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Creating an Argument
Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Ad hominem | Latin for "against the man". When a writer personally attacks his or her opponents instead of their arguments. |
| Ad populum | Latin for "appeal to the people". An argument that reasons that if many people believe something, it must be true. |
| Analogy | An analogy is a comparision to a directly parallel case. When a writer uses an analogy, he or she argues that a claim reasonable for one case is reasonable for the analogous case. |
| Anecdote | A brief recounting of a relevant episode. Anecdotes are often inserted into fictional or nonfictional texts as a way of developing a point or injecting humor. |
| Authority | Arguments that draw on recognized experts or persons with highly relevant experience are said to rest on authoritative backing or authority. Readers are expected to accept claims if they are in agreement witht the authority's view. |
| Backing | Support or evidence for a claim in an argument. |
| Begging the Question | Often called circular reasoning, begging the question occurs when the believability of the evidence depends on the believability of the claim. |
| Causal Relationship | In causal relationships, a writer asserts that one thing results from another. To show how one thing produces or brings about another is often relevant in establishing a logical argument. |
| Cliche | A trite or stereotyped phrase or expression. |
| Common knowledge | Shared beliefs or assumptions are often called common knowledge. A writer may argue that if something is widely believed, then readers should accept it. |
| Deductive Reasoning | A process of demonstrating that, if certain statements are true, then other statements follow logically from them. In rhetoric, development that moves from the general to the specific. |
| Either-Or-Reasoning | When the writer reduces an argument or issue to two polar opposites and ignores any alternatives. |
| Emotional Appeal (Pathos) | When a writer appeals to an audience's emotions to excite and involve them in the argument. |
| Ethical Appeal (Ethos) | When a writer tries to persuade the audience to respect and believe him or her based on a presentation of image of self through the text. Reputation is sometimes a factor in ethical appeals, but in all cases teh aim is to gain the audience's confidence. |
| Example | An individual instance taken to be representative of a general pattern. Arguing by example is considered reliable if examples are demonstrably true or factual as well as relevant. |
| Fallacy/Logical Fallacy | An element of an argument that is flawed, essentially rendering the line of reasoning, if not the entire argument, invalid. |
| False Analogy | When two cases are not sufficiently parallel to lead readers to accept a claim of connection between them. |
| Inductive Reasoning | A type of reasoning that moves from specific to general; generalizing from facts, instances, or examples. |
| Logic | An implied comparison resulting when one thing is directly called another. To be logically acceptable, support must be appropriate to the claim, believable and consistent. |
| Non-sequitur | Latin for "it does not follow." When one statement isn't logically connected to another. |
| Oversimplification | When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issues in an argument. |
| Pathos (Emotional Appeal) | Qualities of a fictional or nonfictional work that evokes sorrow or pity. Overemotionalism can be the result of an excess of pathos. |
| Point of View | The perspective from which a fictional or nonfictional story is told. First-person, third-person, or omniscient points of views are commonly used. |
| Post hoc, ergo propter hoc | Latin for "after this, therefore because of this." When a writer implies that because one thing follows 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. |
| Refutation | When a writer musters relevant opposing arguments. |
| Rhetoric | The art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse. Rhetoric focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement, and style in order to create felicitous and appropriate discouse. |
| Slippery Slope | An argument that suggests that an action will initiate a chain of events culminating in an undesirable event later without establishing or quantifying the relevant contingencies. |
| 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 issues. |
| Syllogism | A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. |
Created by:
cutter25
Popular English Vocabulary sets