Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
AP English
Rhetoric Devices and Terms commonly seen on the AP English Language Exam
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Created by:
Carlooloo18
Popular Languages sets