Junior Literary Terms
Active Voice / Passive Voice (11)
Active Voice
In sentences written
in active voice, the
subject performs the
action expressed in
the verb; the subject
acts.
Passive Voice
One can change the
normal word order of
many active
sentences (those with
a direct object) so that
the subject is no
longer active, but is,
instead, being acted
upon by the verb - or
passive
Active Voice
Passive Voice
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Argument / ad hominem (11)
Definition:
The person presenting an argument is attacked instead of the argument itself.
For example, the person's character, nationality or religion may be attacked.
Alternatively, it may be pointed out that a person stands to gain from a favorable
outcome. Or, finally, a person may be attacked by association, or by the
company he keeps. There are three major forms of Attacking the Person:
– Ad hominem (abusive): instead of attacking an assertion, the argument
attacks the person who made the assertion.
– Ad hominem (circumstantial): instead of attacking an assertion the author
points to the relationship between the person making the assertion and the
person's circumstances.
– Ad hominem (tu quoque): this form of attack on the person notes that a
person does not practice what he preaches.
Examples:
You may argue that God doesn't exist, but you are just a fat idiot. (ad hominem
abusive)
We should disregard Fred's argument because he is just angry about the fact
that defendant once cheated him out of $100. (ad hominem circumstantial)
You say I should give up alcohol, but you haven't been sober for more than a
year yourself. (ad hominem tu quoque)
You claim that Mr. Jones is innocent, but why should anyone listen to you? You
are a criminal after all. (ad hominem circumstantial)
Begging the Question (11)
A form of logical fallacy in which a statement or claim
is assumed to be true without evidence other than the
statement or claim itself. When one begs the question,
the initial assumption of a statement is treated as
already proven without any logic to show why the
statement is true in the first place.
Clause (11)
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•
•
•
Letters = words (baby)
Words = phrases (baby clothes)
Phrases = clauses (if baby clothes are too expensive)
Clauses = sentences (If baby clothes are too expensive, you
should try shopping at a discount store.)
• The essential building blocks of sentences.
There are two types of clauses - dependent (incomplete idea or
fragment) needs to lean on other clauses to become a sentence
and independent (complete ideas or sentence) stands alone. It
doesn’t need any help from any other clauses.
– Some sentences combine both like compound (two ind. clauses with
a COMMA and a BOYS FAN word.
– Some sentences combine both like complex (one ind. clause and
one dep. clause like the example above)
– Some sentence combine more than one like compound – complex
(one ind. clause and two or more dep. clauses.
Complex Sentence (11)
3. A COMPLEX SENTENCE has one
dependent clause (headed by a subordinating
conjunction or a relative pronoun ) joined to an
independent clause.
Compound Sentence (11)
• A COMPOUND SENTENCE has two independent clauses
joined by
• A. a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so),
• B. a conjunctive adverb (e.g. however, therefore), or
• C. a semicolon alone.
Independent Clause (11)
• A technical term for a sentence. It is literally a
phrase with a subject and a verb and a complete
idea. (as opposed to dependent clause, which,
although it has a subject and a verb does not
contain a complete idea.
Two basic categories (11)
of human reasoning
• Deduction: reasoning from general premises, which are
known or presumed to be known, to more specific, certain
conclusions.
• Induction: reasoning from specific cases to more general,
but uncertain, conclusions.
• Both deductive and inductive arguments occur frequently
and naturally…both forms of reasoning can be equally
compelling and persuasive, and neither form is preferred
over the other (Hollihan & Baske, 1994).
Deduction Vs. Induction
Deduction:
Induction
• commonly associated •
with “formal logic.”
• involves reasoning
from known premises, •
or premises presumed
to be true, to a certain
conclusion.
• the conclusions
•
reached are certain,
inevitable,
inescapable.
commonly known as
“informal logic,” or
“everyday argument”
involves drawing
uncertain inferences,
based on probabalistic
reasoning.
the conclusions
reached are probable,
reasonable, plausible,
believable.
Idiom (11)
• Often used as a synonym
for dialect. Also refers to a
particular phrase in one
language that is not easily
translated into another
– “Un clavo soco a otro clavo”
is usually translated as a nail
pulls out another nail, but
really means that if you feel
pain from a bad relationship,
a new one will take away the
pain.
– Easy as pie
Fallacies of Assumption
• A fallacy of assumption violates the second
criterion of a good argument (the premises
should be plausible). Thus, a fallacy of
assumption is an argument that makes a
dubious assumption.
– False Dilemma
• Perfectionist Fallacy
• Line-Drawing Fallacy
– Straw Man
– Slippery Slope
– Begging the Question
Jargon (11)
• Potentially
confusing words
used in highly
specialized
occupations,
trades, or fields
of study, such as
the medical,
legal,
technological, or
military fields.
Periodic Sentence (11)
• A long sentence that is not grammatically
complete until the reader reaches the final
portion of the sentence. The verb usually falls
close to the end of the sentence. Most
sentences follow a s/v/o pattern (the opposite of
a loose sentence).
– Considering the free health care, the cheap tuition
fees, the low crime rate, the comprehensive social
programs, and the wonderful winters, I am willing to
pay slightly higher taxes for the privilege of living
in Canada.
Loose Sentence
A loose sentence is a long sentence that has the main
point at the beginning.
• is effective because the main idea is followed by
supporting information
• is the opposite of a periodic sentence
• I would be willing to pay more tuition at this college, if the
class sizes were smaller, the teachers were better, and the
degree was nationally recognized.
• Note: the part of the sentence in bold is the main point and
easily identified by the listener or reader
Manipulation of Time
Parallel Structure
Parallel Structure means using the same pattern of
words to show that two or more ideas have the same
level of importance. This can happen at three levels:
Word
Phrase
Clause
Words and Phrases
Incorrect:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a
bicycle.
Correct:
Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a
bicycle.
Clauses
Parallel structure that begins with clauses must continue on with
clauses.
Incorrect:
The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that
they should not eat too much, and to do some warm-up exercises
before the game.
Correct:
The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep,
that they should not eat too much, and that they should do
some warm-up exercises before the game
“Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez
While we usually think of
parodies in relation to
written work, art can also
be parodied as happened
to this 1656 painting of
the Spanish court by
Diego Velázquez , who was
the leading artist of the
Spanish Golden Age.
The artist is standing to the left
with his paintbrush and palette.
Especially notice the dog, the
children, and the dwarf when
you look at the next slide.
22
Pablo Picasso painted this parody in 1957. Notice
how much bigger he made the artist and how he
stylized the figures and the windows.
__
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Parodies Illustrate Deconstruction
Followed by Re-Construction
• Wolcott Gibbs wrote in The New Yorker that parody
is the hardest form of creative writing because the
style of the subject must be reproduced in slightly
enlarged form, while at the same time holding the
interest of people who haven’t read the original.
• Further complications are posed since it must
entertain at the same time that it criticizes and must
be written in a style that is not the writer’s own.
• “The only thing that would make it more difficult,” he
concluded, “would be to write it in Cantonese.”
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• http://www.mysteryofpoe.com/images/sim
psons.jpghttp://www.mysteryofpoe.com/i
mages/simpsons.jpg
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Red Herring
•
Definition: Partway through an argument, the arguer goes off on a tangent,
raising a side issue that distracts the audience from what's really at stake.
Often, the arguer never returns to the original issue.
•
Example: "Grading this exam on a curve would be the most fair thing to do.
After all, classes go more smoothly when the students and the professor are
getting along well." Let's try our premise-conclusion outlining to see what's
wrong with this argument:
– Premise: Classes go more smoothly when the students and the professor
are getting along well.
– Conclusion: Grading this exam on a curve would be the most fair thing to
do.
•
When we lay it out this way, it's pretty obvious that the arguer went off
on a tangent--the fact that something helps people get along doesn't
necessarily make it more fair; fairness and justice sometimes require
us to do things that cause conflict. But the audience may feel like the
issue of teachers and students agreeing is important and be distracted
from the fact that the arguer has not given any evidence as to why a
curve would be fair.
Redundancy (11)
• Words, phrases, or
sentences, repeated
to achieve a specific
effect (other than
boring students).
What is rhetoric?
• Aristotle first defined rhetoric as “the power to see the
possible ways of persuading people about a given
subject.”
• Teenagers are natural masters of rhetoric- they easily
use language in hopes to persuade their friends,
teachers and parents.
• Rhetoric is everywhere! Whether it’s a politician using it
for a vote, a teenager peer pressuring a friend or an
adult writing a report at work- everyone uses rhetoric in
some form or another.
• If a students understand how they can use rhetoric in
their assignments, they will have the power to write
effectively.
Rhetoric is any communication used to modify the
perspectives of others.
Rhetorical Questions
• These questions aren’t asked with the intention
of eliciting a response
– Rather, they’re there to cause the audience to
question the other side – and, in turn, accept yours
– They attract the audience’s attention and gain
interest because the audience supplies the answer!
• “How many times do I have to tell you to do
your homework?” does not invite a response.
Sarcasm: A cutting, often ironic remark
intended to wound. A form of wit that is
marked by the use of sarcastic language
and is intended to make its victim the butt of
contempt or ridicule.
-“Sure, Nascar is a real sport—anything that
inspires that much Budweiser consumption
must be a feat of athletic prowess!”
Satire (11)
• An attack or criticism of
any stupidity or vice in
the form of scathing
humor and wit.
– South Park
– The Simpsons
– Eminem
– Political Cartoons
Satire (11)
WASHINGTON (IWR News
Satire) – The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention on Monday
issued a warning for Americans not
to stare directly into the face of
First Lady Laura Bush. CDC
scientists have found that staring
into Laura Bush's eyes can cause
a form hysteria in which victims
have a distorted view of reality. A
recent example of this phenomena
was observed at the annual Easter
Egg hunt, when unsuspecting
children, who gazed into the First
Lady's face, forgot how
incompetent the Bush
Administration really was last
August and then began singing the
praises of her bungling husband
and FEMA.
Satire
• The most basic type of sentence is the simple
sentence, which contains only one clause. All
of the following are simple sentences, because
each contains only one clause:
• Melt!
• Ice melts.
• The ice melts quickly.
• The ice on the river melts quickly under the
warm March sun.
• Lying exposed without its blanket of snow, the
ice on the river melts quickly under the warm
March sun.
(Simple Sentence Cont.-)
As you can see, a simple sentence can be quite long -- it is a
mistake to think that you can tell a simple sentence from a
compound sentence or a complex sentence simply by its
length.
The most natural sentence structure is the simple sentence:
it is the first kind which children learn to speak, and it
remains by far the most common sentence in the spoken
language of people of all ages. In written work, simple
sentences can be very effective for grabbing a reader's
attention or for summing up an argument, but you have to
use them with care: too many simple sentences can make
your writing seem childish.
When you do use simple sentences, you should add
transitional phrases to connect them to the surrounding
sentences.
Syntax
• It’s how authors put words and phrases
together.
– One thing Syntax does is control pacing.
•In order to quicken the pace, the author will use
shorter, simpler sentences.
•In order to slow down the pace, the author will
use longer, more complex and convoluted
sentences.
When analyzing syntax, consider such questions
as:
• Are the sentences simple and direct, or complex
and convoluted?
• Does the author use repetition or parallel
structure for emphasis?
(Note: Always say what is emphasized and
why.)
• Are there rhetorical questions in the passage?
• Are ideas set out in a special way for a purpose
or effect?
And remember – syntactically, you
create emphasis by:
• Position – Where you put something in the
sentence
• Isolation – Setting it off by itself (dash,
quotation marks, parenthesis, etc.)
• Repetition – The number of times something is
repeated
• Proportion – The size of the idea and how
much of the piece the idea takes up
Vernacular
• ver·nac·u·lar (n.)
– 1. The standard native language of a country
or locality.
– 2.
• a. The everyday language spoken by a people as
distinguished from the literary language. See
Synonyms at dialect.
• b. A variety of such everyday language specific to a
social group or region: the vernaculars of New York
City.
– 3. The idiom of a particular trade or profession:
in the legal vernacular.
Understatement
• deliberately expresses an idea as less
important than it actually is, either for
ironic emphasis or for politeness and
tact.
- “It was unkind of him to throw hot soup on
his friend.”