AP Vocabulary list 1
Rhetorical Tools—words to help analyze rhetoric
Tone
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The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward the
subject. Do not confuse with mood, which is the
feeling that a text is intended to produce in the
audience.
Diction
A writer’s or speaker’s word choice. Not the same thing as
syntax.
Generally, the important words in a passage are the verbs,
nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.
More on diction at last slide.
Syntax
The arrangement of words in a sentence; sentence structure.
This affects pacing. How and why does a writer change
the pacing?
Look for parallelism,
Compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences
Periodic vs. cumulative sentences
Denotation
The literal meaning of a word; the dictionary definition of a
word.
Connotation
That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s
directly expressed, literal “dictionary definition.” The
added psychological and emotional associations that certain
words carry in addition to their simple meaning.
We often speak in terms of positive and negative
connotations.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it
were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.
From the Greek word meaning “To ferry over.”
“The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas”
“The fruit-bat swings on its branch, a tongueless bell.”
Submerged or implied metaphor: “I like to see it [the train] lap up
the miles.”
The train is an animal, but “animal” is never said.
Simile
A type of comparison between two unlike things that uses
“like,” “as,” “thus,” or “so”.
“But hark, my pulse, like a soft drum / beats my approach,
tells thee I come.”
More on Diction
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Diction is thought about in terms of several “scales”:
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Formal words vs. informal words, colloquialism, or
slang.
Latinate-derived words vs. anglo-saxon-derived words
Specific and Concrete nouns vs. general and abstract
nouns
Denotative value vs. CONNOTATIVE VALUE
Literal vs. figurative meaning