AP Lang Comp Terms

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  1. Allegory
    • Definition: A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another. 
    • Example: "Allegory of the cave" (Plato, Allegory of the Cave) 

    Explanation: This whole piece is an allegory.
  2. Annotation
    Definition: a critical or explanatory note or body of notes added to a text.

    • Example: "I think Sona Pai, an indian american graduate student in literary nonfiction at the university of oregon, for giving me a glimpse into the indian american motel-operating community and the lives of immigrant bridges." 
    • (Ehrenreich, Nickel & Dimed, pg. 161)

    Explanation: The author uses annotation to give research information about this woman.
  3. Alliteration
    Definiton: the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter.

    Example: "Sunny self-sonffident self." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 123) 

    Explanation: She used to letter S to begin all of the words in this sentence to show what she wants people to see her as.
  4. Aristotelian triangle
    Definition: A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience.
  5. Allusion
    Definition: a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication.

    Example: "Teddy- was ever ready to raise Cain." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 13) 

    Explanation: This is referring to the biblical story of cain and abel.
  6. Anadiplosis
    Definition: repetition in the first part of a clause or sentence of a prominent word from the latter part of the preceding clause or sentence, usually with a change or extension of meaning.

    Example: "When I give I give myself." (Gladwell, pg. 104) 

    Explanation: He is using repetition of the words "i give".
  7. Analogy
    Definition: a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based.

    Example: "...the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo, and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 40).

    Explanation: The author is making an analogy to the absence of God, which is especially present within the green light.
  8. Anaphora
    Definition:  Repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.

    Example: "...But when you have seen vicious mobs...When you have seen hate filled policeman....when you are forever fighting...then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait." (MLK Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: MLK uses the repition as a dramatic effect as it never stops and keeps happening.
  9. Anecdote
    Definition: a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.

    Example: "I watched the yellow-white flames make a ragged brown line up the pink fabric of my skirt and climb my stomach. Then the flames leaped up reaching my face." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 9) 

    Example: The is a story about how the author was once burned.
  10. Antecedent
    Definition: a preceding circumstance, event, object, style, phenomenon, etc.

    Example: "Let all out neighbors know that we shall join them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the America's." (JFK, JFK's Inaugural Address)

    Explanation: JFK first identifies his audience, but then JFK uses a personal pronoun to be more personable and friendly.
  11. Antimetabole
    Definition: The repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen a contrast.

    Example: "Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." (MLK Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: The sharp contrast of words creates a stronger sentence used because the ideals are important and it allows it to be easily remembered.
  12. Antithesis
    Definition: Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas.

    Example: "My feet is tired but my soul is at rest." (MLK Jr, Letters From Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: King uses this contrasting technique to bring greater attention to his soul being at rest.
  13. Aphorism
    Definition: A short, astute statement of a general truth.

    Example: "Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy." (Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 124)

    Explanation: This is a short statement about how the author feels about life.
  14. Apostrophe
    Definition: A digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea.

    Example: "She's got character. Gets it from her old man." (Capote, In Cold Blood, 9g. 18) 

    Explanation: The punctuation mark shows the possession of the character.
  15. Appositive
    Definition: A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun.

    Example: “Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction.” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 6)

    Explanation: The author states his name, then renames Gatsby with a description at the end of the statement, creating an appositive.
  16. Archaic diction
    Definition: The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.

    Example: "...beliefs for which our forebears fought." (JFK, JFK's Innagural Address)

    Explanation: The word forebears was not commonly used in JFK's era, therefore it is archaic diction.
  17. Argument
    Definition: A statement put forth and supported by evidence.

    Example: "Discrimination against hispanics or any other group should be fought and their laws are a massive apparatus to do so." (Everythings an Argument, chapter 1, pg. 7)

    Explanation: This is a statement trying to stop discrimination in an argument form.
  18. Assertion
    Definition: An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.

    Example: "Then she told me that it has occured to her that if she got out of Welch, and away from thr family, she might have a short and happy life." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 218)

    Explanation: She uses an assertion here to claim that if she got out of Welch and away from her family she would have a happy life which foreshadows other events in the book.
  19. Assonance
    Definition: Rhyme in which the same vowel sounds are used with different consonants in the stressed syllables of the rhyming words.

    Example: "It beats...as it sweeps...as I clean."(Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 205) 

    Explanation: These words rhyme because the "ee" and "ea" sounds are repeated.
  20. Assumption
    Definition: A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.

    Example: "Give me a few weeks of this and I'll femne out entirely, my stride will be reduced to a mince, I'll start tucking my head down to one side." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 156) 

    Explanation: She is saying that is how everyone who works there is, but provides no proof.
  21. Asyndeton
    Definition: Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses.

    Example: "Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justic, President Eiesenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, Reverend CLergy, fellow citizense." (JFK, JFK's Inaguaral Address, pg. 52)

    Explanation: JFK does not use a conjunction because he wants to individualize these people by not uncluding the conjunction, but brings them together as a list.
  22. Attitude
    Definition: The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.

    Example: "But when you have seen the vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim..."(MLK Jr. Letters from Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: MLK Jr's attitute is very angry and emotional while he describes the things he has been through to show why this isnt right.
  23. Audience
    Definition: One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.

    Example: "Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, and fellow citizens." (JFK inagural Address)

    Explanation: JFK adresses the people who he is intending to speak to personally to make his them feel more welcomed.
  24. Authority
    Definition: A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.

    Example: "The first was that I'd had my last Whipping. No one was ever going to do that to me again." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 221) 

    Explanation: She is using her past and her history of being beaten as her knowledge to know to never let that happen again.
  25. Bias
    Definition: Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.

    • Example: "High school movies are so full of uneasy and odd, mixed premotions."
    • (Dunby, Everythings an Argument, pg. 710)

    Explanation: He thinks this because teens are very emotional, that high-school movies are the same way.
  26. Cacophony
    Definition: A discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds.

    Example:  “By midnight the hilarity had increased. A celebrated tenor had sung in Italian, and a notorious contralto had sung in jazz, and between the numbers people were doing “stunts” all over the garden, while happy, vacuous bursts of laughter rose toward the summer sky." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 37) 

    Explanation: This quote shows many different sounds and images that the scene is producing, causing a rather hectic or chaotic scene.
  27. Chiasmus
    Definition: A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases.

    Example: "I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so to use moral means to preserve immoral ends." (MLK Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: King does this to start with the idea strong and then end with that same idea in a strong way.
  28. Cliché

    Example: "A lonesome area that other kansans call "out there". (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 3) 

    Explanation: The words out there is overl used.
  29. Colloquial/ism
    Definition: An informal or conversational use of language.

    Example: "How bout everybody rallyin' rounds to mixup a new energy plan." (Lunsford, Everythings an Argument, pg. 372)

    Explanation: The language in this sentence is very informal and makes the reader feel more casual.
  30. Complex sentence
    • Definition: A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least
    • one dependent clause.

    Example: "Even though it seemed awfully coincidental, I didn't want to push my luck by asking too many questions about who this war." (Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 110)

    Explanation: Using an independent and dependent clause enhances the effect of the sentence.
  31. Conceit
    Definition: an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability, importance, wit, etc.

    Example: "Unstained and strong enough to shatter walnuts, were still intact." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 6) 

    Explanation: This is an extended metaphor.
  32. Concession
    Definition: A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.

    Example: "Now the trumpet summons us again...but a call to bear the burden of a long, twilight struggle, year in and out, rejoicing in hope: patient in trope: patient in reibulation, a struggle against the common enimies of men: Tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." (JFK, JFK's inagural Address)

    Explanation: JFK uses this technique to talk about his past ideas and build off of them.
  33. Connotation
    Definition: That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning.

    Example: "...To assist free men and government in casting off the chains of poverty." (JFK, JFK's Inagural Address)

    Explanation: He uses the phrase chains of poverty to describe poverty as something that is holding us down and define an important issue in his purpose.
  34. Coordination
    Definition: Grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction such as and, or but.

    Example: "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while we were suspect." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 38) 

    Explanation: Capote uses the conjunction "but" to connect the sentence.
  35. Cumlative Sentence
    Definition: An independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply additional detail.

    Example: "Those days when she was her old self, the affectionate and charming Bonnie her friends cherished." (Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 27) 

    Explanation: The independent clause is "old self"  and the subordinate clause is "she".
  36. Common ground
    Definition: Shared beliefs, values, or positions.

    Example: "Most folk in our town worshipped the lord on Sundays. (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 18) 

    Explanation: The author is showing that many people in the town shared a common ground.
  37. Context
    Definition: Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.

    Example: "Mist hanging over a silent lake gnarled roots heaving up from the earth." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 223) 

    Explanation: The author offers details to help determine the meaning of the word "gnarled"."
  38. Counterargument
    Definition: A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.

    Example: "Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the pain of stinging darts of segregation to say 'wait', but when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will..." (MLK Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail, pg. 264)

    Explanation: MLK Jr. uses this counterargument to disprove any throught the audience had against his purpose.
  39. Credible
    Definition: Worthy of belief; trustworthy.

    Example: "I can have a room without a kitchenette right now if I want, but its in the basement and the price- $144 a week - seems a little steep." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 139) 

    Explanation: The author provides the price and place, showing trustworthy facts.
  40. Declarative Sentence
    Definition: A sentence that makes a statement.

    Example: "Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas." (MLK Jr, Letter From Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: MLK Jr. is using this sentence to declare that he rarely responds to criticism, but he is in this case.
  41. Deduction
    Definition: Reasoning from general to specific.

    Example: "Its not a trivial excercise, its about 120 questions long! In fact, its so tedious and demanding that many students leave 10-20 questions blank." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 247) 

    Explanation: The author gives a brief description, then elaborates and gives a specific example.
  42. Denotation
    Definition: The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.

    Example: "Dad nodded and held out his hands in a peace gesture." (Walls, Glass Castle, pg. 109) 

    Explanation: The word "gesture" is used literally in this quote.
  43. Diction
    Definition: Word choice.

    Example: "The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left read wheel painted blackas a mourning wreath, and there's a persistent wail all night along the north shore." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 9)

    Explanation: This is an example of diction because it is the words that the author chose to use.
  44. Didactic
    Definition: Teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.

    Example: "She applied to a job and was hired right away, since she had a degree, and there were never enough teachers in battle mountain. The few teachers the town did have were not exactly the pick of the litter, as dad liked to say..." (Walls, Glass Castle, pg. 73) 

    Explanation: As a teacher, she would be teaching kids to be responsible.
  45. Documentation
    Definition: Bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing.

    Example: "The biggest company secret workers challenge employers practices on pay confidentiality; New York Times, July 28, 2000." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 207) 

    Explanation: The author provides a bibliographic source.
  46. Elegiac
    Definition: Mournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone.

    Example: "As I stood looking at the blood stained spot where he had fallen, pongs of anger hit me like lightning, paralyzing me emotionally." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 203) 

    Explanation: The main character is mournful over death.
  47. Ethos

    Example: "I found a weekend jonb in an art gallery, crowded all my classes into two days and became the news editor of the Bernard Bulliten, but I gave that up when I was hired at one of the biggest magazines in the city." (Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 250)

    Explanation: These accomplishments that Walls has made adds to and builds her credibility to make her a reliable author.
  48. Euphemism
    Definition: The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.

    Example: "For years now I have heard the word WAIT! It rings in the ear of every negro with piercing familiarity, this WAIT has almost always meant NEVER. (MLK Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail.)

    Explanation: MLK Jr. uses non-offensive words to build ethos and show that he truly is a nice religious man in his letter to the clergy men.
  49. Figurative Language
    Definition: The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.

    Example: "To see the church as the body of Christ. But, Oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect, and through fear of being conformists." (MLK Jr. Letters From Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: MLK Jr. uses figuartive language in this quote to make a larger impact on the reader and truly show the purpose of his piece.
  50. Figure of speech
    Definition: An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.

    Example: "It lingered like a cloud that might rain or might not." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 27) 

    Explanation: The author is giving a literary effect by providing a simile.
  51. Fragment
    Definition: A word, phrase, or clause that does not form a full sentence.

    Example: "And so on.." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 95) 

    Example: This is not a complete sentence.
  52. Fallacy (Dicto Simpliciter)
    Definition:  A dicto simpliciter occurs when an acceptable exception is ignored or eliminated.

    Example: "God id good, therefore everyone should believe." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 190) 

    Explanation: This offers no support to the conclusion.
  53. Fallacy (Hasty Generlization)
    Definition: Hasty generalization is a logical fallacy of faulty generalization by reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence. It commonly involves basing a broad conclusion upon the statistics of a survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population.

    Example: Google ads (Everythings an Argument, pg. 527)

    Explanation: Google decoartes their internet logo for most US holidays, but also for some non-US holidays such as Earth day and the persian new year. Some people might say because of this, google in anti-american. This is a hasty generlization.
  54. Fallacy (Post Hoc)
    Definition: Occurring or done after the event.

    Example: "Then touched the brim of his cap, he headed for home and the day's work unaware that it would be his last." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 13)

    Explanation: When he let poachers on his land, his life was then ended.
  55. Fallacy (Contradictory Premises)
    Definition: An argument (generally considered a logical fallacy) that draws a conclusion from inconsistent or incompatible premises.

    Example: "She is black, so she cannot provide for herself, yet she provides for her whole family." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 105) 

    Explanation: This conclusion is drawn from insufficient evidence or premises.
  56. Fallacy (Ad misericordiam/bathos)
    Definition: An argument based on an appeal to the emotions; a logical fallacy that involves an irrelevant or highly exaggerated appeal to pity or sympathy. Also known as argumentum ad misericordiam or appeal from pity or misery.

    Example: "Mr. Clutter had just one serious cause for disquiet- his wife's health. She was "nervous". She suffered from "little spells." - such were sheltered expressions used by those close to her." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 7 )

    Explanation: The author uses pity to understand how the community felt about Ms. Clutter.
  57. Fallacy (False Analogy)
    Definition: A fallacy in which an argument is based on misleading, superficial, or implausible comparisons.

    Example: We just reacted because we didnt have any other option...I may remind you, September 11th, the reaction was similar. Americans were killed. You know the reaction". (Ivanov, Everythings an Argument, pg. 534)

    Explanation: This is a false analogy because is it misleading and false.
  58. Fallacy (Hypothesis contrary to fact)
    Definition: This fallacy consists of offering a poorly supported claim about what might have happened in the past or future if circumstances or conditions were other than they actually were or are. The fallacy also involves treating hypothetical situations as if they were fact.

    Example: "Ballerinas pick their top athletes this way too." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 10) 

    Explanation: The author provides no real evidence to support the claim.
  59. Fallacy (Poisoning the well)
    Definition: This sort of "reasoning" involves trying to discredit what a person might later claim by presenting unfavorable information (be it true or false) about the person. This "argument" has the following form: Unfavorable information (be it true or false) about person A is presented. Therefore any claims person A makes will be false.

    Example: "Dont Listen to him, he's no good." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 125)

    Explanation: The author gives no logical statement of why the reader shouldn't trust him.
  60. Fallacy (Scare Tatic)
    Definition: A strategy using fear to influence the public's reaction.

    Example: Anti-weed ad. (Everythings an Argument, pg. 519)

    Explanation: This ad shows the dangers of illegal drugs and how they can be dangerous in other ways than just health side effects, but the damage you can cause to your body while actually being under the influence of these drugs.
  61. Fallacy (either or choice)
    Definition: A claim that presents an artificially limited range of choices.

    Example: The New Yorker collection 2001 cartoon (David Sipress, Everythings an Argument, pg. 518)

    Explanation: The cartoon displays a husband telling his wife that the people he is speaking to on the phone says they can either go there for thanksgiving or be taken out of the will. This is a great example of this fallacy.
  62. Fallacy (Slippery slope)
    Definition: suggests that if one step or action is taken it will invariably lead to similar steps or actions, the end results of which are negative or undesirable. A slippery slope always assume a chain reaction of cause-effect events which result in some eventual dire outcome.

    Example: "Anyone else bored to tears with the slippery slope arguments against gay marriage" Ad for slippery slope. (Dahila Litheick, Everythings an Argument, pg. 521)

    Explanation: She is saying that extremists who are actually just afraid of gay weddings, use slippery slope to argue against it.
  63. Fallacy (Bandwagon)
    Definition: In logic, an argumentum ad populum (Latin: "appeal to the people") is a fallacious argument that concludes a proposition to be true because many or all people believe it; it alleges: "If many believe so, it is so."

    Example: "If everyone else jumps off a cliff, will you too?" (Everythings an Argument, chapter 17, pg. 494)

    Explanation: This quote shows an appeal to bandwagon because if everyone is doing something then will you follow them?
  64. Fallacy (Appeal to false authority)
    Definition: Attempts to justify an argument by citing a highly admired or well-known (but not necessarily qualified) figure who supports the conclusion being offered.

    • Example: "Claim: X is true because I say so. Warrant: What I say must be true."
    • (Everythings an Argument, pg. 524)

    Explanation: These claims state authority very badly and readers would not except them. This is an example of an appeal to false authority.
  65. Fallacy (Dogmatism)
    Definition: Proposing that there simply cannot be any other possible way of making sense of and engaging with an issue but the one you represent.

    Example: "No rational person would disagree that..." (Everythings an Argument, pg. 525)

    Explanation: This is an example of dogmatism because it shows that no argument is needed.
  66. Fallacy (Moral Equivalence)
    Definition: Proposing that because some people act a certain way, than everyone else has the right to do so too.

    Example: "A tragedy, unbelievable and shocking  beyond words, struck four members of the Herb Clutter family late Saturday...Death, brutal, and without apparent motive. (Capote, In Cold Blood, Pg. 70) 

    Explanation: The murder in this book is an example of moral equivalence because it is a serious wrong doing.
  67. Fallacy (Ad Hominem)
    Definition: Attacking the character of a person rather than engaging with the claim, reasons, and evidence she or he is setting forth.

    Example: "But can congress and the media be expected to swallow the apointment of a proven coverup artist, a discredited historian, a busted liar, and a man who is wanted in many jurisdictions for the vilest of effenses?" (Christopher Hitchens, "The Case against Henry Kissinger", Everythings an argument, pg. 525)

    Explanation: This is an example of Ad Hominem because the person is attacking the other person in general, not the claim or opinion he or she made.
  68. Fallacy (Begging the Question)
    Definition: Assuming as true the very claim that is disputed, in a circular argument.

    Example: "You can't give me a C in this course, I am an A student." (Everythings an Argument, pg. 529)

    Explaination: An A student is someone who can't recieve C's, therefore, this is begging the question.
  69. Fallacy (Equivocation)
    Definition: An argument that gives a lie an honest appearance, by insisting on what is only partially or formally true.

    Example: "I wrote the entire paper myself". (Everythings an argument, pg. 531)

    Explanation: This quote is hypathetically from a girl who copied an entire essay from a source word for word. She is using the word "wrote" equivocally.
  70. Fallacy (Non Sequitar)
    Definition: An argument which leaves out a necessary portion in a logical sequence, seeming to suggest a logical connection when in fact one does not exist.

    Example: "You don't love me or you would buy me that bicycle!" (Everythings an Argument, pg. 531)

    Explanation: This is an example of non sequitar because the reasons or warrants do not connect logically. The bicycle does not actually define love.
  71. Hyperbole
    Definition: Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.

    Example: "He writes the worst english I have ever encountered." (Everything's an Argument, ch. 12, pg. 368)

    Explanation: Saying that it is the worst english he has ever encountered is a huge exageration of how bad his english truly is.
  72. Idiom

    Example: "Don't put the cart before the horse." (Everythings an Argument, pg. 139)

    Explanation: This is an idiom because the quote is implying it is important to put things in order by saying the cart before the horse.
  73. Imagery
    Definition: Vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).

    Example: "Her dress was white and it whispered." (Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle)

    Explanation: Walls uses figuartive launguage like this to let the reader picture the scene better by using their senses.
  74. Imperative Sentence
    Definition: A sentence that requests or commands.

    Example: "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what your country will do for you, but what you can do for your country." (JFK, Inaugural Address)

    Explanation: JFK uses this imperative sentence and commands the world to ask themselves whast they can do to serve their country.
  75. Facts
    Definition: Information that is true or demonstrable.

    Example: "In 1988, Arkansas state senator Jay Bradford attacked Wal-mart for daying its employees so little, that they had to turn to state for welfare." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 175) 

    Explanation: The author provides facts on Wal Marts unfair day.
  76. Epigram
    Definition: A brief witty statement.

    Example: "I am baby, honey, blondie, and most commonly, girl." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, Pg. 12) 

    Explanation: She is using sarcasm in this brief statement.
  77. Explication
    • Definition: Explanation of a text’s meaning through an analysis of all
    • of its constituent parts, including the literary devices used; also called close reading.
  78. Dialectical Jounal
    Definition: A double-column journal in which one writes a quotation in one column and reflections on that quotation in the other column.
  79. Classic Model (Introduction)
    Definition: a preliminary part, as of a book, musical composition, or the like, leading up to the main part.
  80. Classical Model (narration)
    Definition: something narrated; an account, story, or narrative.
  81. Classical Model (confirmation)
    Definition: something that confirms, as a corroborative statement or piece of evidence.
  82. Classical Model (refutation)
    Definition: disproof: any evidence that helps to establish the falsity of something.
  83. Classical Model (conclusion)
    Definintion: The summing-up of an argument or text.
  84. Close reading
    Definition: In literary criticism, close reading describes the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text.
  85. Claim
    Definition: State or assert that something is the case, typically without providing evidence or proof.

    Example: "In this chapter, I want to dig deeper into why that's the case by looking at the outlier in its purest and most distilled form-genious. (Gladwell, The Outliers, pg. 76) 

    Explanation: This is assertion, followed by evidence later in the chapter.
  86. Cite
    Definition: Quote (a passage, book, or author) as evidence for or justification of an argument or statement, esp. in a scholarly work.
  87. Induction
    Definition: The process or action of bringing about or giving rise to something.

    Example: "Is there such thing as inate talent? The obvious answer is yes. Not every hocey player born in January ends up playing at the professional level." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 38) 

    Explanation: The author is bringing up the point of innate talent.
  88. Invective
    Definition: Insulting, abusive, or highly critical language.

    Example: "Dick, who took a dim view of Willie-Jay and called the letter Just more of Billy Grahamcracker's hooey. Adding faggots of scorn. He's the faggot. (Capote, In Cold Blood) 

    Explanation: The authors uses the word faggot as an abusive word.
  89. Inversion
    Definition: The process of inverting an interval, chord, or phrase.

    Example: "What they talked of all evening long, no one remembered the next evening." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 210) 

    Example: The verb proceeds the subject to make a point.
  90. Irony

    Example: "You don't have to worry anymore, baby, Dad said. You're safe now." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 14) 

    Explanation: This is ironic because he said this to her after taking her to the hospital, how is she supposed to trust him?
  91. Jargon
    Definition: Special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.

    Example: "On Nov. 15, 1959 in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savegly murdered by blasts from a shot-gun held a few inches from their face. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 1) 

    Explanation: This statement is provided by the police department.
  92. Juxtaposition
    Definition: The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

    Example: "We are the heirs of the first revolution. Let the word go fourth...that torch has been passed to a new generation of americans-born in this century." (JFK, JFK's Inagural Address)

    Explanation: JFK places these side by side to emphasize it to his audience and get his purpose through.
  93. Litote/meiosis
    Definition: In rhetoric, litotes are figures of speech in which a certain statement is expressed by denying its opposite.

    Example: "And that, really is all." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 21) 

    Explanation: He uses this quote as a fact to say the town is drab.
  94. Logos
    Definition: An important term in philosophy, analytical psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "word," "speech," "account," or "reason."

    Example: " We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed." (JFK, Inagural Address)

    Explanation: JFK logically states this example with the reason along with an explanation and this benifits his agrument logically.
  95. Metaphor

    Example: "Just after Thanksgiving, the first big show started with fat, wet flakes the size of butterflies." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 175)

    Explanation: Walls compares the snow to fat wet flakes which gives it a physical look and helps the audience understand and imagine what she is talking about.
  96. Metonymy
    Definition: The substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant.

    Example: "Fear gives wings." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 98) 

    Explanation: The author is using fear as a part to represent a whole.
  97. Modifier
    Definition: A person or thing that makes partial or minor changes to something.

    Example: "You can tell me now. I'm reasonably sober." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 197) 

    Explanation: The word "reasonably" suggests that he isn't truly sober.
  98. Mood
    Definition: The atmosphere or pervading tone of something, esp. a work of art.

    Example: " Their argument continued the next morning...Mom was carrying on about how things got so desperate around the house, that we didnt have anything to eat except margarine, and now that was gone too." (Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle)

    Explanation: By creating a tense mood, Walls allows the reader to feel exactly how they all felt at that moment.
  99. Motif
    Definition: A distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.

    Example: "Have I ever let you down?" (Walls, The Glass Castle)

    Explanation: The motif that Walls uses is faith and he always asks this question when he thought that his kids were losing faith in him.
  100. Narration
    Definition: The action or process of narrating a story.

    Example: "I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way East, and how a dozen people had sent their love through me." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 9)

    Explanation: This is an example of Narration because he is telling a story.
  101. Nomilization
    Definition: In linguistics, nominalization is the use of a verb, an adjective, or an adverb as the head of a noun phrase, with or without morphological transformation.

    Example: "The times were a lovefest." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 104) 

    Explanation: The term 'lovefest' makes it a noun.
  102. Omniscient narrator

    Example: "And yes, his sentences come marching out one after another, polished and crisp like soldiers on a parade ground." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 90) 

    Explanation: The author knows details about this person's life.
  103. Onomatopoeia
    Definition: The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named.

    Example: " With fenders spread like wings we scattered light through half Astoria- only half, for as we twisted among the pillars of the elevated I heard the familiar "jug-jug-spat!" (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 68)

    Explanation: Fitzgerald used onomatopoeia to describe the noise of the motercycle.
  104. Oxymoron
    Definition: A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

    Example: "I'm an extreme pacifist." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 49)

    Explanation: You can be extreme or a pacifist, but you cannot be both because they contradict each other.
  105. Occasion
    Definition: A particular time or instance of an event.

    Example: "How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled? How, in a particular, we wondered, were the roughly 4 million women about to be booted into to labor market by welfare reform going to make it on $6 or $7 an hour?" (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 30)

    Explanation: The statement about was the author's reason and cause for going undercover to research this issue.
  106. Paradox

    Example: "In the truest sense of that word: it does not permit in sensitivity or indifference." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 217) 

    Explanation: This statement seems cliché, but it is actually true.
  107. Parallelism
    Definition: The use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc.

    Example: "Other kids wanted to fight us because we had red hair, because dad was a drunk, because we wore rags and didn't take baths, because we lived in a falling down house...because they'd go by our dark house at night and see that we couldn't afford electricity." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 165) 

    Explanation: The author uses repetition of the word because to show that there were several reasons why the kids were being beaten up.
  108. Parody
    Definition: An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.

    Example: "If you want to know the answer, Im afraid I have no idea." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 71) 

    Explanation: She was making fun of her own intelligence.
  109. Pathos
    Definition: a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow).

    Example: "When you suudenly find your tounge twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your 6 year old daughter why she cant go to the public amusment park that has just been advertised on television." (MLK, MLK speech, pg. 2 ) 

    Explanation: The author appeals to pathos by pulling on the heart strings of readers by bringing children into the story.
  110. Periodic sentence
    Definition: A complex sentence in which the main clause comes last and is preceded by the subordinate clause.

    Example: "She had commited herself to helping another neighbor's child, Roxie Lee Smith, with her trumpet solo that Roxie Lee planned to play at a school concert; had promised to run 3 complicated errands for her mother: and had arranged to attend a 4-H meeting in garden city with her father." (Capote, In Cold Blood, ph. 18) 

    Explanation: The girl is listing her errands she promised to do today.
  111. Persona
    Definition: The aspect of someone's character that is presented to or perceived by others.

    Example: "Alfred Stoecklein not usually a talkative man, had much to say." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 78) 

    Explanation: The author is assuming that Alfred is usually quiet.
  112. Personification

    Example: "....where new red gas pumps sat out in pools of light." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 20)

    Explanation: This is a personification because gas pumps do not have the ability to sit down like a human.
  113. Point of view 1st and 2nd
    • Definition: 1st: Narration from the perspective of "I" or "We."  Narrators may be involved with the action or may simply observe it; they may also be reliable or unreliable.
    • 2nd: This refers to the narrative perspective of a text.  The story is told to another character, using the word 'you'.

    Example: "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that iv'e been turning over in my mind ever since." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 1)

    Explanation: This is an example of first person point of view because he uses the words I and Ive.
  114. Patterns of development (Narration)
    Definition: The action or process of narrating a story.

    Example: "I was playing hide and seek along the tracks with some of the neighborhood kids, I found the perfect hiding place, a small tool shed behind a clump of sagebrush that no one had hid before." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 85) 

    Explanation: Walls is retelling a childhood event.
  115. Patterns of development (description)
    Definition: A spoken or written representation or account of a person, object, or event.

    Example: "It was though his head had been halved like an apple, then put it together a fraction off center... the imperfectly aligned features were the outcome of a car collision in 1950." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 31) 

    Explanation: This is a description of Dick.
  116. Patterns of development (process analysis)
    Definition: Process analysis, one of the seven primary modes of exposition, either gives directions about how to do something (directive) or provides information on how something happened (informative).

    Example: "It requires no language skills or specific body of acquired knowledge. It's a measure of abstract reasoning skills. (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 77) 

    Explanation: The author is analyzing how the Raven test works.
  117. Patterns of development (Exemplification)
    Definition: Exemplification is a mode of symbolization characterized by the relation between a sample and what it refers to.

    Example: "This isn't a night where you can rely on just your eyes to land the plane. Look at the weather radar is telling us: there's trouble ahead. (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 216) 

    Explanation: This is providing a clear example to the given statement.
  118. Patterns of development (comparison/contrast)
    Definition: Comparison and contrast shows differences and similarities between objects and ideas.

    Example: "She was black and he was not, it could never work in this day." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 235) 

    Explanation: In this statement, two ideas are compared.
  119. Patterns of development (classification/division)
    Definition: The action or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics.

    Example: "Termites were at the absolute pinnacle of the intellectual scale- at the ninety-ninth percentile of that ninety-ninth percentile- without realizing how little that meant." (Gladwell, Outliers, Pg. 89) 

    Explanation: This is breaking down the idea that genius is not everything.
  120. Patterns of developement (definition)
    Definition: An exact statement or description of the nature, scope, or meaning of something.

    Example: "The way she saw it, glasses were like crutches. They prevented people with feeble eyes from learning to see the world on their own." (Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 96) 

    Explanation: This shows the effect of glasses.
  121. Patterns of development (cause and effect)

    Example: "Those rotten chickens that came in with sores all over them, I would see women take them, cut the knots and rotten sores off and box the remaining parts. These women would often have terrible rashes break out on their hands from the hot blood and dieseased flesh." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 181)

    Explanation: The chickens had sores (cause), so they women handling them broke our in rashes (effect).
  122. Polysyndeton
    Definition: The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.

    Example: "She had committed to helping another neighbor's child, Roxie Lee Smith, with her trumpet solo that Roxie Lee planned to play at a school concert; had promised to run 3 complicated errands for her mother: and had arranged to attend a 4-H meeting in garden city with her father. (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 18) 

    Explanation: The author uses a consistent use of conjunctions in this quote for listing purposes.
  123. Premise; major, minor
    • Definition:
    • Two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a
    • syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the
    • minor premise.
    • Major premise: All mammals are warm-blooded.
    • Minor premise: All horses are mammals.
    • Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded (see syllogism).

    Example: "The first officer and the engineer would have bowed to the captain.'Cheo eom coeb seom nida' the co pilot might have said, respectfully. It is first time to meet you." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 214) 

    Explanation: The first sentence is Chinese and the second sentence explains what it says.
  124. Pronoun
    Definition: A word used to replace a noun or noun phrase.

    Example: "I was thinking about God, I was thinking about him, too." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 302) 

    Explanation: The author replaces him with God.
  125. Propaganda
    • Definition: A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than
    • present information.

    Example: "Fortunately for her, the interview consists almost entirely of a four page 'opinon survery' with no right or wrong answers." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 38) 

    Explanation: The author uses quotes around certain words to show her negative feelings toward this survey.
  126. Purpose
    Definition: One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.

    Example: "The idea was to spend a month in each setting and see whether I could find a job and earn, in that time, the money to pay a second months rent." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 5) 

    Explanation: This quote show the author's intention with her project.
  127. Refute
    Definition: To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.

    Example: "Any law that degrades human personality is unjust because segregation distorts..." (MLK Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: The use of refuting greatly improves an argument and makes it much stronger.
  128. Rhetoric
    Definition: The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available means of persuasion.”

    Example: "Well, it was a delicate situation. It appeared that legally we weren't obliged to pay, but morally- that was another matter." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 71) 

    Explanation: Capote italicized certain words to persuade the family.
  129. Rhetorical Triangle
    • Definition: A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship
    • among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian
    • triangle).

    Example: " The rhetorical situation is a shorthand phrase for this entire set of concerns, and it can be depicted as a simple triangle." (Lunsford, Everything's an Argument, pg. 35) 

    Explanation: This is a summary of what the triangle is, it shows the relationship between the subject, speaker and audience.
  130. Rhetorical question
    • Definition: A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon
    • an answer.

    Example: "But what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letter, think long thoughts, and pray long prayers?" (MLK, Letter from Birmingham Jail, par. 48)

    Explanation: MLK uses a rhetorical question to present information to his reader as a question to get them thinking even though he does not want an actual answer from the audience.
  131. Satire
    Definition: An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.

    Example: "Their skins appeared so coarse and uneven, so variously colored, when I saw them near, with a mole here and there as broad as a trencher, and hairs, hanging from it thicker than pocket threads, to say nothing further concerning the rest of their persons." (Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Everythings an Argument)

    Explanation: This is an example of satire because the author expected one thing while looking at the women, but when he saw her close up, they realized that she looked much different.
  132. Simile
    Definition: A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.

    Example: "The way the sunset looked like a sheet of fire." (Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle)

    Explanation: The author is comparing the sunset to a sheet of fire to create a beautiful image in the readers mind.
  133. Simple Sentence
    • Definition: A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent
    • clause.

    Example: "I started stealing matches from dad." (Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle, pg. 15)

    Explanation: This is a simple sentence because it contains a subject and a predicate.
  134. Straw man
    • Definition: A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position;
    • misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent’s position.

    Example: "We will restore science to its rightful place,"  Obama said at his inauguration. Really? Where had science been? (Fred Barnes, "Obama's First Month", Everythings an Argument, Pg. 533)

    Explanation: This is an example of the straw man fallacy because obama is making and solving a problem that was really never there in the first place.
  135. Subordinate clause
    Definition: Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause.

    Example: "While confined here in the Birmingham Jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities 'unwise and untimely'". (MLK Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail)

    Explanation: MLK Jr. adds the subordinate clause here in the beginning of the sentence to tell the reader of his current condition before he presents his current information.
  136. subordination
    Defintion: The dependence of one syntactical element on another in a sentence.

    Example: "While the people are merly souls, the souls are people." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 295) 

    Explanation: Both elements have to be present in this quote for the sentence to make sense, they rely on each other.
  137. Syllogism
    Definition: A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).

    Example: "Roughly 10,000 hours. Is it possible that some pattern of special opportunity operate in the real world?" (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 37) 

    Explanation: The conclusion from this is that if you work hard that you will achieve.
  138. Symbol

    Example: "I got off Greyhoung in Centreville with 65 dollars in my pocket and new school clothes, walking home swinging my suitcase. (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 153) 

    Explanation: The new clothes in this book symbolized happiness that soon went away.
  139. Synecdoche

    Example: "All hands on deck for education." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 325) 

    Explanation: The hands are a part, which is representing the public as a whole.
  140. Syntax
    Definition: Sentence structure.

    Example: "I didnt speak of it to my husband or children, not ever. So you see, I have my own story, and increasinly in my old age it weighs on me." (Orleanna, The Poisonwood bible, pg. 8)

    Explanation: The use of longer sentences followed by a short sentence makes them much more impactful with the sentence pausing effect.
  141. Theme
    Definition: a unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc., as in a work of art.

    Example: "How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled?" (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 3)

    Explanation: This is the theme of the book Nickel and Dimed.
  142. Tone
    Definition: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.

    Example: "The people who quarried the marble, wave your persian rugs until, they went blind, harvested the apples in your lovely fall themed dining room center piece, smelted the steel for the nails, drove the trucks, put up this building and now bend and squat to clean it." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 90) 

    Explanation: The author has a tone of disgust and sadness towards the home owner.
  143. Understatement
    Definition: Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.

    • Example: "He's just a man named Gatsby."
    • (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 48)

    Explanation: This is an understatment because Gatsby was a very rich, powerful, and mysterious man and Jordan uses the word 'just' like he isn't a very big deal.
  144. Pacing
    Definition: The relative speed or slowness with which a story is told or an idea is presented.
  145. Polemic
    Definition: An argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion.
  146. Scheme
    Definition: any system of correlated things, parts, etc., or the manner of its arrangement.

    Example: "I began to think something would be done about whites killing, beating, and misusing negroes. I knew I was going to be apart of whatever happened." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 276) 

    Explanation: She uses a powerful words and language to produce the desired tone.
  147. Sentence Patterns
    Definition: The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

    Example: "I'd think about Hawaii, about a movie i'd seen with Dorthy la mour, I wanted to go there where the sun was." (Capote, In Cold Blood, pg. 133) 

    Explanation: This is a complex sentence produced with independent clauses.
  148. Sentence Variety
    Definition: Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.

    Example: "I never saw this great-uncle, but i'm supposed to look like him- with the special reference to the rather hard-boiled painting that hangs in fathers office." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 3) 

    Explanation: The word choice and they way the authors arranges his sentences shows sentence variety because they are always changing. He chooses to keep a variety so the reader doesnt become bored.
  149. Source
    Definition: A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.

    Example: "The biggest company secret: workers challenge employer practices on pay confidentiality." New York Times, July 28, 2000." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 207)

    Explanation: The author provides a source or a footnote to where she got her information that she provided to the reader.
  150. Speaker
    Definition: A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.

    Example: "But we need you", Marge says, and then if that was too affectionate sounding: "You can't just leave Ted in the lurch." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 113)

    Explanation: The use of the speaker in this passage enhances the effect and makes her more credible.
  151. Stream of consciousness
    Definition: thought regarded as a succession of ideas and images constantly moving forward in time.

    Example: "It became obvious at school that Hicks liked me, and a lot of girls on the basketball team began to get jealous. We had shown great team work before. Now when we practiced the girls would freeze me out of the game." (Moody, Coming of Age, pg. 200) 

    Explanation: This is the authors thoughts about why the girls were treating the young girl differently.
  152. style
    Definition: The distinctive qualitiy of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.

    Example: "His explanations, as heartbreaking as they are, are also a little strange...Making allowances in the name of helping someone stay in school is what professors do all the time." (Gladwell, The Outliers, pg. 97) 

    Explanation: He uses multiple sentences to get his point across to the reader.
  153. subject
    definition: In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.

    Example: "His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractioness he conveyed." (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 7)

    Explanation: The subject of this sentence is his speaking voice.
  154. synthesize
    Definition: Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.

    Example: "Purposefully and single-mindedly playing their instruments with the intent to get better." (Gladwell, Outliers, pg. 39) 

    Explanation: The two elements that the author brings together is purposefully and single- mindedly.
  155. Thesis
    Definition: The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.


    Explanation: This is the author's thesis that sprung her interest to write her book.
  156. Thesis satement
    Definition: A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.
  157. Topic sentence
    Definition: A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph’s idea and often unites it with the work’s thesis.
  158. Trope
    Definition: Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech.

    Example: "Ascending from boiler makers to martinis before booze beat out ambition." (Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pg. 18) 

    Explanation: The author provides a metaphor to show artful diction.
  159. Voice
    Definition: In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.
  160. Zuegma
    Definition: A construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs—often in different, sometimes incongruent ways—two or more words in a sentence.

    Example: "...bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nation." (JFK, JFK's Inagural Address)

    Explanation: JFK uses the zuegma technique to make an impact by using the word absolute twice in a different but similar way and making his statment much more powerful.

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AP Lang Comp Terms
2013-05-06 03:54:13
literary terms

AP lang comp terms
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