Rhetoric Devices and Terms commonly seen on the AP English Language Exam
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| allusion | An instance of indirect reference | ||||
| ambiguity | The quality or state of being ambiguous; doubtfulness or uncertainty, particularly as to the signification of language, arising from its admitting of more than one meaning; an equivocal word or expression | ||||
| analogy | A resemblance of relations; an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise entirely different | ||||
| anaphora | A repetition of a word or of words at the beginning of two or more successive clauses | ||||
| antithesis | The direct or exact opposite | ||||
| apostrophe | The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition | ||||
| attitude | The posture, action, or disposition of a figure or a statue | ||||
| detail | To relate in particulars; to particularize; to report minutely and distinctly; to enumerate; to specify; as, he detailed all the facts in due order | ||||
| diction | Choice and use of words in speech or writing | ||||
| ethos | The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement | ||||
| euphemism | The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive | ||||
| figure of speech | An expression that uses language in a nonliteral way, such as a metaphor or synedoche, or in a structured or unusual way, such as anaphora or chiasmus, or that employs sounds, such as alliteration or assonance, to achieve a rhetorical effect. | ||||
| hyperbole | A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect | ||||
| imagery | The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas | ||||
| logos | logic, reasoning | ||||
| metaphor | a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity | ||||
| mood | Temper of mind; temporary state of the mind in regard to passion or feeling; humor; as, a melancholy mood; a suppliant mood | ||||
| organization | the arrangement of a work of literature | ||||
| oxymoron | conjoining contradictory terms | ||||
| paradox | a nonsensical underlying truth | ||||
| pathos | quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow); | ||||
| perspective | a way of regarding situations or topics | ||||
| point of view | A manner of viewing things; an attitude | ||||
| repetition | The act or process or an instance of repeating or being repeated | ||||
| rhetorical question | A question to which no answer is expected, often used for rhetorical effect | ||||
| sentence structure | the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences | ||||
| simile | a comparison using "like" or "as" | ||||
| syntax | That part of grammar which treats of the construction of sentences; the due arrangement of words in sentences in their necessary relations, according to established usage in any language | ||||
| tone | the quality of a person's voice | ||||
| understatement | a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said | ||||
| Ad hominem | "against the man" When a writer personally attacks his or her opponents instead of their arguments | ||||
| Allegory | A story, fictional or nonfictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts; they reveal an abstract truth | ||||
| Anecdote | A brief recounting of a relevant episode; usually inject humor or develop a point | ||||
| Asyndeton | Commas used with no conjunction | ||||
| Begging the question | often called circular reasoning, begging the question occurs when the believablity of the evidence depends on the believability of the claim | ||||
| Didactic | used to describe fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking | ||||
| Elliptical | Sentence structure which leaves out something in the second half. | ||||
| Epigraph | When a writer uses the same term in two different senses in an argument | ||||
| Inversion | subject first, then verb, then complement; the element that is first is emphasized | ||||
| Freight-train | sentence consisting of three or more very short independent clauses joined by conjunction | ||||
| Non-sequiter | When on statement isn't logically connected to another | ||||
| Polysyndeton | Sentence with uses "and" or another conjunction without commas | ||||
| Post hoc, ergo propter hoc | When a writer implies that because one thing follow another, the first caused the second. But sequence is not cause. | ||||
| Red herring | When a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue | ||||
| Persona | A writer oftens adopts a fictional voice (or mask) to tell a story. | ||||
| Satire | A work that reveals a critcial attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. Satire targets groups rather than individuals | ||||
| Straw Man | When a writer argues against a claim that nobody actually holds or is universally considered weak. Setting up a straw man diverts attention from the real issue | ||||
| Tricolon | Sentence consisting of three parts of equal importance and length, usually three independent clauses | ||||
| Syntactic Permutation | Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. Often difficult for a reader to follow | ||||
| Aphorism | A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle. Can be a memorable summation of the author's point. | ||||
| Connotation | The nonliteral, associative meaning of a wrod; the implied suggested meaning | ||||
| denotation | the strict literal meaning ; devoid of any emotion , attitude or color | ||||
| syllogism | a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises- first one a major and the second a minor |
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