aplang 1-20

Question 1

abstract language

Answer 1

Language that describes concepts rather than
concrete images; ideas and qualities rather than observable or
specific things, people, or places. The observable or “physical”
is usually described in concrete language

Question 2

aim

Answer 2

The goal a writer or speaker hopes to achieve with the text—for
example, to clarify difficult material, to inform, to convince, to
persuade. Also called INTENTION and PURPOSE.

Question 3

allegory

Answer 3

A story or poem in which characters, settings, and events
stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or
qualities. A sort of extended METAPHOR.

Question 4

allusion

Answer 4

A reference in a written or spoken text to another text

or to some particular body of knowledge.

Question 5

analogy

Answer 5

Comparison of two seemingly dissimilar things, usually
to clarify an action or a relationship—for example, “The heart
is like a pump.”

Question 6

anaphora

Answer 6

The REPETITION of a group of
words at the beginning of successive clauses—for example,
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose
under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to
plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to
kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to
build up…”

Question 7

anecdote

Answer 7

A brief narrative offered in a text to capture the

AUDIENCE’s attention or to support a GENERALIZATION or a CLAIM.

Question 8

antimetabole

Answer 8

The REPITITION of words in
successive clauses in reverse grammatical order—for example,
“You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the
country out of the boy.”

Question 9

antithesis:

Answer 9

The juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas, often in
parallel structure—for example, “Place your virtues on a
pedestal; put your vices under a rock.”

Question 10

apostrophe

Answer 10

: A technique by which a writer addresses an inanimate

object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent

Question 11

appeal

Answer 11

One of three strategies for persuading AUDIENCES—
LOGOS, appeal to reason; PATHOS, appeals to emotion; and
ETHOS, appeals to ethics.

Question 12

appeal to authority

Answer 12

In a text, the reference to words, action, or
beliefs of a person in authority as a means of supporting a
CLAIM, GENERALIZATION, or CONCLUSION.

Question 13

archaic diction

Answer 13

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words—for

example, “…beliefs for which our forebears fought.

Question 14

Aristotelian triangle:

Answer 14

A diagram showing the relations of writer or
speaker, AUDIENCE (reader or listener), and text in a
RHETORICAL SITUATION.

Question 15

arrangement

Answer 15

In a spoken or written text, the placement of ideas for effect.

Question 16

assonance:

Answer 16

The REPETITION of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables

of two or more adjacent words.

Question 17

assumption

Answer 17

An opinion, a perspective, or a belief that a writer

or speaker thinks the audience holds.

Question 18

asyndeton

Answer 18

The omission of conjunctions
between related clauses—for example, “I came, I saw, I
conquered.”

Question 19

audience:

Answer 19

The person or persons who listen to a spoken text or read

a written one and are capable of responding to it.

Question 20

authority

Answer 20

A reliable respected source; someone with knowledge