TERMINOLOGY for AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION
Keep this ALL YEAR long!
RHETORIC is the art of using language to manipulate or persuade, to make your point
seem reasonable and compelling. Skilled rhetoricians use language as part of their appeals
to LOGIC (LOGOS), EMOTION (PATHOS), and ETHOS (CREDIBILITY of
speaker). “Ethos” refers to the means by which the speaker/writer establishes
herself/himself as someone we will trust and believe in.
According to Aristotle, the ideal arugment
As good critical readers, we learn to recognize these terms and to understand their effects
In the work we are reading. By understanding how the effects of these terms contribute to a
writer/speaker’s RHETORICAL PURPOSE, we more fully understand the intended effect
of the work.
The examples illustrating these terms are taken from the memoir Fist Stick Knife Gun by
Geoffrey Canada.
I. ARGUMENTATION (THE USE OF LOGIC TO PROVE A POINT)
*Assertion/claim (noun)/ assert (verb): Assertions are opinions stated as facts—the basis
of all arguments. Assertions are always arguable. Another word for an assertion that
controls an argument is claim.
“America has long had a love affair with violence and guns”(x). Canada begins his book
by claiming, or asserting that an important part of America’s experience has been their love
of violence and guns. He supports this claim by citing examples from our history (the
American Revolution, the Wild West, and so on) in which guns and violence played a major
role.
*Generalizations: an assertion about a group or class which implies that every member of
this group or class shares a common characteristic. Subjective generalizations depend on
personal attitudes and cannot be logically proven (ice cream is better than pie). Objective
or probable generalizations are true in most cases but not all, and are useful in
argumentation.
Canada’s comment above is a probable generalization because lots of support exists in
American history; still, it is a generalization because you can always find Americans who
hate guns.
*Assumption/unspoken assumption (noun): a supposed “fact” that is actually never
proved. The assumption may be part of a speaker’s belief system.
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
In the above quote, Canada assumes that the role of guns in American history comes about
because Americans love guns. Another assumption (or belief system) might be that guns
are simply necessary for defense against outside threats.
*Qualification (noun): to modify, restrict or limit. A qualification of an assertion or
claim means that you agree in part, or you wish to redefine or reshape the assertion.
If you were asked your opinion of Canada’s assertion, or claim, you might agree that guns
have held an important place in the defense of America, but that “love affair” is too strong a
term to describe Americans’ feelings for guns. So you would express your opinion as a
qualification of Canada’s argument: while it is true that guns have played an important part
in American history, the reason is not Americans’ love for guns but rather their desire for
safety and security.
*Issue: a debatable question that gives rise to different positions or stances. A current
issue that concerns Americans is what our role in Iraq should be. The Bush
administration’s stance or position is that we must use our military strength to achieve a
democratic government.
An issue Canada addresses in his book is human nature: “As an adult I have heard many
times the debate about whether violence is part of the human makeup or a learned
behavior”(23).
*Speaker’s Stance: a “stance” is a position, where you stand on an issue. You might, for
example, disagree with Bush’s stance on Iraq and believe instead that we should withdraw
our troops. That belief, then, would be your stance.
Canada asserts his stance on the issue of violence in human nature: “There is no way that I
can buy the theory that humans have some genetic predisposition to violence. I know
better. . . . My initial belief that violence is learned has been reinforced by years of
counseling and teaching children and adolescents in inner-city neighborhoods in Boston and
New York”(23).
*Rebuttal/Refutation(nouns) rebut/refute (verbs): an opposing argument; a
contradiction. To prove an argument wrong.
Canada cites the common solutions proposed to end violence in our society: “tougher
sentencing for youth caught with guns, . . . boot camp programs, quick fix conflict
mediation . . . “(68). But he rebuts or refutes the idea that these solutions will solve the
problem , pointing out that “the death toll continues to rise” and that that current policies
“fail to address the problem of the sheer availability of guns”(68).
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
*Hypothesis (noun): an unproved theory, proposition or supposition.
Near the end of his book, Canada makes a hypothesis that “Peace officers could bring a
whole new approach to violence prevention” in crime-ridden neighborhoods. He is
attempting to prove this hypothesis by establishing communities within Harlem.
*Speculation(noun) speculate(verb): A guess about what may happen in the future.
In his plans to save Harlem, Canada speculates that the cost of educating young people
about drugs will be offset by the savings in incarcerations(162).
*Objective: without personal bias or prejudice.
When Canada argues that “in some cities more than forty percent of minority youth who
want to work can’t find employment”(162), his evidence from the New York City Office of
the Comptroller shows the reader that this is an objective remark, based on fact.
*Subjective: conclusions based on personal feelings/prejudice or bias.
Canada retells many of the incidents from his childhood from a subjective point of view,
revealing his hurt, confusion and frustrations in learning the “codes of conduct” in his
neighborhood.
*Recapitulate: to repeat briefly; to summarize. Often when you write an argument essay
or give a speech, you recapitulate, or sum up your points, in your conclusion.
After describing his experience as a teacher with some difficult students (Ch. 4), Canada
recapitulates by comparing these students to those he had grown up with in the Bronx and
restating his claim that “Violence is a learned response”(28).
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
II.
RHETORICAL STRATEGIES: Any tools used by the author to make
his/her point more convincing. Rhetorical strategies help the author to make
his claim (Logos) more convincing by appealing to Pathos and Ethos.
*Appeals to authority: using the endorsement , approval or voice of an authority to make
an argument seem more convincing. When students voice their opinions in a synthesis
essay, they often quote from authority figures to support their opinions.
Canada argues that our war on drugs has been a failure. To make this argument more
convincing, he appeals to authority by quoting an academic study by Jerome G. Miller who
did much research on the effect of laws on the amount of drug sales on the streets(130).
*Anecdote: the retelling of a brief incident that may illustrate or prove a point made in an
argument.
Canada begins his book with the incident of the lost jacket which his mother insisted his
brother go back and get(Ch. 1). With this anecdote he provides the foundation for his
argument that the streets of the Bronx required special “codes of conduct.”
*Dilemma: a conflict whose resolution requires one of two choices, both of which are
unfavorable or disagreeable. For example, a teen-ager may have to decide which parent to
live with, realizing that either choice will cause pain. A false dilemma occurs when a
speaker oversimplifies a complex situation so that it seems that only two choices are
presented. Example: America: love it or leave it. The choice of staying in American but
working for change is not presented as an option.
Canada tells us of the dilemma he faced as a parent after his daughter was attacked on the
school bus: If he taught her to be peaceful, which he believed in, she would be a victim to
crueler children. But if he taught her to be a fighter, he would be contributing to the violent
world he hated (6-7).
*Invective: an emotionally violent attack, using strong and critical language, on an
inividual or an institution.
Canada ends his book with an emotional criticism of those who fail to help poor children.
In this invective, he speaks of “monsters” who “deprive them (children) of heat in the
winter, . . . don’t fix their sinks and toilets, . . . let garbage pile up in their hallways, . . . kick
them out of their homes, . . . beat them, . . . shoot them, . . . stab them . . . rape their bodies
and their minds”(178).
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
*Rhetorical Question: a question asked to make a point. The speaker/writer already
knows the answer to the question, and he asks the question to remind his audience of this
answer.
In his first encounter with the police, Canada learns that they expect and accept the level of
violence that occurs in his neighborhood. He imagines the police asking a rhetorical
question: “What’s the matter with you people, don’t you know where you live?”
Obviously, the people know where they live. The police use this question to remind the
inhabitants of the ghetto that violence is part of their world.
*Juxtaposition: a device by which a writer or speaker juxtaposes, or places two items side
by side. This is done to create an ironic contrast or effect. A famous photograph from the
Depression shows a long line of men waiting for bread who are standing in front of a
billboard that says, “America, Land of Opportunity.” The picture of men who are out of
work and must rely on food hand-outs is juxtaposed with the message that America
provides opportunities for all.
When Canada and his co-workers find the building they wish to convert into the Beacon
community center, Canada juxtaposes the description of a “woman nodding from heroin on
the old coach” with his dream that this building could “transform the community”(134).
The ironic contrast of the visible effect of the ruin of the neighborhood with the idealistic
dream for its revival enhances our understanding of the challenge Canada faces.
*Paradox: a reconciliation of opposites; a true statement that seems contradictory.
Example:“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” (Dickens Tale of Two Cities).
Dickens points out that the historical time of his novel had both positive and negative
qualities co-existing.
Canada’s reasoning for teaching martial arts to his neighborhood children represents a
paradox because it seems to be contradictory. He explains this contradiction or paradox:
“I knew it seemed counter-intuitive that teaching young people how to punch, kick, and
defend themselves would reduce violence.” He goes on to reconcile the seeming
contradiction by pointing out that those with the confidence martial arts brings are more
able to resist fighting.
*Oxymoron: a two-word expression of seeming contradiction. (jumbo shrimp, deafening
silence)
Canada says of his friend who didn’t like to fight: “Butchie was a gentle giant”(16).
The meaning of “gentle” contrasts with our accepted notion of a “giant” as a powerful
figure of strength.
*Antithesis: the contrast of opposites within parallel clauses or phrases.
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
Canada uses antithesis to point out the contrast between his innocent belief that the police
would help him and his growing awareness that they didn’t care about people in his
neighborhood: “It was nothing they did, it was what they didn’t do”(14).
*Textual Irony: a writer or speaker says one thing but actually means something else. The
reader/listener gets the actual or ironic meaning from tone and context.
As Canada concludes the anecdote about the boy with ringworm, he ends his chapter by
saying “I thought I had worked out all of the violence and fear issues in my life”(11). The
reader recognizes this comment as ironic because of Canada’s strong focus on the problem
of violence at the beginning of the book. Canada’s intended meaning is to point out,
ironically, that he will continue to face violence.
*Theme: the universal truth. This may be a truth about human nature, nature itself, and/or
society. Themes are truths about human experience that are timeless—they apply to
everyone in every place at every time.
One of Canada’s themes, which he develops with his idea of neighborhoods being “jungles”
with “codes of conduct” based on survival, is that human beings who must learn to survive
in a cruel environment will lose their humanity.
*Hyperbole (overstatement): a deliberate exaggeration for effect. One nature writer said
of the screech owl, that if it could, it would devour the whole world. This, obviously, is an
exaggeration; its effect is to emphasize the danger of this owl.
Canada’s description of boys at his school who were like “hungry sharks at a feeding
frenzy” (which is also a simile) is hyperbole or overstatement. Through exaggeration (not
every single boy was as dangerous as a hungry shark) we understand how scared and
vulnerable Canada felt at the school.
*Litotes (understatement): deliberately representing something as less than it is in order
to create a particular effect.
Canada relates an incident which begins with the claiming of a basketball and escalates into
the confrontation of a man with a gun. He watches as the older boys reach for their knives
and face down an opponent who has a much more powerful weapon. Later, when Geoffrey
wants to talk about this incident, Mike and Junior deliberately understate the severity of
what happened: ‘“He was an asshole. Forget it.”’(42). Their use of litotes or
understatement is meant to teach an important lesson: you must keep your emotions under
control in order to survive on the streets.
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
*Tone: the author’s attitude toward his/her material and/or his/er audience. Tone Shifts
frequently occur in complex passages and are often clues to meaning. Identifying the tone
or tones of a passage is an essential critical reading skill.
When Geoffrey tries to avoid fighting, the older boys speak to him in a taunting tone:
‘“You scared?” “You scared of everybody bigga than you. Alan’s bigga than you, you
scared of him?”’(38).
Often, Canada’s tone becomes didactic, or preachy, as he points out what society must do
to solve the problem of violence: “The only way we are going to make a difference is by
placing well-trained and caring adults in the middle of what can only be called a free-fire
zone in our poorest communities. Adults standing side by side with children in the war
zones o America is the only way to turn this thing around”(109).
*Figurative Language(metaphor, simile/analogy, personification): language that asks us
to imagine, or “see” one thing (schools) as something else (gladiator societies). Canada
creates a particular effect about the schools that gives the reader a particular impression:
they are places where you must fight to survive.
*Metaphor: a direct comparison, sometimes implied
Canada described metaphorically a teen-age girl killed by a bullet as if she were a piece of
material: ‘The bullet entered her head, killing her instantly, leaving her draped on the
fence”(1). The image of the girl “draped” on the fence emphasizes her lifelessness.
*Simile: an indirect comparison using “like” or “as”
Canada uses a simile to compare the boys in his new schools to sharks: “These boys were
like hungry sharks in a feeding frenzy”(32). This simile emphasizes the fear he felt in such
an environment.
*Analogy: a more developed simile
Canada uses an analogy to show how parents often fear for their children’s safety: “Many
of them see their child as a fawn penned in amongst lion cubs. They know that the cubs
will scratch and bite, eventually even kill the fawn”(8).
*Personification: giving life to inanimate objects
Canada writes that children “live in a world where danger lurks all around them”(178).
The verb “lurks” implies human intention; to lurk is to stay hidden until it is time to attack.
Canada personifies danger as a living force.
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
*Symbol: A figure that represents an abstract idea. Through visualization, we better
understand an abstract idea. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the mockingbird, an innocent bird
who hurts nothing, represents Tom Robinson.
Canada makes the gun a symbol of the explosion of violence in our poor neighborhoods.
As a gun is threatening to life, the threat of violence which it represents promises to destroy
the future of our young children if, Canada argues, we do not take a stand.
*Imagery: language that appeals to any of the five senses. Example: the snow is velvety
appeals to our sense of touch.
Canada uses vivid imagery to describe his daughter’s face after her attack: “Another little
girl on the bus had started bullying her and had ended up raking her face with her
fingernails, leaving a set of four bloody trails down Melina’s face”(7). We feel both the
physical and emotional pain of this disfigurement because of Canada’s imagery, and we
share in his outrage as a parent.
*Connotation: words that have an emotional power or are strongly suggestive. “Throne”
has a stronger connotation than “chair”; “mother” has a stronger connotation than “person.”
Canada writes that “The handgun had replaced the fist or knife as the weapon of choice.
The codes of conduct on the streets across the nation were about to undergo a major and
lethal shift”(81). “Lethal” has the connotation, or suggestion, of something that is
extremely threatening to life. By using the word “lethal” to describe the changing rules on
the street, Canada develops his argument that guns are destroying America’s poorer
neighborhoods.
*Concrete details: specific nouns, verbs and modifiers that allow the reader or listener to
visualize exactly what the speaker/writer depicts.
At the conclusion of his book, Canada asks our leaders to “look into the eyes of the fiveyear-olds of this nation, dressed in old raggedy clothes, whose zippers are broken but whose
dreams are still alive”(178). Rather than generalizing about poor children, Canada’s
concrete details bring to life a particular child, five years old, with a broken zipper. With
this specific picture he hopes to achieve his rhetorical purpose, which is to motivate leaders
to take action.
*Allusions: indirect references to works, events or figures that the author assumes the
reader is familiar with. The most commonly alluded to works are the Bible and
Greek/Roman mythology. A writer also may allude to historical fact or to common cultural
knowledge.
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015
Canada refers to his neighborhood on Union Avenue as paradise, but then writes that
“Paradise didn’t last long”(14). This allusion refers to the Christian concept of Paradise as
a perfect place with no conflict (the Garden of Eden).
*Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in order to
emphasize these words (the day of his death was a deep dark day) or to create a particular
mood (Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers—silly or humorous).
Canada writes of Mayor David Dinkins, who had “dedicated his life to saving poor
children in Harlem and in other pockets of poverty”108. Repetition of the “p” sound
connects the words “poor” to “pockets” of “poverty”. This alliteration emphasizes these
words ; the reader must notice the deep areas (pockets) containing poor children. This
alliteration thus contributes to Canada’s purpose in compelling the reader to concentrate on
this societal problem.
*Onomatopoeia: words that sound like what they are. These words create energy in a
written or spoken piece and emphasize a particular action or the force of an incident.
Canada remembers that the young boys were sometimes allowed contact with the older
ones, but often were run off with a “smack upside the head”(38). The word “smack”
sounds like an actual hit on the skin, and the occurrence of frequent smacks even among
those of the same circle illustrates the harsh codes of conduct in the neighborhood.
Jennifer Troy/APSI 2015