SLO Vocabulary Terms

Question 1

Evaluate

Answer 1

Examine and judge carefully, To judge or determine the significance, worth, or quality of something; to assess.

Question 2

Analysis

Answer 2

The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another

Question 3

Explicit

Answer 3

Clearly expressed or fully stated in the actual text

Question 4

Connotation

Answer 4

The range of associations that a word or phrase suggest in addition to its dictionary meaning

Question 5

Irony

Answer 5

Incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected result

Question 6

Inference

Answer 6

A judgement based on reasoning rather than on a direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances.

Question 7

Tone

Answer 7

The attitude of the author toward the audience, characters, subject or the work itself.

Question 8

Refutation

Answer 8

Countering of anticipated arguments.

Question 9

Juxtaposition

Answer 9

Placing one thing adjacent to another, especially for comparison and contrast.

Question 10

Rhetoric

Answer 10

The art and study of effective writing and speech.

Question 11

Diction

Answer 11

Specific word choices an author makes to persuades or to convey tone
Ex: “She began imitating his careful diction”

Question 12

Clause

Answer 12

A group of words containing at least one paired subject and predicate.

Question 13

Phrase

Answer 13

A group of words that do not contain at least on paired subject and predicate.

Question 14

Ethos

Answer 14

Mode of persuasion requiring speakers to establish their credibility, skill, or morality on a given subject to an intended audience

Question 15

Pathos

Answer 15

Mode of persuasion speakers use when appealing to the various emotions of the audience, including fear, inspiration, intimidation, idealism, anger, nostalgia, despair, optimism, etc

Question 16

Logos

Answer 16

Mode of persuasion speakers us when appealing to the audience’s ability to distinguish, through discourse, the difference between what is reasonable or unreasonable

Question 17

Reasons

Answer 17

Statements of logic that offer support for an argument

Question 18

Comma Splice

Answer 18

A type of Run-On sentence in which the writer has erroneously placed only a comma between two independent clauses, resulting in a failure to link the two according to grammatical convention.

Question 19

Claims

Answer 19

Any statements of belief that can be contested; argument

Question 20

Claim of Value

Answer 20

A statement made to show that something is moral or immoral

Question 21

Fallacy

Answer 21

Rationales for claims that might seem reasonable, but are actually unsound - and usually false

Question 22

Claim of Policy

Answer 22

A statement made to endorse specific courses of action

Question 23

Claim of Fact

Answer 23

A statement made to verify the authenticity of something

Question 24

Parallelism

Answer 24

The similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

Question 25

Periodic Sentence

Answer 25

A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word

Question 26

Ambiguity

Answer 26

The presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage

Question 27

Concession

Answer 27

An argumentative strategy by which a speaker or writer acknowledges the validity of an opponent’s point

Question 28

Loose Sentence

Answer 28

A sentence structure in which a main clause is followed by subordinate phrases and clauses

Question 29

Evidence

Answer 29

Proof coming from sources, fieldwork, and research that validates any logical support of an argument