Rhetorical and Literary Terms,
Vocab, & Grammar:
Practice AP Test #1
Multiple Choice
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
PARALLELISM
is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several
parts of a sentence or several sentences
are expressed similarly to show that the
ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in
importance. Parallelism also adds balance
and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity
to the sentence.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
PARALLELISM
(examples)
• Ferocious dragons breathing fire and wicked
sorcerers casting their spells do their harm by
night in the forest of Darkness.
• These critics--who point out the beauties of
style and ideas, who discover the faults of false
constructions, and who discuss the application
of the rules--usually help a lot in engendering
an understanding of the writer's essay.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
A periodic sentence has the main clause or
predicate at the end.
This is used for emphasis and can be persuasive
by putting reasons for something at the
beginning before the final point is made.
It can also create suspense or interest for the
reader.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
Periodic Sentences
(examples)
•
•
•
•
•
•
In spite of heavy snow and cold temperatures, the game
continued.
With low taxes, beautiful views and a mild climate, this city is
a great place to live.
Positive thinking, by helping us stay focused and maintaining
a good attitude, is important for a happy life.
After shopping at the mall, walking the dogs and washing the
car, I finally got to stay in and relax.
If the price was good and the quality excellent, I might
consider buying a designer dress.
Renewable energy resources, like wind, solar, and
geothermal, will be the answers to Earth’s energy problems.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
ANALOGY
compares two things, which are alike in several
respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying
some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing
how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one.
While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is
generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for
effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more
practical end of explaining a thought process or a line
of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete,
and may therefore be more extended.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
ANALOGY
(examples)
• Knowledge always desires increase: it is like fire,
which must first be kindled by some external
agent, but which will afterwards propagate itself.
--Samuel Johnson
• The body is a unit, though it is made up of many
parts; and though all its parts are many, they
form one body. So it is with Christ. (And so forth,
to the end of the chapter.] --l Cor. 12:12 (NIV)
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
Grammar Review: PRONOUNS
(I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they,
each, few, many, who, whoever, whose,
someone, everybody, etc.) is a word that
takes the place of a noun.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
Grammar Review: PRONOUNS
SINGULAR
PLURAL
subjective
objective
possessive
subjective
objective
possessive
1st person
I
me
my, mine
we
us
our, ours
2nd person
you
you
your, yours
you
you
your, yours
3rd person
he
she
it
him
her
it
his
her, hers
its
they
them
their, theirs
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
HYPERBOLE
Is the counterpart of understatement, deliberately
exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect.
Note: In formal writing the hyperbole must be
clearly intended as an exaggeration, and should
be carefully restricted. That is, do not exaggerate
everything, but treat hyperbole like an
exclamation point, to be used only once a year.
Then it will be quite effective as an attention
grabber.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
HYPERBOLE
(examples)
• There are a thousand reasons why more
research is needed on solar energy.
• I said "rare," not "raw." I've seen cows
hurt worse than this get up and get well.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
IRONY
1. VERBAL (aka SARCASM): the expression of one's meaning by using
language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous
or emphatic effect.
“Don't go overboard with the gratitude,” he rejoined with heavy
irony.
2. SITUATIONAL: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately
contrary to what one expects and is often amusing or surprising as a
result.
“The irony is that I thought he could help me."
"the irony of the situation"
3. DRAMATIC: a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy,
by which the full significance of a character's words or actions are
clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
PARADOX
1. a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement
or proposition that when investigated or explained
may prove to be well founded or true.
"in a paradox, he has discovered that stepping back from
his job has increased the rewards he gleans from it"
2. a situation, person, or thing that combines
contradictory features or qualities.
"the mingling of deciduous trees with elements of desert
flora forms a fascinating ecological paradox"
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
METAPHOR
MIXED METAPHOR
DEAD METAPHOR
ETENDED METAPHOR
(See Power Point on METAPHOR)
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
ALLEGORY
is a form of extended metaphor, in which
objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are
equated with the meanings that lie outside the
narrative itself. The underlying meaning has
moral, social, religious, or political significance,
and characters are often personifications of
abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.
Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a
literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
METAPHYSICAL
The word 'meta' means 'after,' so the literal translation of
'metaphysical' is 'after the physical.' Basically, metaphysics
deals with questions that can't be explained by science. It
questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way.
Here are some common metaphysical questions:
• Does God exist?
• Is there a difference between the way things appear to us
and the way they really are?
• Essentially, what is the difference between reality and
perception?
• Is everything that happens already predetermined? If so,
then is free choice non-existent?
• Is consciousness limited to the brain?
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
METAPHYSICAL cont’d
Metaphysics can cover a broad range of topics
from religious to consciousness; however, all the
questions about metaphysics ponder the nature
of reality. And of course, there is no one correct
answer to any of these questions. Metaphysics is
about exploration and philosophy, not about
science and math.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
METAPHYSICAL cont’d
Metaphysical poetry also sought to shock the
reader and wake him or her up from his or her
normal existence in order to question the
unquestionable. The poetry often mixed ordinary
speech with paradoxes and puns. The results were
strange, comparing unlikely things, such as lovers to
a compass or the soul to a drop of dew. These weird
comparisons were called conceits (aka a far-fetched
and often extended metaphor).
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE
SUBJECTIVE: a subject's personal perspective,
feelings, beliefs, desires or discovery.
OBJECTIVE: not influenced by personal feelings,
interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts;
unbiased
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
Vocab: EFFUSIVE
expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or
approval in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner.
"an effusive welcome"
synonyms:gushing, gushy, unrestrained,
extravagant, fulsome, demonstrative, lavish,
enthusiastic, lyrical;
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
PARABLE
Is a short story that teaches a moral or spiritual
lesson; especially : one of the stories told by
Jesus Christ and recorded in the Bible.
It is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse,
which illustrates one or more instructive lessons
or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables
employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or
forces of nature as characters, whereas parables
have human characters. A parable is a type of
analogy.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
MELODRAMATIC
means characterized by a kind of performance
or exaggeration of emotions.
A melodrama is a dramatic or literary work in
which the plot, which is typically sensational
and designed to appeal strongly to the
emotions, takes precedence over detailed
characterization. Characters are often simply
drawn, and may appear stereotyped.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
PARODY
A parody is a humorous or mocking imitation of
something, using the same form as the original.
(Eg., To parody a poem, you have to write another
poem.)
A parody is a form of humor that spoofs — or
satirizes — something using the same form. For
example, shows like "Saturday Night Live" and
"The Daily Show" have parodied real newscasts by
doing fake newscasts that look like the real thing.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of a
single imagined persona (NOT the poet)
in a specific situation at a critical moment that
reveals the speaker's temperament and character.
In this monologue, the speaker addresses and
interacts with one or more other people; but we
know of the auditors' presence, and what they say
and do, only from clues in the discourse of the
single speaker (we never actually hear/read what
the person being addressed says, hence
MONO-logue, not DIA-logue)
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
EXPOSE’
(French past part., "revealed"):
A journalistic or literary revelation or exposure--especially
of something discreditable or scandalous.
Examples of non-fiction exposés include All the President's
Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, which revealed
Nixon's involvement with the Watergate scandal, and
Edwin Markham's Children in Bondage, which exposed the
evils of child labor.
Fictional narratives can also reveal real-world scandals,
such as Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel, The Jungle, which
exposed consumers to the exploitation of meat-packing
workers, and the poetry of William Wordsworth and
William Blake which also acted in many ways as exposes of
child labor practices in London.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
EVOCATION
Is the act of bringing something into the mind or
memory : the act of evoking something;
a passage that calls to mind a particular
experience or event, especially using highly
descriptive language.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
METONYM
is another form of metaphor, very similar
to synecdoche (and, in fact, some
rhetoricians do not distinguish between
the two), in which the thing chosen for the
metaphorical image is closely associated
with (but not an actual part of) the subject
with which it is to be compared.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
METONYM
(examples)
The orders came directly from the White House.
This land belongs to the crown.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
EXPRESSIONISM
is a writing approach, process, or technique in
which a writer depicts a character’s feelings
about a subject (or the writer’s own feelings
about it) rather than the objective surface
reality of the subject. A writer, in effect,
presents his interpretation of what he sees.
Often, the depiction is a grotesque distortion or
phantasmagoric representation of reality, for the
character or writer must reshape the objective
image into his mind's image.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
EXPRESSIONISM
However, there is logic to this approach: Not
everybody perceives the world in the same way.
What one person may see as beautiful or good
another person may see as ugly or bad. Sometimes
a writer or his character suffers from a mental
debility, such as depression or paranoia, which
alters his perception of reality. Expressionism
enables the writer to present this altered
perception. An example of a character who sees
reality through his mind's eye is Joseph K., the
protagonist of Franz Kafka's novel The Trial.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
Vocab: STACCATO
with each sound or note sharply detached or
separated from the others.
EG: Katie Perry sings, “You’re gonna hear me
ROA – OAR – OAR- OAR – OAR – OAR”
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
SYNTAX
is the set of rules, principles, and processes that
govern the structure of sentences in a given
language.
The elements of syntax include sentence length,
sentence type, the number of sentences, the
rhythm of sentences, voice (active or passive),
and word order or arrangement.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
IMAGERY
is the use of highly descriptive
language that appeals to any of the
five senses
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
ANTECEDENT
a word, phrase, or clause that is replaced by a
pronoun in the same or in another, usually
subsequent, sentence.
Jane lost a glove and she can't find it.
Jane is the antecedent of she and
glove is the antecedent of it.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
ANACHRONISM
is a thing belonging or appropriate to a
period other than that in which it exists,
especially a thing that is conspicuously oldfashioned.
The sword is an anachronism in modern warfare.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
Vocab: ANTHROPOLOGICAL
relating to the science of humans and their
works.
Also, the science that deals with the origins,
physical and cultural development, biological
characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of
humankind.
Rhetorical and Literary Terms
SUBORDINATE CLAUSE
AKA, a DEPENDENT CLAUSE
Is a clause, typically introduced by a conjunction,
that forms part of and is dependent on a main
clause
(e.g., “when it rang” in
“she answered the phone when it rang”).