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 with 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 suggests 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 judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statements. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances.

Question 7

Refutation

Answer 7

Countering of anticipated arguments.

Question 8

Juxtaposition

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Diction

Answer 9

Specific word choices an author makes to persuade or to convey tone.

Question 10

Phrase

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Ethos

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Pathos

Answer 12

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 13

Logos

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Evidence

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Reasons

Answer 15

Statements or logic that offer support for an argument.

Question 16

Claim of Policy

Answer 16

A statement made to endorse specific courses of action.

Question 17

Claim of Fact

Answer 17

A statement made to verify the authenticity of something.

Question 18

Parallelism

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Periodic Sentence

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Ambiguity

Answer 20

The presence of two or more possible meanings in any presence.

Question 21

Concession

Answer 21

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