Terms : Hide Images
| 2839712658 | abstract language | language expressing a quality apart from a specific object or event; opposite of concrete language | 0 | |
| 2839713416 | ad hominem fallacy | a fallacy of logic in which a person's character or motive is attacked instead of that person's argument | 1 | |
| 2839715917 | ad populum fallacy | a fallacy of logic in which the widespread occurrence of something is assumed to make it true or right; for example, "The Escort is the most widely sold car in the world; therefore, it must be the best." | 2 | |
| 2839720178 | aesthetics | the study of the nature of beauty | 3 | |
| 2839720340 | alliteration | the repetition of initial consonant sounds | 4 | |
| 2839720659 | allusion | a passing reference to something or someone outside the immediate scope of the work; clarifies or explains the situation | 5 | |
| 2839721727 | ambiguous | capable of many interpretations | 6 | |
| 2839721891 | analogy | an extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things | 7 | |
| 2839722832 | anaphora | the repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses | 8 | |
| 2839723750 | anecdote | a short account of interesting events | 9 | |
| 2839724049 | annotation | explanatory or critical notes added to a text | 10 | |
| 2839726013 | antecedent | the noun to which a later pronoun refers | 11 | |
| 2839729415 | antithesis | in direct opposition or contrast. Used in literature to form a contrast within the structure of a sentence, as in "Give me liberty or give me death." | 12 | |
| 2839730336 | aphorism | a statement of an idea in a witty way: "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield it." | 13 | |
| 2839731490 | aposiopesis | a breaking off of speech, usually because of rising emotion or excitement. For example, "Touch me one more time, and I swear__" | 14 | |
| 2839732892 | appeal to authority | citation of information from people recognized for their special knowledge of a subject for the purpose of strengthening a speaker or writer's arguments | 15 | |
| 2839734700 | appeal to tradition | a proposal that something should continue because it has traditionally existed or been done that way | 16 | |
| 2839735330 | appositive | a word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun | 17 | |
| 2839735791 | argument | a summary of the plot such as in an epic poem | 18 | |
| 2839736199 | argumentation | exploration of a problem by investigating all sides of it; persuation through reason | 19 | |
| 2839736673 | Aristotelian triangle | a diagram that represents a rhetorical situtation as the relationship among the speaker, subject, and audience | 20 | |
| 2839737551 | assertion | an emphatic statement, declaration | 21 | |
| 2839737742 | assumption | a belief or statement taken for granted without proof | 22 | |
| 2839738109 | asyndeton | leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses | 23 | |
| 2839738371 | attitude | the speaker's position on a subject as revealed through his/her tone | 24 | |
| 2839738988 | authoritative warrant | a warrant based on the credibility or trustworthiness of the source | 25 | |
| 2839739224 | authority | a reliable, well respected source; someone with knowledge | 26 | |
| 2839739634 | auto-biography | a form of nonfiction in which a person tells his or her own life story | 27 | |
| 2839741769 | begging the question | a fallacy of logical argument that assumes as true the very thing that one is trying to prove; for example: 1. The Bible is the infallible word of God. 2. The Bible says that God exists. Therefore, 3. God exists. | 28 | |
| 2839742872 | bias | prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue | 29 | |
| 2839743245 | biography | a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person | 30 | |
| 2839743768 | cause and effect | examination of the causes and/or effects of a situation or phenomenon | 31 | |
| 2839744901 | claim | the conclusion of an argument; what the arguer is trying to prove | 32 | |
| 2839746957 | claim of fact | a claim that asserts something exists, has existed, or will exist, based on data that the audience will accept as objectively verifiable | 33 | |
| 2839747803 | claim of policy | a claim asserting that specific courses of action should be instituted as solutions to problems | 34 | |
| 2839749404 | claim of value | a claim that asserts some things are more or less desirable than others | 35 | |
| 2839749612 | colloquial expression | words and phrases used in everyday speech but avoided in formal writing and speaking | 36 | |
| 2839750688 | complex sentence | a sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause | 37 | |
| 2839751362 | concession | a reluctant acknowledgement or yielding | 38 | |
| 2839751844 | connotation | an association that a word calls to mind in addition to its dictionary/literal meaning | 39 | |
| 2839752464 | context | the setting in which a story lines takes place | 40 | |
| 2839752737 | credibility | the audience's belief in the arguer's trustworthiness (ethos) | 41 | |
| 2839753809 | damning with faint praise | intentional use of a positive statement that has a negative implication; for example: "Your new hairdo is so...interesting." | 42 | |
| 2839755306 | declarative sentence | a statement that makes a statement | 43 | |
| 2839755583 | deconstruction | any work that pulls apart the conventions of a genre and shows them in a new light | 44 | |
| 2839757925 | deduction (deductive reasoning) | a form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies the generalization to a specific case or cases | 45 | |
| 2839758210 | definition by negation | defining a thing by saying what it is not | 46 | |
| 2840347004 | denotation | a word's objective meaning (dictionary meaning) | 47 | |
| 2840347151 | dialect | the language and/or word pronunciation specific to a region or group | 48 | |
| 2840347320 | diction | word choice; a writer's diction can be a major determinant of his/her style; diction can be described as formal or informal, abstract or concrete, plain or ornate, ordinary or technical | 49 | |
| 2840348018 | didactcic | originally used to mean any instructive rhetoric, it has taken on the pejorative meaning of dull or overly formal | 50 | |
| 2840348420 | digression | a temporary departure from the main subject in speaking or writing | 51 | |
| 2840348652 | double entendre | a word or expression designed to have two meanings | 52 | |
| 2840348862 | elegiac | mournful over what has passed or been lost | 53 | |
| 2840349118 | enthymeme | a syllogism in which one of the premises is implicit | 54 | |
| 2840349321 | epigram | a brief, often witty, composition in poetry or prose that succinctly conveys an idea, usually insulting | 55 | |
| 2840349736 | epigraph | a quotation or paragraph appearing at the start of a piece to indicate its theme | 56 | |
| 2840349938 | essay | a short nonfiction piece, usually written in a relatively informal style that "tries out" an idea that might be more formally examined in a longer, more detailed work | 57 | |
| 2840351244 | ethos | the qualities of character, intelligence, and goodwill in an arguer that contribute to an audience's acceptance of the claim | 58 | |
| 2840352219 | euphemism | a word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality. The use of "passed away" for died, and "let go" for fired are two examples. | 59 | |
| 2840353159 | evidence | facts or opinions that support an issue or claim; may consist of statistics, reports or personal experience, or testimonials | 60 | |
| 2840353873 | explication | a detailed examination covering all aspects of a work | 61 | |
| 2840354067 | fallacy | an error of reasoning based on faulty use of evidence or incorrect inference | 62 | |
| 2840354418 | false analogy | assuming without sufficient proof that if objects or processes are similar in other ways as well | 63 | |
| 2840354948 | false dilemma | a fallacy of logical argument which is committed when too few of the available alternatives are considered, and all but one are assessed and deemed impossible or unacceptable; for example: "Are you going to to college to make something of yourself, or are you going to end up being an unemployable bum like me?" | 64 | |
| 2840363510 | faulty emotional appeals | basing an argument on feeling, especially pity or fear-often to draw attention away from the real issues or conceal another purpose | 65 | |
| 2840364242 | faulty use of authority | failing to acknowledge disagreement among experts or otherwise misrepresenting the trustworthiness of sources | 66 | |
| 2840365096 | figurative language | writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally; used to create vivid word pictures, to make their writing emotionally intense and concentrated, and to state their ideas in new and unusual ways that satissy readers' imaginations | 67 | |
| 2840366993 | hasty generalizations | drawing conclusions from insufficient evidence | 68 | |
| 2840367198 | homograph | two identically spelled words with different meanings (lead-lead) | 69 | |
| 2840369180 | hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement | 70 | |
| 2840369455 | idiom | a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible form those of the individual words (e.g., rain cats and dogs, see the light) | 71 | |
| 2840371919 | imperative sentence | a sentence that requests or commands | 72 | |
| 2840372455 | induction (inductive reasoning) | a form of reasoning which works from a body of facts to the formulation of a generalization | 73 | |
| 2840372754 | inference | an interpretation of facts | 74 | |
| 2840372963 | inversion | reversal of the normal order of words for emphasis or dramatic effect; often used in poetry; "Never will I yield." | 75 | |
| 2840374100 | irony | literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions dramatic-a contraction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true verbal-words are used to suggest the opposite of their usual meaning climactic-an event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience cosmic-the perception of fate or the universe as malicious or indifferent to human suffering, which creates a painful contrast between our purposeful activity and its ultimate meaninglessness. | 76 | |
| 2840377066 | juxtaposition | placing two unlike persons, places, or things next to each other to create an effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish a purpose | 77 | |
| 2840682165 | metonymy | A figure of speech that substitutes something closely related for the thing actually meant. In the opening line of "The Lost Leader," Robert Brown says, "Just for a handful of silver he left us," using the silver to refer to money in the form of a government grant | 78 | |
| 2840686116 | motivational appeal | An attempt to reaccionar an audience by recognizing their needs and values and how these contribute to their decision making | 79 | |
| 2840688065 | motivational warrant | A type of warrant based on the needs and values of an audience | 80 | |
| 2840689279 | non sequitur | A statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it | 81 | |
| 2840690828 | oxymoron | a figure of speech that fuses two contradictory or opposing ideas, thus creating a paradox in just a few short words (i. e. freezing fire, happy grief, military intelligence) | 82 | |
| 2840694078 | panegyric | A formal composition praising a person's life, particularly achievement, etc. Unlike a eulogy in that a panegyric honors the living. | 83 | |
| 2840697186 | parallelism | A sentence, paragraph, line of verse, etc. Which expresses a comparison giving equal stress and weight to ideas, concepts, phrases, etc. | 84 | |
| 2840705248 | pathetic fallacy | The attribution of human feeling or motivation to a non human object, especially an object found in nature. For example, John Keat's "Ode to Melancholy" describes a "weeping" cloud | 85 | |
| 2840712165 | pathos | the stimulation, by a work of art, of deep feelings of pity, tenderness, etc. | 86 | |
| 2840840079 | periodic sentence structure | a sentence written so that the full meaning cannot be understood until the end; for example: Across the stream, beyond the clearing, from behind a fallen tree, a lion emerged. | 87 | |
| 2840844141 | post hoc fallacy | This fallacy of logic occurs when the writer assumes that an incident that precedes another is the cause of the second incident; however, the chronological order of event does not establish a cause-effect relationship. | 88 | |
| 2840848530 | premise (major/minor) | two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise. Major Premise: All mammals are warm-blooded. Minor Premise: All horses are mammals. Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded. | 89 | |
| 2840852890 | propaganda | a negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information | 90 | |
| 2840854247 | qualifier | a claim restriction that limits the claim by stating the claim may not always be true as stated | 91 | |
| 2840856033 | reservation | a restriction placed on a warrant to indicate that unless certain conditions are met, the warrant may not establish a connection between the support on the claim | 92 | |
| 2840863589 | rhetoric | any type of eloquent, learned, effective use of language (written or spoken), especially designed to persuade | 93 | |
| 2840866210 | rhetorical modes | patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description comparison, and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis and argumentation | 94 | |
| 2840869405 | rhetorical question | a question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer | 95 | |
| 2840870212 | satire | writing that ridicules or holds up to contempt the faults of individuals or of groups. A satirist may use a sympathetic tone or an angry, bitter tone. | 96 | |
| 2840872198 | semantics | the study of the meaning of language, as opposed to its form. When someone is accused of "using semantics," we mean that an idea or thought has been rephrased, but its basic meaning remains unchanged. | 97 | |
| 2840875208 | sentence patterns | the arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence structures -- such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. | 98 | |
| 2840879139 | simple sentence | a statement containing a subject and a predicate; an independent clause | 99 | |
| 2840880603 | slanting | selecting facts or words with connotations that favor the arguer's bias and discredit alternatives | 100 | |
| 2840881599 | slippery slope | predicting without justification that one step in a process will lead unavoidably to a second, generally undesirable step | 101 | |
| 2840883076 | speaker | a term used for author, speaker or person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a piece of writing or speech | 102 | |
| 2840885217 | stream of consciousness | a narrative technique that presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from the character's mind. Developed by writers such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, this technique is used to reveal a character's complex psychology and to present it in realistic detail. | 103 | |
| 2840889320 | style | a writer's typical way of writing. Determinants include formality, use of figurative language, use of rhythm, typical grammatical patterns, etc. | 104 | |
| 2840892838 | subjunctive mood | a hypothetical situation, a kind of wishful thinking: "If I were you..." | 105 | |
| 2840893997 | subordinate clasue | a clause that modifies an independent clause, created by a subordinating conjunction | 106 | |
| 2840896662 | subordination | the dependence of one syntactical element on another in a sentence | 107 | |
| 2840897267 | substantive warrant | a warrant based on beliefs about the reliability of factual evidence | 108 | |
| 2840898297 | support | any material that serves to prove an issue or claim; in addition to evidence, it includes appeals to the needs and values of an audience | 109 | |
| 2840900145 | syllogism | a logical argument based on a major and a minor premise to a conclusion: All elephants are gray. Tonka is an elephant. Tonka is grey. | 110 | |
| 2840902622 | synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to stand for the whole. The word "wheels" refers to a car; "smokes" for cigarettes, and "keys" to a piano | 111 | |
| 2840904437 | syntax | the pattern or arrangement of words into a coherent thought | 112 | |
| 2840905138 | tone | the writer's attitude toward the readers and toward the subject. A writer's tone may be formal or informal, friendly or distant, personal or pompous. | 113 | |
| 2840907397 | understatement | deliberately representing something as much less than it really is. Jonathan Swift wrote, "Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance." | 114 | |
| 2840910902 | voice | In writing, a metaphor drawn from the spoken, encompassing the writer's tone, style, and manner | 115 | |
| 2840913938 | warrant | a general principle or assumption that establishes a connection between the support and calim | 116 | |
| 2840915245 | zeugma | the use of one word to modify two or more words, but used for different meanings. For example: He closed the door and his heart on his lost love. | 117 |
