Terms : Hide Images
| 4287902915 | Inference | opinion with evidence to support | 0 | |
| 4287902916 | Archetype | an original pattern or model from which all other things of the same kind are made | 1 | |
| 4287902917 | Antagonist | person who opposes the protagonist | 2 | |
| 4287902918 | Protagonist | the hero or main character | 3 | |
| 4287902919 | DynamicCharacter | character who changes | 4 | |
| 4287902920 | Static character | character who stays the same | 5 | |
| 4287902921 | Epiphany | sudden realization; the light bulb moment | 6 | |
| 4287902922 | Flat character | character with no depth or complexity | 7 | |
| 4287902923 | Round character | character with depth and complexity | 8 | |
| 4287902924 | Foil | character's opposite | 9 | |
| 4287902925 | Motivation | what drives a character on | 10 | |
| 4287902926 | Detail | details included for a purpose | 11 | |
| 4287902927 | Diction | Word choice | 12 | |
| 4287902928 | Connotation | feeling word gives you | 13 | |
| 4287902929 | Denotation | dictionary definition | 14 | |
| 4287902930 | Dialect | vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people | 15 | |
| 4287902931 | Colloquial | informal spoken language or conversation | 16 | |
| 4287902932 | Slang | non-standard use of words | 17 | |
| 4287902933 | Vernacular | characteristic language of a particular group | 18 | |
| 4287902934 | Euphemism | A mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive | 19 | |
| 4287902935 | Idiom | a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language | 20 | |
| 4287902936 | Invective | abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will | 21 | |
| 4287902937 | Imagery | words that appeal to the 5 senses | 22 | |
| 4287902938 | Mood | the feeling invoked in the reader | 23 | |
| 4287902940 | Denouement | resolution | 24 | |
| 4287902941 | Foreshadowing | hints to what is to come | 25 | |
| 4287902942 | Suspense | building of tension | 26 | |
| 4287902943 | Rhetorical Shift | shift in attitude | 27 | |
| 4287902944 | Theme | what an author believes to be true on a subject presented in the work. | 28 | |
| 4287902945 | Tone | speaker's attitude towards his subject | 29 | |
| 4287902946 | Apostrophe | addressing something as if they were present | 30 | |
| 4287902947 | Metaphor | figurative language comparing two unlike things | 31 | |
| 4287902948 | Paradox | a contradictory statement that turns out to be true | 32 | |
| 4287902949 | Personification | applying human attributes to something not human | 33 | |
| 4287902950 | Pun | play on words | 34 | |
| 4287902951 | Simile | figurative language comparing two unlike things using like or as | 35 | |
| 4287902952 | Symbol | something representing something else | 36 | |
| 4287902953 | Synaesthesia | describing one sense in terms of another. | 37 | |
| 4287902955 | Alliteration | repetition of the initial consonant sound | 38 | |
| 4287902959 | Deductive reasoning | Reasoning in which one tries to determine whether some statement follows logically from certain premises, as in the analysis of syllogisms. Whole to part logic. | 39 | |
| 4287902960 | inductive reasoning | reasoning in which one observes a number of particular instances and tries to determine a general rule that covers them all. | 40 | |
| 4287902961 | Ethos | appeal to ethics or credibility | 41 | |
| 4287902962 | Pathos | appeal to emotion | 42 | |
| 4287902963 | Logos | appeal to logic | 43 | |
| 4287902964 | Ad hominem fallacy | Criticising a position by calling attention to irrelevant personal characteristics of someone who holds it | 44 | |
| 4287902965 | Ad populum fallacy | the bandwagon fallacy; appealing to popularity | 45 | |
| 4287902966 | Circular reasoning | the practice of assuming something, in order to prove the very thing that you assumed | 46 | |
| 4287902967 | Post hoc, ergo propter hoc | after this therefore because of this | 47 | |
| 4287902968 | Propaganda | information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause | 48 | |
| 4287902969 | Allusion | reference to another lit. work or historic event | 49 | |
| 4287902970 | Anachronism | out of place in time | 50 | |
| 4287902971 | Anecdote | short account of an incident | 51 | |
| 4287902972 | Direct characterization | something about the character is stated directly | 52 | |
| 4287902973 | Indirect characterization | personality traits about the character are implied through dialogue or actions. | 53 | |
| 4287902974 | Dialogue | when 2 people are speaking to each other | 54 | |
| 4287902975 | Dramatic irony | when the reader knows things the characters don't | 55 | |
| 4287902976 | Situational irony | when the opposite happens from what you expect | 56 | |
| 4287902977 | Verbal irony (sarcasm) | saying one thing and meaning another | 57 | |
| 4287902978 | Motif | recurring idea | 58 | |
| 4287902979 | Satire | Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (individuals, organizations, states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change | 59 | |
| 4287902981 | Allegory | A story illustrating an idea or a moral principle in which objects take on symbolic meanings. | 60 | |
| 4287902982 | Aphorism | a short, witty saying, expressing a truth about life | 61 | |
| 4287902983 | Diary | journal or log | 62 | |
| 4287902984 | Exposition | Writing intended to explain the nature of an idea, thing, or theme. This type of writing is often combined with description, narration, or argument | 63 | |
| 4287902985 | Hamartia | In tragedy, the event or act that leads to the hero's or heroine's downfall | 64 | |
| 4287902986 | Hubris | Excessive pride | 65 | |
| 4287902987 | Comedy | drama that is funny; duh | 66 | |
| 4287902988 | Dues ex machine | god from a machine | 67 | |
| 4287902989 | In medias res | beginning in the middle of the action (in the middle of things) | 68 | |
| 4287902990 | Monologue | an excessive speech by one speaker in drama | 69 | |
| 4287902992 | Tragedy | drama in which something horrible happens at the end; duh | 70 | |
| 4287902993 | Tragic Flaw | the flaw that leads to the hero's downfall | 71 | |
| 4287902994 | Essay | a short work that treats of a topic from an author's personal point of view, often taking into account subjective experiences and personal reflections upon them | 72 | |
| 4287902995 | Fable | a short moral story (often with animal characters) | 73 | |
| 4287902996 | Genre | A category of literary work | 74 | |
| 4287902997 | Prologue | An introductory section of a literary work | 75 | |
| 4287902998 | Epigram | a poem or quote at the beginning of a chapter | 76 | |
| 4287902999 | Epilogue | A concluding statement or section of a literary work | 77 | |
| 4287903001 | Subplot | minor plot | 78 | |
| 4287903002 | Novella | A prose fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel | 79 | |
| 4287903003 | Parable | A brief story, told or written in order to teach a moral lesson | 80 | |
| 4287903004 | Prose | not poetry | 81 | |
| 4287903008 | Trope | any artful variation from the typical or expected way a word or idea is expressed | 82 | |
| 4287903009 | Metonymy | type of metaphor in which a word or phrase is substituted for something closely associated with it. | 83 | |
| 4287903010 | synecdoche | a trope involving comparisons in which the part is used to represent the whole | 84 | |
| 4287903011 | anthimeria | a trope involving word play in which one part of speech (usually a verb) substitutes for another part of speech (usually a noun) | 85 | |
| 4287903012 | hyperbole | a trope the exaggerates something for rhetorical effect | 86 | |
| 4287903013 | understatement | a trope that under states something as being less important than it really is | 87 | |
| 4287903014 | litotes | a trope that is a type of understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary | 88 | |
| 4287903016 | oxymoron | a trope involving management of meaning in which two side by side words are direct opposites: icy hot; sweet tart | 89 | |
| 4287903018 | Parallel Structure | balance scheme with the same syntactical structure in a passage; words balance words, phrases balance phrases, clauses balance clauses | 90 | |
| 4287903020 | Antithesis | balance scheme using opposites or contrasts | 91 | |
| 4287903021 | Parenthesis | A scheme of interruption using insertion of material that interrupts the general flow of a sentence; examples are parentheses and dashes | 92 | |
| 4287903022 | Anadiplosis | a scheme of repetition repeating the last word of one phrase, clause, or sentence at or very near the beginning of the next | 93 | |
| 4287903024 | Epanalepsis | a scheme of repetition in which a word or phrase is repeated after intervening matter | 94 | |
| 4287903025 | Epistrophe | a scheme of repetition that is the counterpart of anaphora, because the repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences | 95 | |
| 4287903026 | Climax | a scheme of repetition that repeats items in increasing order of importance | 96 | |
| 4287903027 | Polysyndeton | a scheme of repetition using unnecessary conjunctions | 97 | |
| 4287903028 | Scheme | any artful variation from the typical arrangement of words in a sentence | 98 | |
| 4287903062 | Epic | long narrative poem which gives an account of a hero important to his nation or race. | 99 | |
| 4287903063 | Epitaph | an inscription on a gravestone or a commemorative poem written as if it were for that purpose. | 100 | |
| 4287903086 | Appeal to Authority | accepting the word of alleged authorities when (1) there is not sufficient reason to believe that they have the info. we seek, or (2) that they can be trusted to provide that information. (ie: power plant executives saying nuclear power is safe). | 101 | |
| 4287903087 | Inconsistency | accepting a conclusion of an argument that has self-contradictory statements or statements that contradict one another. (ie: Al Gore's stance on energy conservation when his house uses tons of electricity). | 102 | |
| 4287903088 | straw man | misrepresenting an opponent's position or a competitor's product to make it easier to attack and defeat them. (ie: ads saying McCain voted to use unborn babies in medical research, OR ads saying Obama wanted to teach comprehensive sex education to kindergartners | 103 | |
| 4287903089 | false dilemma | either/or reasoning. Either X or Y, and nothing in between or no other alternatives. (ie: You are either supportive of the war in Iraq or you love terrorists). | 104 | |
| 4287903090 | questionable premise | accepting a premise that is less than believable. (ie: you should drink Bud b/c it's the BEST!). I don't know that it IS the best, and even if it were, is that the criterion I want to use. What if I can't or don't want to pay for that, and I instead need to buy Milwaukee's Best. | 105 | |
| 4287903091 | begging the question | assuming without offering proof the question or part of the question OR answering a question by rephrasing it (ie: The reason the club is in such high demand is that everyone wants to join! OR Abortion is wrong because it takes a life—fails to define LIFE) | 106 | |
| 4287903092 | suppressed evidence | MAJOR PROBLEM FOR STUDENTS!!!!! Failing to being relevant evidence to bear on an argument. May only present one side, but fail to mention other relevant aspects of the argument. Students tend to list reasons for their position without any sort of COUNTERARGUMENT. It makes your argument weak. | 107 | |
| 4287903093 | tokenism | a token gesture instead of a real thing. (ie: Campaign promises or acts right before an election). | 108 | |
| 4287903094 | two wrongs make a right | traditional name is tu quoque, meaning "you're another." Justifying a vengeful retaliation in sports falls into this category. Another example is the ballot irregularities in Florida. In 2000, voters voted for two candidates for the same office, thus invalidating their ballots. Dems said this stemmed from an illegally designed ballot, thwarting votor intent. Republicans dismissed this claim because the same issue happened in 1996, and they didn't cause an uproar. BUT, having the problem in 1996 doesn't justify having it in the year 2000. Under this category: fighting fire with fire, common practice, and traditional wisdom | 109 | |
| 4287903095 | Fighting fire with fire | when we feel justified in fighting one evil with another one. This isn't always a fallacy; sometimes fighting fire with fire IS justified—like killing in self-defense (either kill or be killed). Retributivists believe we ARE justified in punishing those guilty of unfairly harming others even though in doing so we fail to fight the original harm (someone murdered someone or stole from someone, and we put that person in jail. It doesn't counter-act the crime, but it punishes the offender). The Two Wrongs fallacy sometimes seems plausible for another reason: to counter-act hypocrisy. For example a cheating husband won't get much sympathy when he complains of his wife's infidelity or an alcoholic calling out someone for being drunk won't really work. (under Two Wrongs category) | 110 | |
| 4287903096 | Common Practice | when a wrong is justified on the grounds that LOTS of other people do the same thing. Ie: Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire HAD to take steroids to stay competitive because lots of other players were using them. (under Two Wrongs category) | 111 | |
| 4287903097 | traditional wisdom | when a wrong or an unsuitable practice is justified on grounds that it follows a traditional accepted way of doing things. It is difficult for some people to change because change brings risks, inevitably. (ie: not wanting to eliminate biased practices based on gender, racial, or religious biases because that's the way things have ALWAYS been done in the "good ole days."). Those who benefit from these practices find it hard to entertain the idea that there could possibly be anything wrong with them. We do want to learn from past experiences, so we shouldn't assume that just because things have been done in the past, that it is right to do that thing NOW. All innovations go against past practices (From the introduction of plows that dig deeper furrows (a practice resisted at first by the North African farmers) to the elimination of practices based on racial, religious, or gender bias in the US). Tradition should be a guide not a jailer. Jeremy Bentham once said that when someone is guilty of abuse of power, the ONLY way for them to defend that abuse is to use a fallacy. Therefore it is important for them to keep the people stupid so that they can't distinguish truth from error.(under Two Wrongs category) | 112 | |
| 4287903098 | Non-Sequitur | it does not logically follow. Some use irrelevant reason to refer to reasons or premises that are irrelevant to a conclusion when the error doesn't fit a narrower fallacy category. | 113 | |
| 4287903099 | Equivocation | accepting a fallacy to be true b/c we are fooled by equivocating language (or ambiguous language) since it's open to interpretation. In everyday life, the term equivocation often connotes the use of equivocation to deceive. However, that's not always the case. It can be used as a metaphor, in literature, in music, etc. | 114 | |
| 4287903100 | Appeal to Ignorance | when we want to believe something, it's tempting to take the absence of evidence, and thus the absence of refutation, as justification for believing that it's true (taking the absence of evidence of P to show that not-P is true). Ie: "Do you have your mom's permission to go to the party?" Your reply: "she didn't tell me I couldn't come." In actuality, you never asked her about it, so of course she didn't say you couldn't come. (McCarthyism example: Joseph McCarthy saying that people were communists b/c he found nothing in their files to disprove communist connections). | 115 | |
| 4287903101 | Composition Fallacy | sometimes called the "salesman" fallacy; it's committed when someone assumes that a particular item must have a certain property because all of its parts have the same property. Ie: auto dealers try to get prospective customers to fall for this fallacy by touting low monthly payments while neglecting total costs ("...and this can be yours for only $400 a month" or "for only 35 cents a day, you can get this extended warranty..."). The fallacy of division is the opposite or mirror image of the composition fallacy, when you assume that all or some of the parts of an item have a particular property because the item as a whole has it. Ie: people think that a large, fancy hotel must have large, fancy rooms, when the rooms could actually be quite tiny. | 116 | |
| 4287903102 | slippery slope | an action is objected to on the grounds that once it is taken, another, and then still another are bound to be taken, down a "slippery slope" until some undesirable consequence results. Arguing that a slope is slippery without providing good reason for thinking that it is, or when the slope clearly is NOT, makes us guilty of the slippery slope fallacy. (for example, a Canadian style "single Payer" health care system is often objected to because people believe it will lead us down a path to socialized EVERYTHING. NOTE: not all of these are fallacies. It is only a fallacy when we accept without further justification or argument that once the first step is taken, the others are going to follow, or that whatever would justify the first step will justify the rest. | 117 | |
| 4287903103 | red herring | A fallacy that introduces an irrelevant issue to divert attention from the subject under discussion | 118 | |
| 4287903078 | fallacy | faulty reasoning; flawed logic | 119 | |
| 4287903079 | catharsis | Emotional release | 120 | |
| 4287903080 | counterargument | A challenge to a position; an opposing argument. | 121 | |
| 4287903083 | juxtaposition | placing two things side by side for effect | 122 | |
| 4287903084 | rhetorical fragment | fragment for rhetorical purpose | 123 |
