Speaker: Identity

Occasion: Date/Time

Audience: Readers/Viewers

Context: Circumstance

Exigence: Compelled

Purpose: Goal

Thesis: Overarching, debatable, controversial assertion the writer seeks to prove in the essay

Reason: Answers the question “Why?”

Claim: Same as the thesis

Evidence: Supports the reasons

Commentary: Unique (Writer’s thinking)

Context: Circumstances; Setting the table

Counterargument: Opposing Viewpoint

Qualifier: Places limits on claim

Warrant: Belief, Assumption, or Value the argument rests on

Backing: Additional evidence for the warrant

Line of Reasoning: Game plan, Structure, Organization

Scare Tactics: Manipulates genuine fears to convince a reader

Either-Or Choices: Provides one option favorably and the opposing end to the extreme

Slippery Slope: Snowball effect

Sentimental Appeals: Manipulates emotion; Tugs at readers' hearts

Bandwagon Appeals: Attempts to get the reader to follow what everyone else is doing (Peer pressure)

Appeals to False Authority: Authors use themselves as a warrant for their claims

Dogmatism: Assuming a position is the only acceptable one

Ad Hominem: Attacks on a person's character

Hasty Generalization: Conclusions drawn from insufficient evidence

Faulty Causality: Assumes one action causes another due to sequence

Begging the Question: Assumes the claim being debated is true

Equivocation: Half-truths; Word tricks

Non-Sequitur: Claims or evidence fail to logically connect

Straw Man: Misrepresents an opposing argument to refute it easily

Faulty Analogy: Incorrectly comparing two things or omitting invalidating aspects

Sensory Details: Words that engage senses for vivid imagery

Dialogue: Direct speech in quotation marks

Expanded Moment: Extends a snapshot in time for emphasis

Personification: Human qualities assigned to non-human things

Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words

Onomatopoeia: Words imitating sounds (e.g., buzz, bang)

Rhyme: Repetition of similar sounds, often in poetry

Simile: Comparison using “like” or “as”

Metaphor: Direct comparison without “like” or “as”

Allusion: Reference to well-known person, place, event, or text

Analogy: Explains complex ideas using simpler concepts

Antonomasia: Substitutes a descriptive phrase for a name (e.g., “The Bard” for Shakespeare)

Irony: Words convey the opposite of literal meaning

Oxymoron: Contradictory terms (e.g., “jumbo shrimp”)

Metonymy: Related object represents something (e.g., “The crown” for monarchy)

Hyphenated Modifier: Words linked by hyphens as a unique descriptor

Hyperbole: Exaggeration for emphasis

Litotes: Understatement using double negatives (e.g., “not bad”)

Rhetorical Question: Asked for effect, not an answer

Parallelism: Similar structures in phrases for rhythm or clarity

Anaphora: Repetition of words at the beginning of sentences

Epistrophe: Repetition of words at the end of sentences

Antithesis: Contrasting ideas in parallel structure

Inverted Word Order: Rearranges typical word order for style

Intentional Fragment: Incomplete sentence for emphasis

Jargon: Specialized language of a group or profession

Colloquial Language: Informal, everyday speech

Connotation: Emotional or cultural meaning of a word

Denotation: Literal dictionary definition

Pun: Wordplay exploiting multiple meanings

Punctuation as Style: Uses punctuation marks for tone or meaning (e.g., ellipses for hesitation)

Appeals to Ethos: Credibility (Education, Experience, Shared Values)

Appeals to Logos: Logic (Facts, Surveys, Stats, Polls)

Appeals to Pathos: Emotion (Images, Stories, Humor)