Vocabulary
VOCABULARY WORD MAP
Definition / Denotation
Use in a sentence of your own.
An attack on the person
rather than the issues at
hand (a common logical fallacy)
Ad Hominem
(Personal Attack)
Example
Bill: "I believe that abortion is morally wrong."
Dave: "Of course you would saythat, you're a priest."
Bill: "What about the arguments Igave to support my position?"
Dave: "Those don't count. Like I said, you're a priest, so you
have to say that abortion iswrong. Further, you are just a
lackey to the Pope, so I can'tbelieve what you say."
Note:
A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
a minor device, this the ending of
a series of lines, phrases, clauses,
or sentences with the same word
or words.
Use the word in a sentence of your own:
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Epistrophe
Example:
"Don't you ever talk about my friends! You don't know any of
my friends. You don't look at any of my friends. And you certainly
wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends."
(Judd Nelson as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, 1865)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
1. To use a safer or nicer word for something others find inappropriate or unappealing
2. Substitution of an expression that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the receiver
with an agreeable or less offensive expression or to make it less troublesome for the speaker
Euphemism
Example:
 "To pass away" is a euphemism for "to die."
 Often people say “Excuse me” or “May I be excused” instead of “I need to go to
the bathroom.”
 One might refer to pornography as “adult entertainment.”
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
making one or more idea more dramatic by placing it next to its opposite
The word juxtaposition means literally “to place side by side.”
In a literary sense has the same idea but it is the act of positioning to close together words, phrases, or ideas in
order to compare or contrast. The purpose of this literary device is to accentuate the relationship between
the two ideas and to create an insightful meaning.
Juxtaposition
Example:
Henry David Thoreau used an example of juxtaposition when he said,
“Wealth and poverty, guilt and grief, orange and apple, God and Satan; let us settle ourselves
and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and the slush of opinion, and
prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance..”
This example shows juxtaposition because Henry David Thoreau used opposing ideas to
illustrate equality and that we all experience the same feelings and emotions.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
A logical fallacy, or error in reasoning, in which the argument being made
is misdirected from the original issue and is therefore logically irrelevant
1. An inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence.
2. A statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it.
Non Sequitur literally means “it does not follow.”
non sequitur
Example:
 Arguing at length that your religion is of great help to many people. Then,
concluding that the teachings of your religion are undoubtedly true.
 "Bill lives in a large building, so his apartment must be large."
 Steven Johnson grew up in poverty. Therefore, he will make a fine President of the
United States.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
a sentence with several dependent clauses that precede the independent clause
The periodic sentence emphasizes its important point by putting first all subordinate clauses and other modifiers to its main idea.[2]The sentence unfolds
gradually, so that the thought contained in the subject/verb group becomes available only at the sentence's end. [3] Obviously artificial, it is used
mostly in what in oratory is called the grand style.[4]
The periodic sentence is used "to arouse interest and curiosity, to hold an idea in suspense before its final revelation. In the words, "the effect...is to keep
the mind in a state of uniform or increasing tension until the dénouement."
Periodic Sentence
Example:
A "now-famous periodic sentence" occurs in Nikolai Gogols short story "The Overcoat":
Even at those hours when the gray Petersburg sky is completely overcast and the whole population of clerks have
dined and eaten their fill, each as best he can, according to the salary he receives and his personal tastes; when they
are all resting after the scratching of pens and bustle of the office, their own necessary work and other people's, and
all the tasks that an overzealous man voluntarily sets himself even beyond what is necessary; when the clerks are
hastening to devote what is left of their time to pleasure; some more enterprising are flying to the theater, others to
the street to spend their leisure staring at women's hats, some to spend the evening paying compliments to some
attractive girl, the star of a little official circle, while some—and this is the most frequent of all—go simply to a
fellow clerk's apartment on the third or fourth story, two little rooms with a hall or a kitchen, with some pretensions
to style, with a lamp or some such article that has cost many sacrifices of dinners and excursions—at the time
when all the clerks are scattered about the apartments of their friends, playing a stormy game of whist, sipping tea
out of glasses, eating cheap biscuits, sucking in smoke from long pipes, telling, as the cards are dealt, some scandal
that has floated down from higher circles, a pleasure which the Russian do never by any possibility deny himself,
or, when there is nothing better to talk about, repeating the everlasting anecdote of the commanding officer who
was told that the tail had been cut off the horse on the Falconet monument—in short, even when everyone, was
eagerly seeking entertainment, Akaky Akakievich did not indulge in any amusement.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
a sentence with several dependent clauses that precede the independent clause
The periodic sentence emphasizes its important point by putting first all subordinate clauses and other modifiers to its
main idea.[2]The sentence unfolds gradually, so that the thought contained in the subject/verb group becomes
available only at the sentence's end.[3] Obviously artificial, it is used mostly in what in oratory is called the grand
style.[4]
The periodic sentence is used "to arouse interest and curiosity, to hold an idea in suspense before its final revelation. In
the words, "the effect...is to keep the mind in a state of uniform or increasing tension until the dénouement."
Periodic Sentence
Example:
THE PERIODIC SENTENCE:
In this sentence, additional details are placed before the basic statement.
Delay, of course, is the secret weapon of the periodic sentence.
Basic statement: John gave his mother flowers.
Periodic sentence: John, the tough one, the sullen kid who scoffed at any show of sentiment, gave his mother flowers.
Basic statement: The cat scratched Sally.
Periodic sentence: Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the lovable cat scratched Sally.
.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
A complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows.
Loose sentences are the most natural for English speakers, who almost always talk in loose sentences: even
the most sophisticated English writers tend to use loose sentences much more often than periodic
sentences.
It is important to remember that you have to structure a loose sentence as carefully as you would structure a
periodic sentence: it is very easy to lose control of a loose sentence so that by the end the reader has
forgotten what your main point was.
Loose Sentence
Example:
I am willing to pay slightly higher taxes for the privilege of living in Canada, considering
the free health care, the cheap tuition fees, the low crime rate, the comprehensive social
programs, and the wonderful winters.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
Grammatical arrangement of words.
Syntax/ Sentence Variety
Why You Need It:
Writers who use only simple sentences are like truck drivers who do not know how to shift out of first gear: they
would be able to drive a load from Montréal to Calgary (eventually), but they would have a great deal of trouble
getting there.
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Just as a good driver uses different gears, a good writer uses different types of sentences in different situations:
a long complex sentence will show what information depends on what other information;
a compound sentence will emphasize balance and parallelism;
a short simple sentence will grab a reader's attention;
a loose sentence will tell the reader in advance how to interpret your information;
a periodic sentence will leave the reader in suspense until the very end;
a declarative sentence will avoid any special emotional impact;
an exclamatory sentence, used sparingly, will jolt the reader;
an interrogative sentence will force the reader to think about what you are writing; and
an imperative sentence will make it clear that you want the reader to act right away.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
Word choice, particularly as an element of style;
Choice of words in speech or writing
Diction
"Your diction, the exact words you choose and the settings in which you use them, means a great deal to the
success of your writing. While your language should be appropriate to the situation, that generally still
leaves plenty of room for variety. Skillful writers mix general and particular, abstract and concrete, long and
short, learned and commonplace, connotative and neutral words to administer a series of small but telling
surprises. Readers stay interested because they don't know exactly what's coming next."
(Joe Glaser, Understanding Style: Practical Ways to Improve Your Writing. Oxford Univ. Press, 1999)
Example:
"Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still."
(T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton")
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
The art of speaking and writing effectively
Rhetoric
"'Rhetoric' . . . refers but to 'the use of language in such a way as to produce a desired impression
upon the hearer or reader.'"
(Kenneth Burke, Counter-Statement, 1952)1999)
Example:
Rhetoric involves everything a writer or speaker does to make the message meaningful
and effective – syntax, diction, connotation, use of literary devices, organization, etc.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is
appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way
Zeugma
Example:
 "You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit."
(Star Trek: The Next Generation)
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"Kill the boys and the luggage!"
(Fluellen in William Shakespeare's Henry V)
 to wage war and peace
 On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
1. a reference that recalls another work, another time in history,
another famous person, and so forth
2. An indirect reference to a person, place, event, or literary work
with which the author believes the reader will be familiar
Allusion
Example(s):
"I violated the Noah rule: predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does."
(Warren Buffett)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
A rhetorical term for a writing sytle that omits
conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses
Asyndeton
Example(s):
 "He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a
maniac."
(Jack Kerouac, On the Road, 1957)

"Speed up the film, Montag, quick. Click, Pic, Look, Eye, Now,
Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How,
Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong,
Boom!"
(Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, 1953)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
The emotional
implications and associations that a word may carry, in
contrast to its denotative or dictionary meanings
Connotation
Example(s):
Happy: So why do they call him "The Joker"?
Dopey: I heard he wears make-up.
Happy: Make-up?
Dopey: Yeah, to scare people. You know, war paint.
(William Smillie and Michael Stoyanov in The Dark Knight, 2008)
"The name reservation has a negative connotation among Native Americans-an intern camp of sorts."
(John Russell)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
The rhetorical strategy of extending a metaphor through an
entire narrative so that objects, persons, and actions in the text
are equated with meanings that lie outside the text.
allegory
Example(s):
One of the most famous allegories in English is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
(1678), a tale of Christian salvation. Modern allegories include the films The
Seventh Seal (1957) and Avatar (2009) as well as the novels Animal Farm (1945)
and The Lord of the Flies (1954).
"There are obvious layers of allegory [in the movie Avatar]. The Pandora woods is a lot like the Amazon
rainforest (the movie stops in its tracks for a heavy ecological speech or two), and the attempt to get
the Na'vi to 'cooperate' carries overtones of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan."
(Owen Gleiberman, review of Avatar. Entertainment Weekly, Dec. 30, 2009)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
(1) An exaggeration, fairly common in non-fiction prose arguments, that bolsters an argument
(2) A figure of speech (a form of irony) in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an
extravagant statement.
From the Greek, "excess"
hyperbole
Example(s):
 "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and
I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might
select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his
talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.
(John B. Watson, Behaviorism, 1924)
 "I'm experienced now, professional. Jaws been broke, been knocked down a couple of times, I'm bad!
Been chopping trees. I done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator. That's
right. I have wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning,
thrown thunder in jail. That's bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a
brick! I'm so mean I make medicine sick!"
(Muhammad Ali)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
(1) A minor figure of speech in which the name of one thing is substituted
for another with which it is closely associated
From the Greek, "change of name"
metonymy
Example(s):
 Royalty in England is sometimes referred to as “the crown”
 The American film industry is sometimes referred to as “Hollywood”
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
(1) An inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
(2) This is an ABBA syntactical structure rather than the more common
parallel ABAB structure
(3) a verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against
the first with the parts reversed
From the Greek, "mark with the letter X."
chaismus
Example(s):
 "Nice to see you, to see you, nice!"
(catchphrase of British TV entertainer Bruce Forsyth)

"You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget."
(Cormac McCarthy, The Road, 2006)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
1. The presence of two or more possible meanings in any passage.
2. doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention
3. A n unclear, indefinite, or equivocal word, expression, meaning, etc.
From the Latin, "wandering about“
AMBIGUITY
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Example(s):
Ambiguous image: a woman or a saxophone player?
We saw her duck.
Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
(newspaper headline)
Union Demands Increased Unemployment
(newspaper headline)
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
(1) An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid
From the Latin, "deceive"
FALLACY
Example(s):
 Segregation is a natural instinct of all animals (including man).
Source: Hubert Eaton in a speech in 1964 defending racial segregation, cited in Morris
Kominsky's
The Hoaxers (Branden Press: 1970), p. 103.
 Jane and Bill are talking: Jane: "I'll be able to buy that car I always wanted soon."
Bill: "Why, did you get a raise?"
Jane: "No. But you know how I've been playing the lottery all these years?"
Bill: "Yes, you buy a ticket for every drawing, without fail."
Jane: "And I've lost every time."
Bill: "So why do you think you will win this time?"
Jane: "Well, after all those losses I'm due for a win."
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or other group,
often meaningless to outsiders
From Old French, "the twittering of birds, meaningless talk"
JARGON
Example(s):
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"Ahead in the count" If someone refers to your business as one that is "ahead in the count", you're doing very well.
This is an example of baseball jargon that refers to when the pitcher - ahead in the count - has more strikes than
balls against a batter. In the business world, to be ahead of the count means you have pulled out in front of your
competitors and are doing well in your market. In order to stay ahead in the count, you may to continue doing what
you're doing, but also re-evaluating ways to stay ahead of your competition.
"Plug and Play" - It literally means when you buy an electronic device, all you need to do is plug it in the electrical
receptacle, turn it on, and it will work properly. In business, this term does not need to refer to an electrical device,
but virtually anything that should work properly with not much thinking involved.
"Cookies" Some examples of jargon just don't always mean what you may think! This is one example. The term
"cookies" is computer jargon. It refers to data placed on your computer from a web server that records the websites
you visit, your passwords (if you so choose), your shopping cart preferences, and a record of your website
preferences. How are cookies helpful to you? If you use the Internet regularly, cookies allow the websites to "know"
you when you return. Pages can load faster, passwords can be remembered so you don't have to key them in each
time, etc. Although cookies are not absolutely necessary, they are very helpful when it comes to operating efficiently
on the Internet.
Vocabulary Word Map
Definition/Denotation:
The way in which information is presented in a text.
The four traditional modes are narration, description, exposition, and argument.
MODES OF DISCOURSE
Example(s):
Narration: recounts an event or a series of related events
Description: uses sensory details to portray a person, place or
thing
Exposition: intended to give information about (or an explanation
of) an issue, subject, method, or idea
Argument: A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood.