensory output in an impossible way

    • her voice was as smooth as velvet

    • taste the rainbow

  • Cacophony :: opposite of euphony, bad sounds in a section of text. discordant and difficult to pronounce

    • never my numb plunker fumbles

  • Euphony :: opposite of cacophony, pleasing/harmonious sounds

    • marvelous, mellow, mist

  • Apotheosis :: the glorification of an individual to a divine level

    • she has the patience of a saint

  • Onomatopoeia :: word whose sounds imitates that of which it names

    • plop, kerplunk, splash

Purpose

  • Intended reason for why you are writing

    • Inform

    • Entertain

    • Question

    • Argue

    • Elicit emotional response

  • Goal

  • Intended effect



Devices → strategy  → purpose → effect on audience


Detail

  • Facts, observation, incidents

  • Specific detail

  • NOT GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS
    Bring reader into the scene

  • Prepares readers to join action

  • More detail = better understanding

AP Lang - Rhetorical Strategy 

Rhetorical strategy :: A specific approach(s) a writer employs to achieve an intended purpose

  • Used to persuade audience

  • Organize evidence

  • Plan to convince/persuade readers

Have to use rhetorical devices

Imagery :: language and description that appeals to our five senses

  • built on literary devices

  • appeals to senses

creates a more vivid image

Rhetorical Devices:

  • Alliteration :: Repetition of same-sound and the beginning of successive word

    • bright blue ball

  • Epanalepsis :: Repetition of same word or clause after and intervening matter

    • a minimum wage, that is not a supporting wage, is not a minimum wage

  • Anastrophe :: Normal syntactical arrangement is violated for emphasis

    • troubles, everybody’s got

  • Parenthesis :: Insertion the interrupts syntax flow

    • the cat (which was the cutest thing ever) was so soft

  • Asyndeton :: Omission of conjunction → slower rhythm + emphasis

    • Can use semicolon to break thought up

    • I came, i saw, i conquered vs. i came, i saw and i conquered

  • Polysyndeton :: Adding in many conjunctions between clauses → hurried rhythm + pileup effect

    • i wore a hat and a coat and a scarf and mittens and boots

  • Apostrophe :: Breaking off discord to address a person or personified thing

    • Talking to inanimate objects or people that aren't there

    • NOT personification

    • O’ wise one…

  • Pleonasm :: Use more words than necessary

    • with these very eyes, i saw him do it, i heard it with my ears

  • Hyperbole :: Rhetorical exaggeration

    • I told you a million times…

  • Oxymoron :: Paradoxical image with two contradicting terms

    • awfully pretty, tragic comedy, open secret

Imagry Devices

  • Anadiplosis :: the repetition of the last word/phrase from the previous line at the begging of the next

    • she opened a cafe. a cafe that was to be the most popular in town.

  • Metaphor :: giving an inanimate object/person a meaning/action that is not literal

    • the waves roared, the wind whispered,

  • Simile :: one thing is likened to another

    • life’s like a box of chocolates, she ran like a cheetah

  • Personification :: an animal/inanimate object is given human qualities

    • the sun smiled down on us

  • Synaesthesia :: mixing sensory output in an impossible way

    • her voice was as smooth as velvet

    • taste the rainbow

  • Cacophony :: opposite of euphony, bad sounds in a section of text. discordant and difficult to pronounce

    • never my numb plunker fumbles

  • Euphony :: opposite of cacophony, pleasing/harmonious sounds

    • marvelous, mellow, mist

  • Apotheosis :: the glorification of an individual to a divine level

    • she has the patience of a saint

  • Onomatopoeia :: word whose sounds imitates that of which it names

    • plop, kerplunk, splash

Purpose

  • Intended reason for why you are writing

    • Inform

    • Entertain

    • Question

    • Argue

    • Elicit emotional response

  • Goal

  • Intended effect



Devices → strategy  → purpose → effect on audience


Detail

  • Facts, observation, incidents

  • Specific detail

  • NOT GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS
    Bring reader into the scene

  • Prepares readers to join action

  • More detail = better understanding