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AP Rhetorical Terms

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Question
Answer
Allegory   Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves; characters are usually personifications of abstract qualities.  
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Allusion   Figure of speech that makes a brief and casual reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object to create a resonance in the reader or to apply symbolic meaning.  
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Ambiguity   Use of language in which multiple meanings are possible.  
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Anachronism   Use of historically inaccurate details in a text.  
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Analogy   Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects. Metaphors and similies are two types.  
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Analysis   The process in writing wherein one examines what the writer has done to create the effects she or he has gotten in a piece of writing.  
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Appeals to... :   Rhetorical arguements in which the speaker appeals to authority, emotion, or logic.  
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Assonance   Repition of identical or similiar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words.  
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Catharsis   Purification or cleansing of the spirit of the viewer or reader through the emotions of pity and terror as a witness to tragedy.  
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Cliche   A commonplace expression that reveals the writers lack of imagination to use fresher, more vivid language.  
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Climactic   The arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in order of increasing importance.  
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Colloquial/Colloquialism   Ordinary language, vernacular.  
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Consonance   The repetition of two or more consanants with a change in intervening vowels.  
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Deductive   The reasoning process by which a conclusion is drawn from a set of premises and contains no more facts than these premises.  
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Deus Ex Machina   As in Greek theater, use of an artifical device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation, usually introduced suddenly and unexpectedly.  
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Devices   A particular word pattern or combination of words used in a literary work to evoke a desired effect or arouse a desired reaction in a reader.  
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Ellipsis   Deleberate omission of a word or words which are implied by the context. Also name of (...).  
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Epigraph   Quote set at the beginning of a literary work or at it's divisions to set a tone or suggest a theme.  
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Epitaph   A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person.  
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Ethos   Appeal to moral elements of right and wrong, ethics.  
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Expletive   A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words.  
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Explication   Interpretation or analysis of facts.  
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Genre   The major catogory in which a literary work fits. Include prose, poetry, and drama.  
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Homily   A serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice, a 'sermon'.  
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Hyperbole   Overstatement characterized by exaggerated language.  
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Inductive   Conclusion or type of reasoning whereby observation or information about a part of a class is applied to the class as a whole.  
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Inference   The process of arriving at a conclusion from a hint, implication, or suggestion.  
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Juxtaposition   Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose.  
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Logical Fallacies   Errors in reasoning that occur in arguements.  
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Logos   Use or appeal to reason to determine a characters actions or persuade to an argument.  
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Metaphor   Implicit comparison or identifaction of one thing with another unlike itself without the use of a verbal signal such as like or as.  
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Nostalgia   Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time.  
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Oxymoron   A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, as in 'jumbo shrimp'.  
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Paradox   A statement that seems contradictory, but is actually true.  
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Paraphrase   Putting someone else's ideas into your own words.  
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Parenthesis   Inversion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentences. ( ) symbols.  
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Parallelism   Recurrent syntactical similiarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in parts or sentences equal in importance.  
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Parody   A satirical imitation of a work of art for purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.  
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Pathos   The use of or appeal to emotional or sentimental elements to describe a character's actions or persuade to an argument.  
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Persona   The voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who may or may not share the values of the actual author.  
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Personification   Treating nonhuman objects as if they were a person by giving it human qualities.  
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Perspective   A character's view of a situation or events in a story.  
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Propaganda   Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution.  
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Realism   Literary practice of attempting to describe life and nature without idealization and with attention to detail.  
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Reflective   A piece of writing that gives considered thought to something.  
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Repetition   Repeating or repeated action.  
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Retrospection   Looking back on things past.  
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Rhetoric   The art of using language effectively to serve the writer's purpose, orignially referred to speech-making. It now encompases composition, and is divided into exposition, narration, description, and arguementation.  
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Rhetorical device   Particular use of word patterns and styles to clarify, make associations, and focues the writing in a piece of literature.  
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Rhetorical question   Asking a question for the purpose of eliciting an answer but not for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely. A question not meant to be answered verbally.  
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Sarcasm   A sharp caustic remark. A form of verbal irony that is harshly critical.  
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Satire   Humorous, witty criticism of people's foolish, thoughtless, or evil behaviour.  
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Speaker   The person- not necessarily the author- who is the voice of the poem or story.  
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Symbolism   A person, place, thing, event, or pattern in a literary work that designates itself and at the same time figuratively represents something else.  
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Syntax   The way words are put together to form phrases, cluases, and sentences.  
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Tone   The attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme. Reflects author's attitude.  
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Transition   Writer's ability to move the reader smoothly along the course of ideas.  
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Understatement   Deliberate expression of an idea or event as less important that it actually is or was.  
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Wit   In modern usage, intellectualy amusing language that surprises or delights.  
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Eulogy   A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing; an oration in honor of a deceased person.  
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Euphemism   Subsitituion of a milder or less direct expression for one that is harsh or blunt.  
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