AP Lang Midterm Rhetorical Strategies

Question 1

In media res

Answer 1

In the middle of things. An author starts and we have to catch on to what he means. This is usually because it is later understood something happened to the characters before the novel or play began.

Question 2

Epistrophe

Answer 2

Repetition at the end of successive clauses or sentences. Ex: I am happy. She is happy.

Question 3

Exergasia

Answer 3

Saying the same idea over and again in different ways: This is finished, over, done.

Question 4

Anaphora

Answer 4

Repetition in the beginning of successive clauses or sentences: Joe ran quickly. Joe ran home.

Question 5

Alliteration

Answer 5

Repeated consonant sounds: The bananas are badly bruised.

Question 6

Paradox

Answer 6

contradictory terms: “fight no more forever”

Question 7

Diacope

Answer 7

When repeated words are separated by just a word or two: “that nation, or any nation…”

Question 8

Antimeria

Answer 8

Using one part of speech for another: ex: “Mark in every face you I meet / Marks of weakness.” Here the word “mark” is used as a verb (as a synonym for notice) and then as a noun.

Question 9

Epanados

Answer 9

Repetition at the beginning and middle or middle and end of a sentence. Ex: Flowers are pretty, and flowers smell lovely.

Question 10

Diction

Answer 10

Author’s word choice. When analyzing home in very tightly, perhaps on just one word. Ex: Ethan says Mattie is not a “thief,” but actually, as she is stealing Ethan from Zeena.

Question 11

Tone

Answer 11

The author’s attitude. Ex: In the poem “Stopping by the Woods” Frost’s speaker notes that he has “miles to go before I sleep.” Here the tone is contemplative and somber.

Question 12

Metaphor

Answer 12

The comparison of two unlike things, including situations, without using like or as.Ex: In Frost’s poem “Stopping By the Woods,” the speaker says he has “miles to go before I sleep,” a metaphor for many years yet to live.

Question 13

Tricolon

Answer 13

Repetition that is grammatically parallel three times in a row. She is very smart, pretty lively, and extremely nice. Three times we have adverbs and adjectives in a row.

Question 14

Biblical Allusion

Answer 14

A hint of something from the Bible. The song lyrics “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden” is a reference to the Garden of Eden, and the idea that we must be pure again.

Question 15

Aristotelian Appeals

Answer 15

When the author is trying to appeal to your sense logic (logos), emotion (pathos) and ethics (ethos). For this last one, the author or character him or herself must be ethical too.

Question 16

Litotes

Answer 16

An understatement affirming the negative of its opposite. Ex: Not unwell for healthy.

Question 17

Anadiplosis

Answer 17

When a sentence ends in one word and the next sentence begins with that. Ex: I am so tired, Susan. Susan, I just cannot work this hard anymore.

Question 18

Chiasmus/Antimetabole

Answer 18

The parts and words of a sentence reversed. Ex: “As not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you.”

Question 19

Epizeuxis

Answer 19

Repetition of a word or words in a row. Ex: “Never, never, never quit.”

Question 20

Ecphonesis

Answer 20

Repetition of a word or words in a row but with an added exclamation mark: Oh, no, no, no!

Question 20

Apostrophe

Answer 20

A figure of speech in which one is absent but addressed anyway. Ex: Blanche speaks to her friends from the past and asks if anyone wants to go swimming.

Question 21

Anacoluthon

Answer 21

The failure accidental or deliberate to finish a sentence the way it started.

Question 22

Chiaroscuro

Answer 22

The study of light and dark in literature. Ex: Zeena is often in the dark, Mattie in the light, and she and Ethan met at Shadow Pond.

Question 22

Hyperbole

Answer 22

Extreme exaggeration.

Question 23

Juxtaposition

Answer 23

Placing side by side for comparison.

Question 24

Motif

Answer 24

The recurrence of any words, phrases, or images to support a theme. Ex: in Ethan Frome, Wharton constantly includes trees to symbolize people and to clarify that Ethan’s life, like his hemlock trees, is poisonous.

Question 25

Symbol

Answer 25

A literal, tangible object that represents an abstract idea. Ex: the flag represents our patriotism.

Question 25

Archetype

Answer 25

An original type. Ex: Zeena, bitter and able to “Pierce” her husband, is the archetypal witch.

Question 26

Simile

Answer 26

A figure of speech that is used to make a comparison of unlike things that on closer look are actually somewhat alike. It makes the description of an object look as if it were literally true. Ex: The excellent swimmer said “I am a mermaid.”

Question 27

Meiosis

Answer 27

Similar to epithet, a degrading name.

Question 28

Epanalepsis

Answer 28

The beginning and ending of a sentence with the same word. Ex: “Blood will have blood.”- Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Question 29

Epiphany

Answer 29

A sudden realization or insight

Question 30

Hypotyposis

Answer 30

Extreme exaggeration

Question 30

Pathetic Fallacy

Answer 30

An inanimate object, atmospheric condition, or weather echoes human condition. Ex: The clock strikes midnight just as the murder is completed. A bolt of lightning strikes just as the couple break up.

Question 31

Synaesthesia

Answer 31

The description of one sensation in terms of another. Ex: How sweet the sound of music. That pattern is too loud.

Question 32

Syntax

Answer 32

The way in which words are combined to form phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs.

Question 33

Rhetorical question

Answer 33

A question wherein the answer is implied. Ex: Do I really need to exemplify this for you?

Question 34

Synecdochy

Answer 34

Part exemplifies the whole. ex: their eyes were watching God

Question 35

Metonymy

Answer 35

Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it, ex: Tongue as a substitute for language.

Question 36

Conceit

Answer 36

Extended metaphor

Question 37

Conduplicatio

Answer 37

Repetition of a key word at the beginning of successive clauses