Vocab 9

Question 1

post-hoc argument

Answer 1

this fallacy is latin for “after which therefore because of which,” meaning that it is incorrect to always claim that something is a cause just because it happened earlier. One may loosely summarize this fallacy by saying that correlation does not imply causation

Question 2

precedents

Answer 2

actions or decisions in the past that have established a pattern or model for subsequent actions

Question 3

premise

Answer 3

A statement or position regarded as true and upon which other claims are based

Question 4

prior knowledge

Answer 4

knowledge that stems from previous experience

Question 5

prolepsis

Answer 5

the anticipation and answering of possible objections

Question 6

propaganda

Answer 6

an argument advancing a point of view without regard to reason, fairness or truth

Question 7

prose

Answer 7

one of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. In prose the printer determines the length of the line; in poetry, the poet determines the length of the line.

Question 8

protagonist

Answer 8

character that the reader is meant to be concerned with

Question 9

pun

Answer 9

a play on words that are either identical in sound or similar in sound, but are sharply different in meaning

Question 10

purpose

Answer 10

the goal the speaker wants to achieve

Question 11

qualifier

Answer 11

words or phrases that are added to another word to modify its meaning, either by limiting it (He was “somewhat” busy) or by enhancing it (The dog was “very” cute)

Question 12

qualitative evidence

Answer 12

evidence supported by reason, tradition or precedent

Question 13

quantitative evidence

Answer 13

includes things that can be measured, cited, counted, or otherwise represented in numbers – for instance, statistics, surveys, poll, census information

Question 14

realism

Answer 14

Describing nature / life without idealization

Question 15

rebuttal

Answer 15

gives voice to possible objections

Question 16

red herring

Answer 16

when a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue (changing the subject and ignoring the main argument)

Question 17

refutation

Answer 17

denial of the validity of an opposing argument. In order to sound reasonable, a refutation often follows a concession that acknowledges that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable. One of the stages in classical oration, usually following the confirmation, or proof, and preceding the conclusion

Question 18

repetition

Answer 18

The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern.

Question 19

rhetoric

Answer 19

Aristotle defined rhetoric as the “faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” In other words, it is the art of finding ways of persuading an audience through language

Question 20

rhetorical analysis

Answer 20

an examination of how well the components of an argument work together to persuade or move an audience

Question 21

rhetorical question

Answer 21

Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer

Question 22

rhetorical situation

Answer 22

the relationship between topic, author, audience and other contexts (social, cultural, political) that determine or evoke an appropriate spoken or written response