Author/Speaker’s Rhetorical Choices
The author/speaker makes deliberate rhetorical CHOICES IN ORDER TO successfully communicate
her/his message. She/He makes these CHOICES SO THAT the audience is persuaded to see things the
author/speaker’s way. Below is a LONG list of possible CHOICES that you will find in many of the
selections we will encounter in AP Language (*You may find others. If so, add them to your list):
Structures:
-Shifts
-Inductive
-Deductive
-Cause/effect
-Problem/solution
-Point/counterpoint
-Concede/refute
-Parallelism
-Repetition
-List
-Could have done
this/did this instead
Styles:
-Rogerian
-Aristotelian
-Anecdote
-Allusion
-Analogy
-Appeal to religious
values
-Accuse
-Assign personal
responsibility
-American tradition
-American values
-Examples
-Expose
-Encourage
-Extended
metaphor
-Euphemism
-Make someone/
something “relatable”
-Mutual values
-Mutual experiences
-Metaphor
-Moral values
-Ridicule
-Rhetorical questions
-Rebellion
-Right vs. wrong
-Respect
-Famous quotes
-Fear
-Force
-Flattery
-Nostalgia
-Nationalism
-Glorify/worship
-Personal experience
-Praise
-Philosophy
-Protest
-Place someone in an
embarrassing/
awkward/
compromising/
vulnerable position
-Point out hypocrisy/
inconsistency/flaws in
character or action
-Personify
-Personal values
-Patriotism
-Comparison
-Cultural commonality
-Challenge
-Call to Action
-Calm
-Criticize
-Dehumanize
-Divide
-Demonstrate
superiority/arrogance
-Define
-Established truths
-Establish credibility
-Emotional appeal
-Embellish
-Ethical appeal
-Hyperbole
-Humanize
-Isolate someone
-Imagery
-Instill confidence
-Incite
rebellion/civil
disobedience/
defiance
-Induce sorrow/pity
-Insult
-Juxtapose
-Logical appeal
-Offer hope
-Quoting
authority/expert
-Sarcasm
-Scold
-Shock
-Statistics
-Shame/Embarrass
-Social Values
-Sense of duty (to
self, country, fellow
humans, etc.)
-Threaten
-Us vs. Them
-Us against the world
-Unify/Unite
-Ultimatums
-Use of one’s own
words against
her/him
-Warn
-“You” (individual
focus)