WORKING GLOSSARY: AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION Purpose: This is a working glossary. Some terms may need more elucidation and examples. We will develop this glossary more as we read and study together over the year. You are responsible for keeping this glossary updated. 1) Alliteration: a pattern of sound that includes the repetition of consonant sounds. The repetition can be located at the beginning of successive words or inside the words. Poets often use alliteration to audibly represent the action that is taking place. Look at assonance and consonance for specific forms of alliteration. 2) Allusion: reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well- known characters or events. 3) Analogy: compares two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended. Some analogies simply offer an explanation for clarification rather than a substitute argument: Knowledge always desires increase: it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external agent, but which will afterwards propagate itself. - - Samuel Johnson When the matter is complex and the analogy particularly useful for explaining it, the analogy can be extended into a rather long, multiple- point comparison: The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (And so forth, to the end of the chapter.] - - l Cor. 12:12 (NIV)
4) Anaphora: is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences, commonly in conjunction with climax and with parallelism: Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! William Shakespeare, King John, II, i 5) Anecdote: A short narrative account of an amusing, unusual, revealing, or interesting event. A good anecdote has a single, definite point, and the setting, dialogue, and characters are usually subordinate to the point of the story. Usually, the anecdote does not exist alone, but it is combined with other material such as expository essays or arguments. Writers may use anecdotes to clarify abstract points, to humanize individuals, or to create a memorable image in the reader's mind. Anecdotes are similar to exempla. 6) Antecedent: the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers, understood by the context. The antecedent in the following sample sentence is bolded. The critique of Plato's Republic was written from a contemporary point of view. It was an in- depth analysis of Plato's opinions about possible governmental forms. 7) Antithesis: establishes a clear, contrasting relationship between two ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them, often in parallel structure. To err is human; to forgive, divine. - - Pope That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. - - Neil Armstrong
8) Aphorism: is a brief saying embodying a moral, a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words. Hippocrates: Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult. 9) Appositive: An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that tells you something about a nearby noun or pronoun. They can occur as sentence openers, subject- verb splits, or sentence closers. 10) Asyndeton: The omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect. I came, I saw, I conquered. Julius Caesar. Polysyndeton: the o vert use of conjunctions in a clause 11) Chiasmus/Antimetabole: Repetition of ideas in inverted order or the repetition of grammatical structures in inverted order/repetition of the exact words in reverse order: 12) Connotation: the emotions, values, or images associated with a word. The intensity of emotions or the power of the values and images associated with a word varies. Words connected with religion, politics, and sex tend to have the strongest feelings and images associated with them. Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word; the direct and specific meaning.
13) Cumulative Sentence: an independent clause followed by a series of subordinating phrases or clauses that gather details about a person, place, event, or idea. 14) Declarative sentence: a statement that always ends in a period. 15) Deductive Reasoning: establishes a conclusion from positive or negative statements (e.g. If all human beings are mortal, and I am a human being, then I must be mortal). - Inductive reasoning: generalizes a conclusion from analogous facts (e.g. Every dog I see has four legs. Therefore all dogs have four legs). The rhetorical equivalent of inductive reasoning is the example. - Syllogism: Deductive reasoning constructed from a major premise, minor premise, and ultimately a true conclusion. Major premise: All men are mortal. Minor premise: Socrates is a man. Conclusion: Socrates is mortal. 16) Diction: An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect. - Cacophony/Euphony : sound patterns used in verse to achieve opposite effects: euphony is pleasing and harmonious; cacophony is harsh and discordant. Euphony is achieved through the use of vowel sounds in words of generally serene imagery. Cacophony, the opposite of euphony, is usually produced by combinations of words that require a staccato, explosive delivery.
17) Epithet: An adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned. 18) Ethos: speaker either claims to be an expert or relies on information provided by experts 19) Exclamatory sentence: a sentence that ends with an exclamation to indicate strong feeling. 20) Figurative language: words are not used in literal sense. Instead, comparisons between words are made. Ornaments in language. Figure of speech: a trope. Language used in a non- literal sense. Types: Metaphors (Extended Metaphors), Similes, Personification 21) Hyperbole: obvious and intentional exaggeration.
22) Imagery: the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively 23) Imperative sentence: commands. May end in either a period or exclamation mark. 24) Interrupted sentence: Placing a modifier between the subject and the verb or between the verb and the direct object, in effect interrupting the idea of the main independent clause. 25) Inverted sentence: a sentence in which the normal word order is reversed. The verb may come before the subject or the complete subject and predicate may come after another clause.
26) Irony: the contrast between the intended meaning versus the delivered, literal, and/or understood meaning. There are three forms of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic. Verbal irony is simply the difference between what is intended by the speaker versus what the speaker actually says. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony. Situational irony involves a difference between the anticipated event and the event that actually occurs. Dramatic irony is primarily a literary form of irony in which the audience is aware of the true state of events unbeknownst to some of the characters in the story. - Sarcasm: A cutting, often ironic remark intended to criticize, ridicule, or inflict mental or emotional insult. - Satire: a literary genre that executes a critique of a matter through irony, sarcasm, and/or ridicule. 27) Juxtaposition: The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side- by- side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development. Oxymoron: the pairing of contradictory words or terms to suggest a paradox. 28) Metaphor: a form of figurative language using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity. A greater literary form of this figurative language is the extended metaphor, a metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work. Extended Metaphor: a metaphor developed at great length throughout a literary work. 29) Modifier: A one- word adjective or adverb, a phrase, or a clause that describes, focuses, or qualifies a noun, pronoun or verb.
30) Mood: grammatically, the verbal units and a speaker's attitude (indicative, subjunctive, imperative); The dominant emotional temperature of a work. Tone: the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both conveyed through his connotative diction. 31) Oxymoron: the pairing of contradictory words or terms to suggest a paradox. Paradox: a statement that appears to be self- contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. 32) Parallelism: the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases and sentences to give structural similarity. Parallel structure: grammatical or rhetorical parallels of sentences and paragraphs to give structural similarity across a greater section of the text. 33) Parody: a work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule.
34) Pathos: appeal to the emotion of the audience. Pathos should never be substituted for proper rational argument, but rather should buttress it. 35) Periodic Sentence: the main idea comes at the end of the sentence often in the form of a DEPENDENT, INDEPENDENT clause structure. 36) Personification: a form of figurative language in which the author endows ideas or inanimate objects with human- like characteristics. 37) Point of View: the perspective from which the story is told. The most obvious point of view is probably first person or "I." The omniscient narrator knows everything, may reveal the motivations, thoughts and feelings of the characters, and gives the reader information. With a limited omniscient narrator, the material is presented from the point of view of a character, in third person. The objective point of view presents the action and the characters' speech, without comment or emotion. The reader has to interpret them and uncover their meaning. 38) Pun: the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.
Double Entendre: (A figure of speech in which a phrase can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué) often employing puns. 39) Repetition: A unifying property of repeated words, sounds, syllables, and other elements that appear in a work. 40) Symbolism: a concrete object is used to demonstrate an abstract idea. Argumentative Fallacies (via the OWL) Fallacies are common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your argument. Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points, and are often identified because they lack evidence that supports their claim. Avoid these common fallacies in your own arguments and watch for them in the arguments of others. Ad hominem: This is an attack on the character of a person rather than his or her opinions or arguments. Green Peace's strategies aren't effective because they are all dirty, lazy hippies. In this example, the author doesn't even name particular strategies Green Peace has suggested, much less evaluate those strategies on their merits. Instead, the author attacks the characters of the individuals in the group. Ad populum: This is an emotional appeal that speaks to positive (such as patriotism, religion,
democracy) or negative (such as terrorism or fascism) concepts rather than the real issue at hand. If you were a true American you would support the rights of people to choose whatever vehicle they want. In this example, the author equates being a "true American," a concept that people want to be associated with, particularly in a time of war, with allowing people to buy any vehicle they want even though there is no inherent connection between the two. Bandwagon: (type of ad populum fallacy) A threat of rejection by one's peers (or peer pressure) is substituted for evidence in an "argument." Joe: "Bill, I know you think that 1+1=2. But we don't accept that sort of thing in our group. " Bill: "I was just joking. Of course I don't believe that." This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because peer pressure and threat of rejection do not constitute evidence for rejecting a claim. Circular Argument: This restates the argument rather than actually proving it. George Bush is a good communicator because he speaks effectively. In this example, the conclusion that Bush is a "good communicator" and the evidence used to prove it "he speaks effectively" are basically the same idea. Specific evidence such as using everyday language, breaking down complex problems, or illustrating his points with humorous stories would be needed to prove either half of the sentence. Either/or: This is a conclusion that oversimplifies the argument by reducing it to only two sides or choices. We can either stop using cars or destroy the earth. In this example, the two choices are presented as the only options, yet the author ignores a range of choices in between such as developing cleaner technology, car- sharing systems for necessities and emergencies, or better community planning to discourage daily driving. Genetic Fallacy: This conclusion is based on an argument that the origins of a person, idea, institute, or theory determine its character, nature, or worth. The Volkswagen Beetle is an evil car because it was originally designed by Hitler's army. In this example the author is equating the character of a car with the character of the people who built the car. However, the two are not inherently related. Hasty Generalization: This is a conclusion based on insufficient or biased evidence. In other words, you are rushing to a conclusion before you have all the relevant facts. Even though it's only the first day, I can tell this is going to be a boring course. In this example, the author is basing his evaluation of the entire course on only the first day, which is notoriously boring and full of housekeeping tasks for most courses. To make a fair and reasonable evaluation the author must attend not one but several classes, and possibly even examine the textbook, talk to the professor, or talk to others who have previously finished the course in order to have sufficient evidence on
which to base a conclusion. Moral Equivalence: This fallacy compares minor misdeeds with major atrocities. That parking attendant who gave me a ticket is as bad as Hitler. In this example, the author is comparing the relatively harmless actions of a person doing their job with the horrific actions of Hitler. This comparison is unfair and inaccurate. Post hoc ergo propter hoc (False Cause): This is a conclusion that assumes that if 'A' occurred after 'B' then 'B' must have caused 'A.' I drank bottled water and now I am sick, so the water must have made me sick. In this example, the author assumes that if one event chronologically follows another the first event must have caused the second. But the illness could have been caused by the burrito the night before, a flu bug that had been working on the body for days, or a chemical spill across campus. There is no reason, without more evidence, to assume the water caused the person to be sick. Red Herring: This is a diversionary tactic that avoids the key issues, often by avoiding opposing arguments rather than addressing them. The level of mercury in seafood may be unsafe, but what will fishers do to support their families? In this example, the author switches the discussion away from the safety of the food and talks instead about an economic issue, the livelihood of those catching fish. While one issue may affect the other it does not mean we should ignore possible safety issues because of possible economic consequences to a few individuals. Slippery Slope: This is a conclusion based on the premise that if A happens, then eventually through a series of small steps, through B, C,..., X, Y, Z will happen, too, basically equating A and Z. So, if we don't want Z to occur, A must not be allowed to occur either. If we ban Hummers because they are bad for the environment eventually the government will ban all cars, so we should not ban Hummers. thing. In this example, the author is equating banning Hummers with banning all cars, which is not the same Straw Man: This move oversimplifies an opponent's viewpoint and then attacks that hollow argument. People who don't support the proposed state minimum wage increase hate the poor. In this example, the author attributes the worst possible motive to an opponent's position. In reality, however, the opposition probably has more complex and sympathetic arguments to support their point. By not addressing those arguments, the author is not treating the opposition with respect or refuting their position.