AP LANGUAGE &
COMPOSITION
FLASHCARDS
Why reading a passage, ask yourself, “What is
the author trying to accomplish with this
piece?”
If you determine the author’s purpose is to
persuade the reader, ask yourself, “What is the
author’s viewpoint on this topic? What is he or
she trying to convince me to believe or to
accept?”
**Remember, it’s completely irrelevant whether you
agree with the author. The important this is to
understand the author’s purpose and rhetorical
strategy.**
HASTY GENERALIZATION
• Called “jumping to conclusions”
• Too few examples to prove a point
• Example:
Two people I know personally have never been
vaccinated and neither has ever had a serious
illness or physical condition. Therefore,
vaccinations are largely unnecessary.”
FAULTY APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
• Attempts to justify a claim by misrepresenting the
trustworthiness of a supposedly authoritative source
• Fails to acknowledge that experts disagree on the
point
• Or appeals to a source who is not an expert
• Example:
Lebron James insists that children today spend too
much time using social media on computers and cell
phones.
POST HOC, PROPTER HOC
• Lain for “after this, therefore because of this”
• Suggest that because one event precedes another,
it also causes it.
• Example:
Since digital books were introduced, no American
writer has won the Nobel Prize for literature.
AD HOMINEM
• Latin for “against the man”
• An attack on a person’s character instead of on the
person’s ideas or opinions.
• Example:
Having met the author and experienced his
insufferable arrogance, I can safely dismiss his ideas
about love and friendship.
COMMON KNOWLEDGE OR AD
POPULUM
• An appeal to the opinion of the masses, as if the
agreement of large numbers of people makes it
unnecessary to offer any more evidence for a
contention.
• Example:
With the highest ratings in its slot, that detective show
is obviously one of the best shows on television.
BANDWAGON APPEAL
• Taps into people’s desire to be like the group or to
hold the trendy opinion
• Argues that “everyone is doing it” or
• Argues that “the hip people believe this”
RED HERRING
• Avoids the key issue by introducing a separate issue
as a diversion
• Example:
Some baseball hitters probably gained an
advantage by using performance-enhancing
steroids. Yet the season is so long and taxing on the
players’ bodies, it is no surprise that many would seek
chemical assistance.
STRAW MAN
• Creates a “straw man” by exaggerating,
overstating, or over-simplifying an opposing point of
view
• Example:
My opponent would eliminate all government aid
programs until children were left to starve and
parents forced to take the most menial jobs just to
survive.
SLIPPERY SLOPE
• Based on the idea that if a first step is taken, then a
second and third step will follow inevitably, until a
disaster occurs like a person sliding on a slippery
incline until he or she falls to the bottom.
• Example:
If our city council allows video cameras to be placed
at intersections, soon they will install them in our
neighborhoods. And next there will be a camera in
front of each house and then inside each house. We
can’t allow this intrusion into our privacy to stand.
APPEAL TO TRADITION
• Suggests that a course of action is proper or
necessary simply because things have always been
done that way.
• Example:
The school year should begin on the first Tuesday
after Labor Day, for that is when it always began
when I was a child.
GLITTERING GENERALITIES
• Uses “happy words” that sound important
but actually have little or no real meaning.
The words, such as wonderful, fair, and
decent, are employed in general
statements that can’t be proved or
disproved.
BEGGING THE QUESTION OR CIRCULAR
REASONING
• Assumes as evidence that very conclusion it is trying
to prove…
• Example:
Useless courses like Home Economics should be
dropped from the curriculum at our school. Think how
much money is wasted on useless courses each year.
Notice that the writer has not proved that the course
is useless; it is just assumed to be so.
EITHER/OR
• Sometimes called “false dichotomy”
• This deceptively reduces an argument to two
oversimplified alternatives
• Example:
We must immediately adopt green energy
technologies completely, or else poison our planet
with carbon-producing fuels.
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION
• Relies on prejudice instead of careful thought
• Seeks to impugn a person because of the actions or
reputation of those with whom he or she associates.
• Example:
His scientific work is suspect. Recently a colleague
with whom he has been friendly for years was fired for
plagiarizing an article in an academic journal.