AP Lang Rhetorical Terms Flashcards
Rhetorical Analysis
Active voice
the subject of the sentence is performing the action (verb)
Alliteration
the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of words in close proximity
Allusion
a reference, direct or indirect, to something the speaker expects the audience to know
Analogy
a comparison between two things based on similarities
Anaphora
a repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of two or more clauses or sentences
Anecdote
brief telling of an incident or event of relevance
Antithesis
- direct opposite (followed by of or two); 2. placing a clause or part of it against another to form a contrast
Asyndeton
intentional omission of conjunctions
Audience
the person/people the speaker is addressing
Cliché
an overused word, phrase, or clause that has lost meaning due to overuse
Connotation
emotional or cultural associations of a word
Context
the time, place, and occasion for writing as well as the larger discourse about the topic society
Denotation
the dictionary definition of a word
Diction
word choice
Ellipses
three periods (…) used to show omission
Epigram
a short, witty, insightful statement that can be sarcastic
Ethos
Character and credibility
purpose
why the speaker is speaking, what the speaker is trying to accomplish
syntax
the way words are organized as the central idea in a work of literature
Exigence
causes or prompts someone to write or speak on a topic
Hypophora
when the writer identifies a problem and is hyper to answer it immidietly
passive voice
subject of the sentence receives action instead of performing the action
parallelism
a repetition of syntactical pattern utilizing repeated select diction
polysyndeton
the use of multiple conjunctions in succession
