Terms : Hide Images
| 2442027715 | ad hominem | This is an attack on the person rather than the issues at hand-a common fallacy, especially during an election year | 0 | |
| 2442028410 | anadiplosis | This is a wonderful technique of repetition. The last word of the clause begins the next clause, creating a connection of ideas important to the author's purpose in some way. (Ex: The Furies pursued the men. The men were chased by their nightmares. The nightmares awakened everyone in the room.) | 1 | |
| 2442031816 | anaphora | In rhetoric, this is the deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive poetic lines, prose sentences, clauses, or paragraphs. You will see this quite often in political speeches, when politician make promises to voters. (Ex: I will fight for medical care for every man, woman, and child. I will fight for social security for our children. I will fight to raise the minimum wage.) | 2 | |
| 2442036139 | antithesis | An observation or claim that is in opposition to your claim or an author's claim. If we argue for the drilling of wells, the antithesis might be to divert water from the river. If we claim that the electoral college is an outdated anachronism, the antithesis would be that like the rest of the Constitution, it has managed to adapt to the changing times. | 3 | |
| 2442040556 | apostrophe | Prayer-like, this is a direct address to someone who is not present, to a deity or muse, or to some other power. It rarely appears on the Language exam, but when it does, it is usually significant and nearly always pathos. (Ex: O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!) | 4 | |
| 2442043495 | argument from ignorance | An argument stating that something is true because it has never been proven false. Such arguments rely on claims that are impossible to prove conclusively, and they often go both ways. (Ex: There are no aliens because we have never identified aliens or Aliens exist because we have never proven they don't. Similarly, God exists because no one has proven He doesn't (and vice versa).) | 5 | |
| 2442046321 | asyndeton | The deliberate omission of conjunctions from a series of related independent clauses. The effect is to create a tight, concise, and forceful sentence. (Ex: All the orcs ate the food, broke the dishes, trashed the hall, beat the dogs to the shower.) | 6 | |
| 2442048655 | begging the question | This argument occurs when the speaker states a claim that includes a word or phrase that needs to be defined before the argument can proceed. (Ex: Because of the extreme conditions before us, we must vote for this tax. [Uh, what conditions are being called "extreme?"]) | 7 | |
| 2442050439 | cause and effect | Another fallacy, this is also known by another name, post hoc ergo propter hoc (Latin for "after this, therefore because of this"). Such an argument falls under the general umbrella of a causality fallacy or false cause. (Ex: It seems that every time you turn on the game on television, the team loses. Therefore, you come to believe that you are the cause of the losses.) | 8 | |
| 2442053184 | chiasmus | This is an ABBA syntactical structure rather than the more common parallel ABAB structure. It is derived from the Greek letter X (chi); thus, as you might have guessed, its form is similar to an X. While it is a pleasure to find one (and they are memorable), it is a rather minor syntactical device. (Ex: Ask not what your country [A] can do for you [B], but what you [B] can do for your country [A].) | 9 | |
| 2442058045 | declarative sentence | This is a basic statement or an assertion and is the most common type of sentence. (Ex: Alternative forms of energy must be found by people who are no capitalists desiring only power and money.) | 10 | |
| 2442060318 | deductive | A form of logical argumentation that uses claims or premises. The assumption by the author is that you will accept the claims as true and that you will then deduce the correct conclusion from the accepted premises at the outset. It looks most like geometry proofs. When you encounter it, you need to examine the claims. Are they reasonable? Do you accept them? Look for fallacies in the claims. Often a premise will carry an implied premise that is present (and essential) to the argument. Do you accept the implied premise? What appears to be solid reason can manipulate your allegiances more easily than an emotional argument; therefore, be critical when you read. (Ex: The infrastructure of American cities was designed and built by human beings. Human beings are fallible. Therefore, one may conclude that there are structural flaws in parts of the infrastructure.) | 11 | |
| 2442072672 | epanalepsis | Like chiasmus, this figure repeats the opening work or phrase at the end of the sentence to emphasize a statement or idea, but it is not an ABBA reversal. (Ex: The demon [A] descended in a crowd toward a village now afraid of the demon [A], or common [B] sense is not so common [B].) | 12 | |
| 2442075905 | epistrophe | A minor device that is the ending of a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. When it appears in a speech or essay, it is emotionally potent. (Ex: This government OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, AND FOR THE PEOPLE shall not perish from this earth.) | 13 | |
| 2442081417 | etymology | The study or the origin of words and their historical uses. This is a minor term and rarely appears on the test, but it is nice to know. (Ex: The name for the sandwich came from the Earl of Sandwich, an altogether unremarkable peer of the English realm.) | 14 | |
| 2442083028 | exclamatory sentence | A sentence that conveys excitement or force. (Ex: Egads, Wilton, we are being pursued by squirmy, nasty creatures with suckers on their feet!) | 15 | |
| 2442084120 | fallacy | A failure of logical reasoning. They appear to make an argument reasonable, but falsely so. The key, however, is for you to be able to spot when someone is not making sense or is failing to convince. When that happens, you may not remember the right label for the fallacy, but you should be able to identify where the author has messed up. | 16 | |
| 2442086356 | false analogy | An argument using an inappropriate metaphor. To help understand one thing in an argument we compare it to something else that is not at all relevant. (Ex: The earth is like a watch and, just as a fine watch was made, so also the earth was made.) | 17 | |
| 2442089942 | false dilemma | Also known as an either/or fallacy. The suggestion is made in the argument that the problem or debate only has two solutions. You can also call it the fallacy of the excluded middle. (Ex: There are only two options in gun control: when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.) | 18 | |
| 2442092615 | gerund | A verb ending in "ing" that serves as a noun. (Ex: "STABBING is what I do best," said the thief.) | 19 | |
| 2442094182 | imperative sentence | A command. (Ex: You will rescue the maiden or surrender your sword to the Round Table.) | 20 | |
| 2442095471 | inductive | A form of logical argumentation that requires the use of examples. They are most like science: You get example after example until you reach a conclusion. These types of argument are fairly easy to spot and very common to argumentative essays. When you encounter an one, ask yourself two questions: Are there enough examples, and are the example relevant to the question being addressed? (Ex: A writer who argues for the success of a particular diet plan would use testimony from success stories, a scientific study proving its effectiveness, and a few doctors who claim it has safe and natural ingredients.) | 21 | |
| 2442100328 | infinitive | The word "to" plus a verb, usually functioning as a noun and often as a predicate in a sentence. They fake out students because they look like prepositional phrases. (Ex: TO REACH the other side of the river was the desired goal of the nearly comatose ogre.) | 22 | |
| 2442103363 | interrogative sentence | A question. (Ex: To reach Dracula's castle, do I turn left or right at the crossroads?) | 23 | |
| 2442104260 | irony | The use of words to express something other than and often the opposite of the literal meaning. There are three types: verbal, a contrast between what is said and what is meant (sarcasm); situational, a contrast between what happens and what was expected; and dramatic, a contrast between what the character thinks to be true and what the reader knows to be true. Familiarity with this is absolutely essential in reading nonfiction prose and especially in doing rhetorical analysis on the exam, as it appears in nearly every piece in one form or another. It is often connected to satire or satirical speech. (Ex: He bought the ring and brought it back to their apartment. She had left a note, "Gone to find myself in North Dakota.") | 24 | |
| 2442110799 | jargon | A pattern of speech and vocabulary associated with a particular group of people. It typically appears only in the multiple-choice section and is not significant. (Ex: Computer analysts have their own vocabulary, as do doctors, astronauts, and plumbers.) | 25 | |
| 2442114271 | loose sentence | An independent clause followed by all sorts of debris, usually dependent clauses. It is minor, but might appear in the multiple-choice portion of the test. (Ex: She wore a yellow ribbon that matched the shingles of the house, which were painted last year, just before he left for the war.) | 26 | |
| 2442115882 | malapropism | A wonderful form of word play in which one word is mistakenly substituted for another that sounds similar. It doesn't appear often, but when it does, it is usually pretty funny. The name comes from the character of Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Sheridan's play The Rivals, who said things like "He is the very pineapple of politeness" rather than "He is the very pinnacle of politeness." | 27 | |
| 2442120065 | metonymy | A minor figure of speech in which the name of one thing is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. You may find it in multiple-choice questions. (Ex: The CROWN spoke with authority about the gathering over bread and cheese. ["Crown" is not literal, but is associated with a king or queen]) | 28 | |
| 2442125111 | participle | A verbal (expressing action or a state of being) that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed. They function as adjective, modifying nouns or pronouns. (Ex: CREATING A RUCKUS, the hero made the really bad guys turn away from the hidden treasure.) | 29 | |
| 2442128544 | periodic sentence | A sentence with several dependent clauses that precede the independent clause. An easy way to remember this is to think of the independent clause as appearing immediately before the period. (Ex: While watching the cave and wondering why the rain had not stopped, nor even abated, the hero filed his fingernails and waited.) | 30 | |
| 2442135190 | rhetorical shift | This occurs when the author of an essay significantly alters his or her diction, syntax, or both. It isn't exactly a different write who is writing, but it feels awfully close to it. They are important to recognize because they are dramatic and usually occur at critical points in an argument. | 31 | |
| 2442137760 | slippery slope (aslo called domino theory) | This fallacy of argumentation argues that one thing inevitably leads to another. Politicians love to use it as a form of exaggeration. (Ex: We cannot allow insurgents into the border towns or they will control the entire country by next winter.) | 32 | |
| 2442140738 | stem | In the multiple-choice section, this is the question you are asked to complete with the given possible answers. (Ex: Which of the following best describes Cyberus's attitude toward the avengers?) | 33 | |
| 2442142716 | straw man | This occurs when a person engaging in an argument defines his opponent's position when the opponent is not present and defines it a manner that is easy to attack. It is a fairly easy fallacy to spot and recognizing ti has been helpful with rhetorical analysis questions in the past. Politicians use it frequently. (Ex: My opponent believes that issuing parking tickets to first-time DUI offenders will reduce the damage they do to our city and our citizens.) | 34 | |
| 2442149485 | poisoning the well | A person or character is introduced with language that suggest that he is not at all reliable before the listener/reader knows anything about him. (Ex: The next speaker, an alcoholic wife-abuser, will seek to sway us to his view that the Fleur de Lis should become our state flower.) | 35 | |
| 2442153122 | polysyndeton | The use of consecutive coordinating conjunctions even when they are not needed. The effect is to render the reader somewhat breathless. (Ex: He was overwhelmed, as if by a tsunami, and by the fished, and by the seaweed, and by the salt spray from the heavens.) | 36 | |
| 2442155765 | predicate adjective | An adjective that follows a linking verb and modifies the subject of the sentence. (Ex: The gigantic whirlpool was INKY BLACK, and there was no moon.) | 37 | |
| 2442158804 | premise | Another word for a claim. It is a statement of truth, at least to the person making the argument. Premises come in many shapes, sizes, and colors, They can be limited and absolute (two parallel lines will remain equidistant forever) or they can be vague and open-ended (China's trade policy with the United States is unfair). Every argument has a premise, and most of what you read on the Language AP test is argumentative, so get used to the word and become comfortable identifying claims and deciding whether you agree, disagree, or are waiting to make up your mind. | 38 | |
| 2442163370 | red herring | An argument that distracts the reader by raising issues irrelevant to the case. It is like being given too many suspects in a murder mystery. | 39 | |
| 2442166940 | subordinate conjunction | A conjunction that makes an independent clause into a dependent clause. There is a huge list of subordinate conjunctions, but some of the more common are because, since, which, if, when, and although. | 40 | |
| 2442168047 | syllogism | In its basic form, this is a three-part argument construction in which two premises lead to a truth. The term has appeared in the multiple-choice section a few times, but it is also helpful if you can both spot and use a syllogistic argument. (In its simplest form, it looks like this: All human beings are mortal. Heather is a human being. Therefore, Heather is mortal.) You can also produce really odd ones that are incorrect. (Ex: All crows are black. The bird in my backyard is black. The bird in my backyard is a crow.) This is a false argument because an implied premise-all black birds are crows-is false, and thus the logic falls apart. It can be set up in three paragraphs: An essential truth is defended. An essential truth is defended. A conclusion is drawn. | 41 | |
| 2442174586 | synecdoche | A minor figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole, it shows up occasionally in multiple-choice questions. (Ex: All hands on deck. [One assumes the rest of the sailors' bodies will follow...]) | 42 | |
| 2442176374 | synthesis | To unite or synthesize a variety of sources to achieve a common end. We use this term almost exclusively to refer to the new synthesis question on the exam. Using your wits and argumentative skill, you combine memory, commentary you've recently read, and a discussion to create a coherent argument. (Ex: You may argue and conclude that bicycles would be safer in battle than a Hummer.) | 43 | |
| 2442179238 | zeugma | Two or more elements are tied together by the same verb or noun. (Ex: She DASHED his hopes and out of his life when she walked out the door.) | 44 |
