AP Language and Composition Vocabulary - Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
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| 7230657735 | Alliteration | The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables. Ex: Sally sells seashells down by the seashore. |  | 0 |
| 7230657736 | Allusion | An indirect reference, often to another text or a historic event. Ex: Jeanne d'Arc's smile rivaled that of the Mona Lisa. |  | 1 |
| 7230657737 | Analogy | An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things. Ex: A butterfly's wing is as aerodynamic as a bird's wing. |  | 2 |
| 7230657738 | Anaphora | The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses. Ex: The house is very spacious. The house has a very big backyard. The house is two stories high. |  | 3 |
| 7230657739 | Anecdote | A short account of an interesting event. Ex: They lived happily ever after, the end. |  | 4 |
| 7230657740 | Annotation | Explanatory or critical notes added to a text. Ex: The A.V.I.D. Cornell notes must be very well annotated. |  | 5 |
| 7230657741 | Antecedent | The noun to which a later pronoun refers. Ex: They celebrated their anniversary in a restaurant, it would be an afternoon to cherish forever. The event is the noun to which the later pronoun, it, would refer to. It, is the antecedent. |  | 6 |
| 7230657742 | Antimetabole | The repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen a contrast. Ex: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."-President John F. Kennedy |  | 7 |
| 7230657743 | Antithesis | Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas. Ex: Smile and frown. Happiness and sadness. Courage and cowardness. |  | 8 |
| 7230657744 | Aphorism | A short, astute statement of a general truth. Ex: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. |  | 9 |
| 7230657745 | Appositive | A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun. Ex: John, an account, loves finance. An accountant, is the appositive to John. |  | 10 |
| 7230657746 | Archaic diction | The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language. Ex: Thou shalt not commit a crime, which means; you shall not commit a crime. |  | 11 |
| 7230657747 | Argument | A statement put forth and supported by evidence. Ex: You lost the game of Kahoot because you did not act fast enough. The evidence is: "Because you did not act fast enough." |  | 12 |
| 7230657748 | Aristotelian Triangle | A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle). Ex: The Aristotelian Triangle consists of the subject, the speaker, and the audience, such as that of a speech where the speaker talks about a certain subject to his audience. |  | 13 |
| 7230657749 | Assertion | An emphatic statement; declaration, of which is supported by evidence and becomes an argument. Ex: You got fired from your job because you arrived late every day. The evidence is: "Because you arrived late every day." |  | 14 |
| 7230657750 | Assumption | A belief or statement taken for granted without proof. Ex: You are a very tall person so you should be very good at playing basketball. |  | 15 |
| 7230657751 | Attitude | The speaker's position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone. Ex: The protagonist's ecstatic voice and tone about the event could be seen throughout the whole book. |  | 16 |
| 7230657752 | Audience | One's listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed. Ex: The people who came to see the play at the theatre were blown away by the performance that was given. |  | 17 |
| 7230657753 | Authority | A reliable, respected source-someone with knowledge. Ex: The administrators at school should be the first to contact if something were to happen at school. The authority, are the school administrators. |  | 18 |
| 7230657754 | Bias | Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue. Ex: Gasoline fueled cars are better than electric cars, I should know because I've always owned one. |  | 19 |
| 7230657755 | Cite | Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source. Ex: "It was a pleasure to burn"(Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451) |  | 20 |
| 7230657756 | Claim | An assertion, usually supported by evidence. Ex: Buy home insurance because every 10 seconds a home is broken into. The claim is that you should buy home insurance because every 10 seconds a home is broken into and yours might be one of them. |  | 21 |
| 7230657757 | Close reading | A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text. Ex: After writing any piece of writing you should always proofread it. Ex: Authors after writing a book have people that proofread them. |  | 22 |
| 7230657758 | Colloquial/ism | An informal or conversational use of language. Ex: Ain't; You ain't allowed to talk with anybody else about the matter. |  | 23 |
| 7230657759 | Common ground | Shared beliefs, values, or positions. Ex: Having things in common. Ex: The two boys realized that they both liked to play soccer. |  | 24 |
| 7230657760 | Complex sentence | A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. Ex: Myself, as a junior will accomplish outstanding grades this academic year. The independent clause is "Myself." The dependent clause is "As a junior will accomplish outstanding grades this academic year." |  | 25 |
| 7230657761 | Concession | A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding. Ex: They both shook hands as an agreement. |  | 26 |
| 7230657762 | Connotation | That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning (see denotation). Ex: You are a pig every time you eat. |  | 27 |
| 7230657763 | Context | Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning. Ex: What, when, where, how, and why. |  | 28 |
| 7230657764 | Coordination | Grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction such as and, or but. Ex: F.A.N.B.O.Y.S (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so) |  | 29 |
| 7230657765 | Counterargument | A challenge to a position; an opposing argument. Ex: Yay or nay Ex: Salads are better than hamburgers because they are healthier for you. |  | 30 |
| 7230657766 | Cumulative sentence | An independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply additional detail. Ex: He fell, as he got up after tripping he kept on walking. |  | 31 |
| 7230657767 | Declarative sentence | A sentence that makes a statement. Ex: My name is Joseph. Ex: I am your teacher. Ex: I am your boss. |  | 32 |
| 7230657768 | Deduction | Reasoning from general to specific. Ex: The Scientific Method; ask a question, do research, form a hypothesis, test your hypothesis via an experiment, and analyze the data and draw a conclusion on your hypothesis. |  | 33 |
| 7230657769 | Denotation | The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition. Ex: Car: a road vehicle, typically with four wheels, powered by an internal combustion engine and able to carry a small number of people. |  | 34 |
| 7230657770 | Diction | Word choice. Ex: What kind and what type of words you want to have in your writing. |  | 35 |
| 7230657771 | Documentation | Bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing. Ex: The bibliography in a piece of writing. Bibliography: the last page where you state the sources that you used in your writing. |  | 36 |
| 7230657772 | Elegiac | Mournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone. Ex: The man feels melancholic after his friend's death. |  | 37 |
| 7230657773 | Epigram | A brief witty statement. Ex: Death is eminent. |  | 38 |
| 7230657774 | Ethos | A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos). Ex: Is the source where you are getting your information for your claims credible? |  | 39 |
| 7230657775 | Figurative language | The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect. Ex: Similes, oxymorons, idioms, hyperbole, alliteration, personification, puns, onomatopoeia, and metaphors. |  | 40 |
| 7230657776 | Figure of speech | An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning. Ex: Similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and idioms. |  | 41 |
| 7230657777 | Hyperbole | Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis. Ex: I am so hungry that I could eat a horse. It is implying that he/she can eat a whole horse in one meal, which is impossible due to the size ratio of that of a human and a horse. |  | 42 |
| 7230657778 | Imagery | Vivid use of language that evokes a reader's senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing). Ex: The use of the five senses; sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. |  | 43 |
| 7230657779 | Imperative sentence | A sentence that requests or commands. Ex: Do all of your chores. It is demanding that you should do what you have been told since it is a command and not a suggestion. |  | 44 |
| 7230657780 | Induction | Reasoning from specific to general. Ex: When you observe, make a generalization, and provide an example on it. I looked into a bag, I opened it up and found it full of action figures, I realized they were my brother's. |  | 45 |
| 7230657781 | Inversion | A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject. Ex: Normal sentence: They are such wonderful players that no one can beat them. Inversion sentence: Such wonderful players are they that no one can beat them. |  | 46 |
| 7230657782 | Irony | A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result. Ex: Wonderful weather is expected for today, yet it starts to rain immediately when I go outside and check. |  | 47 |
| 7230657783 | Juxtaposition | Placement of two things side by side for emphasis. Ex: Fire and water. Red and blue. A straight line and a crooked line. |  | 48 |
| 7230657784 | Logos | A Greek term that means "word"; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals.(see ethos and pathos) Ex: Refers to the appeal and use of logic. Ex: Would you still buy a fur coat after you have seen what they do to those poor animals? |  | 49 |
| 7230657785 | Metaphor | A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison. Ex: He is as tall as a building. It is implying he is very tall in comparison to others, yet he does not surpass 6 feet. |  | 50 |
| 7230657786 | Metonymy | Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole. Ex: The Golden Gate Bridge represents San Francisco. The Hollywood sign represents Los Angeles. The Statue of Liberty represents New York. |  | 51 |
| 7230657787 | Occasion | An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing. Ex: What is the reason behind the action. Ex: Calling a meeting to discuss an issue with your co-workers. |  | 52 |
| 7230657788 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms. Ex: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco"-Mark Twain It is implying that Twain experienced cold temperatures when he visited San Francisco, yet it was not in the winter time. |  | 53 |
| 7230657789 | Paradox | A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true. Ex: When there is a stop sign, but there is another that says to keep on going. |  | 54 |
| 7230657790 | Parallelism | The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns. Ex: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."-President John F. Kennedy |  | 55 |
| 7230657791 | Parody | A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule. Ex: Saturday Night Live does a lot of comical parodies about many controversial topics. |  | 56 |
| 7230657792 | Pathos | A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos). Ex: The use of emotion to convey a message. The use of a dog in a shelter being melancholy so you can adopt him/her or others. |  | 57 |
| 7230657793 | Persona | The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing. Ex: A character that the author gives himself or plays. |  | 58 |
| 7230657794 | Personification | Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects. Ex: Giving cars the ability to talk and think. |  | 59 |
| 7230657795 | Polemic | An argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion. Ex: The manager thinks he has power over his employees yet he has forgotten that he has a boss. |  | 60 |
| 7230657796 | Polysyndeton | The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions. Ex: Joe likes pizza, and hamburgers, and hotdogs. Correct way-Joe likes pizza, hamburgers, and hotdogs. |  | 61 |
| 7230657797 | Premise | Major, minor, two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism that takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise. Ex: Most birds that have wings can fly. All penguins are birds and have wings. Therefore, all penguins should be able to fly. |  | 62 |
| 7230657798 | example of major premise | All mammals are warm-blooded. | 63 | |
| 7230657799 | example of minor premise | All horses are mammals. | 64 | |
| 7230657800 | example of conclusion | All horses are warm-blooded. | 65 | |
| 7230657801 | Propaganda | A negative term for writing that is designed to sway opinion rather than present information. Ex: "Together we can do it!" |  | 66 |
| 7230657802 | Purpose | One's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing. Ex: The author's purpose is to inform, entertain, persuade, and describe. |  | 67 |
| 7230657803 | Refute | To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument. Ex: Refuting an argument: I am convinced that the idea will not work. |  | 68 |
| 7230657804 | Rhetoric | The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the "available means of persuasion." Ex: Smoking causes cancer, and if you smoke you can be its next victim. |  | 69 |
| 7230657805 | 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. Ex: The use of description, narration, example/illustration, process, cause and effect, classification, comparison and contrast, and persuasion/argumentation. |  | 70 |
| 7230657806 | Rhetorical question | A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer. Ex: Why so serious? |  | 71 |
| 7230657807 | Rhetorical triangle | A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian triangle). Ex: The Rhetorical triangle consists of the subject, the speaker, and the audience. | | 72 |
| 7230657808 | Satire | An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it. |  | 73 |
| 7230657809 | Scheme | A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect. Ex: Roses are red. Violets are blue. I am out of my head with thinking of you. |  | 74 |
| 7230657810 | Sentence patterns | The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. Ex: Active sentence: Joe gave Mary a ring. Passive sentence: A ring was given to Mary by Joe. |  | 75 |
| 7230657811 | Sentence variety | Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect. Ex: Using diction to create the sentence structure that you want in your writing. |  | 76 |
| 7230657812 | Simile | A figure of speech that uses "like" or "as" to compare two things. Ex: She is as tall as a tree. |  | 77 |
| 7230657813 | Simple sentence | A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause. Ex: The boy played with his toys. |  | 78 |
| 7230657814 | Source | A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information. Ex: A school resource database. |  | 79 |
| 7230657815 | Speaker | A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing. Ex: The host of a television show such as Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel. |  | 80 |
| 7230657816 | Straw man | A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position; misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent's position. Ex: Turning one's words against him/her. |  | 81 |
| 7230657817 | Style | The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech. Ex: The way you want your writing to be. |  | 82 |
| 7230657818 | Subject | In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing. Ex: What the writing will be about and will consist of. |  | 83 |
| 7230657819 | Subordinate clause | Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause. Ex: Main clause(I knew), subordinate clause(that she wanted to go home.) |  | 84 |
| 7230657820 | Subordination | The dependence of one syntactical element on another in a sentence. Ex: Main clause(I want), subordinate clause(to go to an amusement park. |  | 85 |
| 7230657821 | Syllogism | A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor). Ex: Penguin-"Birds can fly, I am a bird, therefore, I should be able to fly." |  | 86 |
| 7230657822 | Syntax | Sentence structure. Ex: Normal syntax-Jane ate a cake. Inverted syntax-A cake, Jane ate. |  | 87 |
| 7230657823 | Synthesize | Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex. |  | 88 |
| 7230657824 | Thesis | The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer. |  | 89 |
| 7230657825 | Thesis statement | A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit. Ex: The central idea you are writing about to which all parts of your work will refer to. |  | 90 |
| 7230657826 | Tone | The speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience. Ex: Happy, sad, content, mad, excited, etc. |  | 91 |
| 7230657827 | Topic sentence | A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph's idea and often unites it with the work's thesis. |  | 92 |
| 7230657828 | Trope | Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech. Ex The use of a word, phrase, or image in a way not intended by its normal signification. | | 93 |
| 7230657829 | Understatement | Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect. Ex: "It is a bit cold today." "You don't say." |  | 94 |
| 7230657830 | Voice | In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing. Ex: Active voice-You stole that cookie from the cookie jar. Passive voice-The cookie was stolen from the cookie jar. |  | 95 |
| 7230657831 | Zeugma | A construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs—often in different, sometimes in congruent ways—two or more words in a sentence. Ex: She (ran) out of time, and towards her doom. |  | 96 |
| 7230657832 | Asyndeton | Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses. Ex: I ate. I played. I slept. |  | 97 |