Untitled Flashcards Set

• Audience: the listener, viewer, or reader of a text. Most texts are likely to have multiple audience. 

• pathos : Greek for “suffering” or “experience”. Speakers appeal to pathos to emotionally motivate their audience. More specific appeals to pathos to emotionally motivate their audience. More specific appeals to pathos might play on the audiences values, desires, and hopes, on the one hand, or fears and prejudices, on the other. 

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

• triangle/Aristotelian triangle: A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject determining a text.   

• Concession: am acknowledgment that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable. In a strong argument, a concession is usually accompanied by a refutation challenging the validity of the opposing argument. 

• Persona:  Greek for “mask.” The face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience. Ex. Lou Gehrig is a famous baseball hero, but in his speech he presents himself as a common man who is modest and thankful for the opportunities he’s had. 

• SOAPS: A mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Pur- 

pose, and Speaker. It is a handy way to remember the various elements that  

make up the rhetorical situation. 

• connotation : Meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation. Connotations are often positive or negative, and they often greatly affect the author’s tone. Consider the connotations of the words below, all of which mean “overweight.” Ex. That cat is plump. That cat is fat. That cat is obese. 

• Polemic: Greek for “hostile.” An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others. Polemics generally do not concede that opposing opinions have any merit. 

• Speaker: The person or group who creates a text. This might be a politician who delivers a speech, a commentator who writes an article, an artist who draws a political cartoon, or even a company that commissions an advertisement. Ex. In his Farewell Address, the speaker is not just Lou Gehrig, but baseball hero and ALS victim Lou Gehrig, a common man who is modest and thankful for the opportunities he’s had. 

• Context: The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a  

text .Ex. The context for Lou Gehrig’s speech is the recent announcement of his illness and his subsequent retirement, but also the poignant contrast between his potent career and his debilitating disease. 

• Propaganda: The spread of ideas and information to further a cause.In its negative sense, propaganda is the use of rumors, lies, disinformation, and scare tactics in order to damage or promote a cause. 

• subject: The topic of a text. What the text is about. Ex. Lou Gehrig’s subject in his speech is his illness, but it is also an expression of his gratitude for all of the lucky breaks that preceded his diagnosis. 

• Counterargument: An opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward. Rather than ignoring a counterargument, a strong writer will usually address it through the process of concession and refutation.Ex. Some of Lou Gehrig’s listeners might have argued that his bad break was a cause for discouragement or despair. 

• Purpose: The goal the speaker wants to achieve.Ex.One of Gehrig’s chief purposes in delivering his Farewell Address is to thank his fans and his teammates, but he also wants to demonstrate that he remains positive: he emphasizes his past luck and present optimism and downplays his illness. 

• 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.  

• ethos : Greek for “character.” Speakers appeal to ethos to demonstrate that they are credible and trustworthy to speak on a given topic. Ethos is established by both who you are and what you say.Ex. Lou Gehrig brings the ethos of being a legendary athlete to his speech, yet in it he establishes a different kind of ethos — that of a regular guy and a good sport who shares the audience’s love of baseball and family. And like them, he has known good luck and bad breaks.  

• Refutation: A denial of the validity of an opposing argument. In order to sound reasonable, a refutation often follows a concession that acknowledges that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable. One of the stages in classical oration, usually following the confirmation, or proof, and preceding the conclusion, or peroration.Ex. Lou Gehrig refutes that his bad break is a cause for discouragement by saying that he has “an awful lot to live for!” 

• 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. Ex.Gehrig starts with the thesis that he is “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” and supports it with two points: (1) the love and kindness he’s received in his seventeen years of playing baseball, and (2) a list of great people who have been his friends, family, and teammates. 

• Rhetoric: Aristotle defined rhetoric 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. 

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

Ex. In the case of Gehrig’s speech, the occasion is Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. More specifically, his moment came at home plate between games of a doubleheader. 

• rhetorical appeals: Rhetorical techniques used to persuade an audience by 

emphasizing what they find most important or compelling. The three major appeals are to ethos (character), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion). 

 Alliteration: Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence. Ex. [L]et us go forth to lead the land we love . . 

• hortative sentence : Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.Ex. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. 

• Personification: Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an  

idea.Ex. . . . with history the final judge of our deeds. 

• Allusion: Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a  

work of art.Ex. Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah.  

• Imperative: Sentence used to command or enjoin.Ex. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. 

• rhetorical question: Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.Ex.Will you join in that historic effort? 

• Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.. . . Ex. not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are . .  

• Inversion: Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order).Ex. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do. 

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

Ex. In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. 

• Antimetabole: Repetition of words in reverse order. Ex.[A]sk not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.— John F. Kennedy 

• juxtaposition : Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences.Ex.The nations of Asia and Africa are moving at jet-like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. 

• Zeugma: Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that pro-duces different, often incongruous, meanings. Ex.When you open a book, you open your mind.Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden . . 

• Antithesis: Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.Ex. [W]e shall . . . support any friend, oppose any foe. 

• Metaphor: Figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as. 

Ex. And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion . . 

• Archaic: Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words. 

Ex. . . beliefs for which our forebears fought . . 

• Diction: A speaker’s choice of words. Analysis of diction looks at these choices  

and what they add to the speaker’s message. 

• Oxymoron: A paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words. 

Ex. But this peaceful revolution . . . 

• Asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or  

• words.Ex.[W]e shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. 

• Parallelism: Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.Ex. Let both sides explore. . . . Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals. . . . Let both sides seek to invoke. . . . Let both sides unite to heed . 

• cumulative sentence: Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.Ex. But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course — both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war. 

• Periodic: Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end. Ex. To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of supportad hominem: Latin for “against the man,” this fallacy refers to the specific diversionary tactic of switching the argument from the issue at hand to the character of the other speaker. If you argue that a park in your community should not be renovated because the person supporting it was arrested during a domestic dispute, then you are guilty of ad hominem. 

• ad populum/bandwagonThis fallacy occurs when evidence boils down  

to “everybody’s doing it, so it must be a good thing to do.” 

You should vote to elect Rachel Johnson — she has a strong lead in the polls! 

 Polling higher does not necessarily make Senator Johnson the “best” candidate,  

only the most popular. 

• appeal to false authority: This fallacy occurs when someone who has no expertise to speak on an issue is cited as an authority. A TV star, for instance, is not a medical expert, even though pharmaceutical advertisements often use celebrity endorsements. 

• Argument: A process of reasoned inquiry; a persuasive discourse resulting in a coherent and considered movement from a claim to a conclusion. 

• assumption : In the Toulmin model, the warrant expresses the assumption necessarily shared by the speaker and the audience. 

• Backing: In the Toulmin model, backing consists of further assurances or data  

without which the assumption lacks authority.Ex. Because (evidence as support), therefore (claim), since (warrant or assumption), on account of (backing), unless (reservation).Because it is raining, therefore I should probably take my umbrella, since it will keep me dry on account of its waterproof material, unless, of course, there is a hole in it. 

• Deduction: Deduction is a logical process whereby one reaches a conclusion by  

starting with a general principle or universal truth (a major premise) and  

applying it to a specific case (a minor premise). The process of deduction is  

usually demonstrated in the form of a syllogism: 

mAJor premise: Exercise contributes to better health. 

minor premise: Yoga is a type of exercise. 

conclusion: Yoga contributes to better health. 

• circular reasoning: A fallacy in which the writer repeats the claim as a way to  

provide evidence. Ex. You can’t give me a C; I’m an A student! 

• Warrant: In the Toulmin model, the warrant expresses the assumption necessarily shared by the speaker and the audience. 

• claim: Also called an assertion or a proposition, a claim states the argument’s main idea or position. A claim differs from a topic or subject in that a claim has to be arguable. 

• claim of fact: A claim of fact asserts that something is true or not true. Ex.The number of suicides and homicides committed by teenagers, most often young men, has exploded in the last three decades . . . 

• claim of policy: A claim of policy proposes a change.Ex.Yet one solution continues to elude us, and that is ending the ignorance about mental health, and moving it from the margins of care and into the mainstream where it belongs. 

• claim of value: A claim of value argues that something is good or bad, right or wrong.Ex.There’s a plague on all our houses, and since it doesn’t announce itself with lumps or spots or protest marches, it has gone unremarked in the quiet suburbs and busy cities where it has been laying waste. 

• classical oration: Five-part argument structure used by classical rhetoricians. The five parts are: Introduction, narration, confirmation, refutation, conclusion. 

• 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. Ex. The three-dimensional characters, exciting plot, and complex themes of the Harry Potter series make them not only legendary children’s books but also enduring literary classics. 

• Rebuttal: In the Toulmin model, a rebuttal gives voice to possible objections. For  

an example, see Toulmin model. 

• false dilemma: A fallacy in which the speaker presents two extreme options as the only possible choices. Ex. Either we agree to higher taxes, or our grandchildren will be mired in debt. 

• Syllogism:A logical structure that uses the major premise and minor premise to reach a necessary conclusion.mAJor premise: Exercise contributes to better health.minor premise: Yoga is a type of exercise.conclusion: Yoga contributes to better health. 

• faulty analogy: A fallacy that occurs when an analogy compares two things that are not comparable. For instance, to argue that because we put animals who are in irreversible pain out of their misery, we should do the same for people, asks the reader to ignore significant and profound differences between animals and people. 

• hasty generalization: A fallacy in which a faulty conclusion is reached because of inadequate evidence.Smoking isn’t bad for you; my great aunt smoked a pack a day and lived to be 90 

• induction : From the Latin inducere, “to lead into”; a logical process whereby the  

writer reasons from particulars to universals, using specific cases in order to draw a conclusion, which is also called a generalization. Regular exercise promotes weight loss.Exercise lowers stress levels.Exercise improves mood and outlook.generAlizAtion: Exercise contributes to better health. 

• logical fallacy: Logical fallacies are potential vulnerabilities or weaknesses in an argument. They often arise from a failure to make a logical connection between the claim and the evidence used to support it. 

• open thesis: An open thesis is one that does not list all the points the writer  

• intends to cover in an essay. Ex.The popularity of the Harry Potter series demonstrates that simplicity trumps complexity when it comes to the taste of readers, both young and old. 

• Qualifier: In the Toulmin model, the qualifier uses words like usually, probably, maybe, in most cases, and most likely to temper the claim, making it less absolute. For an example, see Toulmin model 

• straw man reservation: A fallacy that occurs when a speaker chooses a deliberately poor or oversimplified example in order to ridicule and refute an idea.Politician X proposes that we put astronauts on Mars in the next four years. Politician Y ridicules this proposal by saying that his opponent is looking for “little green men in outer space.” 

• quantitative evidence: Quantitative evidence includes things that can be mea- 

sured, cited, counted, or otherwise represented in numbers — for instance, statistics, surveys, polls, census information.