SLO Vocabulary Terms

Question 1

Evaluate

Answer 1

Examine and judge carefully to 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 relationship 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 suggests in addition to its dictionary meaning

Question 5

Irony

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Inference

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Refutation

Answer 7

Countering of anticipated arguments

Question 8

Juxtaposition

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Rhetoric

Answer 9

The art and study of effective writing and speech

Question 10

Diction

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Clause

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Phrase

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Ethos

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Pathos

Answer 14

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 15

Logos

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Evidence

Answer 16

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

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

Fused Sentence

Answer 24

A type of Run-on sentence in which the writer has failed to make any attempt to link two independence clauses, utilizing neither punctuation, nor conjunctions

Question 25

Loose Sentence

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Parallelism

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Periodic Sentence

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Ambiguity

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Concession

Answer 29

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