AP RHETORICAL TERMS AND

VOCABULARYWEEK 12

1. ALLUSION

• - A literary, historical, religious, or mythological reference. For example, one might contrast the life and tribulations of Frederick Douglass to the trials of Job.

17. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST• - A mode of discourse in which two or

more things are compared, contrasted, or both. On the 1993 English Language exam, students were asked to contrast two marriage proposals taken from literature, analyzed for the use the narrators made of rhetorical devices and their argumentative success.

32. EXPOSITION

• - The interpretation or analysis of a text.

51. LOOSE SENTENCE

• – (a term from syntax) a long sentence that starts with its main clause, which is followed by several dependent clauses and modifying phrases. For example, “ The child ran, frenzied and ignoring all hazards, as if being chased by demons.”

62. PERIODIC SENTENCE

• A long sentence in which the main clause is not completed until the end. For example, “Looking as if she were being chased by demons, ignoring all hazards, the child ran.” “The child, who looked as if she were being chased by demons, frenzied and ignoring all hazards, ran.”

PARATAXIS:

• the placing of clauses or phrases one after another, without words to indicate coordination or subordination, as in Tell me, how are you?.

POLYSYNDETON:

• The use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in "he ran and jumped and laughed for joy").

SYLLEPSIS:

• A figure of speech in which a word is applied to two others in different senses (e.g., caught the train and a bad cold ) or to two others of which it grammatically suits only one (e.g., neither they nor it is working ).

EPIPHORA:

• The emphatic repetition of a word or phrase, at the end of several sentences or stanzas.

EXPUNGE:

• To obliterate, eradicate

FASTIDIOUS:

• Meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards.

FERAL:

• Wild, Savage

IMPASSIVE:

• Stoic, not susceptible to suffering

JUBILANT:

• Extremely joyful, happy

LANGUID:

• Sluggish from fatigue or weakness