Argument Flashcards
Antanaclasis
The repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning changes in the second instance.
Ex 1: “Your argument is sound…all sound.” —Benjamin Franklin
The meaning of “sound” first appears to be “solid” or “reasonable”; in its repetition, it means something very different, “all air” or “empty”
Ex 2: “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” —Vince Lombardi
This means if you aren’t fueled by enthusiasm for the job, you’ll be fired from the job with no hesitation and great haste
Antagonist
The character who opposes the interests of the protagonist.
Ex: In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien creates Lord Sauron as the antagonist to Frodo.
Anticipated Objection
The technique a writer or speaker uses in an argumentative text to address and answer objections, even though the audience has not had the opportunity to voice these objections.
Ex: “You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air…You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory.” (Winston Churchill)
Antimetabole
The repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order.
Ex: One should eat to live, not live to eat.
Apologist
A person or character who makes a case for some controversial, even contentious, position.
Ex: In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo makes a case for marrying Juliet, despite the controversy over the issue.
Apology
An elaborate statement justifying some controversial, even contentious, position.
Ex: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
Apostrophe
The direct address of an absent person or personified object as if he/she/it is able to reply.
Ex: “O’ Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” (William Shakespeare)
Appeal to Authority
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.
Ex: Isaac Newton was a genius and he believed in God. Therefore, God must exist.
Appeal to Emotion
The appeal of a text to the feelings or interests of the audience.
Ex: If you don’t graduate from high school, you will always be poor.
Argument by Analysis
An argument developed by breaking the subject matter into its component parts.
Ex: The Virginians failed miserably at initial colonization and suffered through disease, war, and famine because of their high expectations and greed, which also molded their colony socially and economically. This is like what we had to do in Mr. Roberts' class for the thesis statement. We broke up our argument to address specific parts and details.
Asyndeton
The omission of conjunctions between related clauses.
Ex: “This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, who meant to betray you completely.” (Aristotle)
Non-Asyndeton Ex: “This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated you, and who meant to betray you completely.” (Aristotle)
The use of a conjunction disqualifies it as an asyndeton.
Basic Topic*
One of the four perspectives that Aristotle explained could be used to generate material about any subject matter: greater or less, possible and impossible, past fact, and future fact. A basic topic is a premise where a certain line of reasoning can be applied to it as a way of classifying it and using it to answer some sort of question
Ex: Raising up the minimum wage is lesser or a bad thing, because it also causes the prices of things to change and if kept up will cause mass inflation and devaluation of the German currency as it did for Germany after the treaty of Versailles after they printed more money to pay off debts.
I used greater and lesser and past fact and future fact. As in if this happened in the past, then it will most likely happen in the future and the outcome is bad or lesser for everyone.
Brainstorming
Within the planning act of the writing process, a technique used by a writer or speaker to generate many ideas, some of which he or she will later eliminate.
Ex: I brainstorm before history essays by writing down as many specific Exs as I can think of for the prompt.
Cloze Test
A test of reading ability that requires a person to fill in missing words in a text.
Ex: The SAT’s language portion contains questions modeled in this way.
Common Topic*
One of the perspectives, derived from Aristotle’s topics, used to generate material. The six common topics are definition, division, comparison, relation, circumstances, and testimony. A common topic is an arguing strategy used to win against something or prove your point better.
Ex 1: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson’s political opinions can be the subject of a common topic, such as division.
Ex 2: A method would be to compare your and your opponent’s arguments to make the differences seem as small as possible and lessen their resistance towards the argument.
Ex 3: “Another line of argument is common to forensic and deliberative oratory, namely, to consider inducements and deterrents, and the motives people have for doing or avoiding the actions in question.”
Ex 4: “Another line is to apply to the other speaker what he has said against yourself.”
Ex 5: “Another method is to denounce calumny, by saying what an enormity it is, and in particular that it raises false issues, and that it means a lack of confidence in the merits of his case.”
