rhetorical terms for AP Language

1. Rhetorical Terms AP Language

2. anticipating an objective and answering it, permitting an argument to move forward toward its final conclusion

3. PROCATALEPSIS anticipating an objective and answering it, permitting an argument to move forward toward its final conclusion

4. PROCATALEPSIS Examples: This is a stupid question. Or is it? If we look closed we can find some important points here. So who needs ice removal in a warm climate? Well the night can get very cold. And of course when its hot every day, you may want to head for the cooler hills! Of course you know this already, so why am I pointing it out? Well recent research had added new details…

5. When one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated

7. To name a group one-by-one for effect; listing, as if accounting each in a group

8. ENUMERATION To name a group one-by-one for effect; listing, as if accounting each in a group

9. ENUMERATION I like everything about him: his smile, his personality, his sense of humor. She unpacked her suitcase-her hairbrush and toothbrush, her bathrobe and slippers, her jeans and shorts, dresses and blouses, socks and sneakers, iPod and computer, books and papers-as if she would be staying for ever. (This is enumeration in balanced pairs)

10. A technique where the speaker raises a question and then immediately answers it; draws the audience's attention to the topic via a question, and allows the speaker to open a new topic of discussion

11. Hypophora A technique where the speaker raises a question and them immediately answers it; draws the audience's attention to the topic via a question, and allows the speaker to open a new topic of discussion

12. Hypophora Example: “When the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America do? It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth.” Dwight D. Eisenhower (Different from rhetorical question because it provides the answer. The answers to rhetorical questions are so obvious, they need not be stated.)

13. To follow a negative point with a positive point

15. A moral anecdote, brief, or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point

16. EXEMPLUM A moral anecdote, brief, or extended , real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point EXAMPLE: There are so many important moments in our lives. For example, who does not remember the first girl or boy they kissed?

17. A figure of speech in which the normal order of words is in reverse

19. (think Yoda, from Star Wars)

20. Example: “ One swallow does not a summer make, not one fine day.” Aristotle

21. An understatement by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed for intensification

22. LITOTES An understatement by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed for intensification Example: War is not healthy for children and other living things.

23. implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it.

24. METAPHOR implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words; the word is used not in its literal sense, but in one analogous to it. Example: “Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.” Shakespeare, Macbeth

25. substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant.

26. EUPHEMISM substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant. Example: She waited hours for him to show up, not knowing he had pasted during the previous night, he had passed.

27. the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses

29. Example:

31. SIMILE an explicit comparison between two things using 'like' or 'as‘ Example: Reason is to faith as the eye to the telescope. D. Hume

32. repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence

33. TAUTOLOGY repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence Example: With malice toward none, with charity for all. Lincoln, Second Inaugural

34. attribution of personality to an impersonal thing

35. PERSONIFICATION attribution of personality to an impersonal thing Example: The modern house stood tall among her Cape Cod neighbors.

36. an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it

37. PARADOX an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it Example: “What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.” George Bernard Shaw

38. apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another

39. OXYMORON apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another Example: “I must be cruel only to be kind.” Shakespeare, Hamlet

40. Placing side-by-side; positioned for comparison or contrast

41. Juxtaposition Placing side-by-side; positioned for comparison or contrast Example: She heard a soft loud noise in the basement.

42. Turning one's speech from one audience to another; addressing an abstraction, an inanimate object, or an absent (non-living) being

43. APOSTROPHE Turning one's speech from one audience to another; addressing an abstraction, an inanimate object, or an absent (non-living) being (think of the punctuation- accounts for “the missing” Example: "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so", John Donne, "Holy Sonnet X"

44. One part of speech in a sentence which affects two or more other parts of the sentence

45. ZEUGMA One part of speech in a sentence which affects two or more other parts of the sentence Example: “He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.”Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried :