Terminology

Question 0

An indirect reference, often to another text or an historic event.

Answer 0

Allusion

Question 1

The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables.

Answer 1

Alliteration

Question 2

An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.

Answer 2

Analogy

Question 3

The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

Answer 3

Anaphora

Question 4

A short account of an interesting event.

Answer 4

Anecdote

Question 5

Explanatory or critical notes added to a text.

Answer 5

Annotation

Question 6

The noun to which a later pronoun refers.

Answer 6

Antecedent

Question 7

The repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen a contrast.

Answer 7

Antimetabole

Question 8

Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas.

Answer 8

Antithesis

Question 9

A short, astute statement of a general truth.

Answer 9

Aphorism

Question 10

A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun.

Answer 10

Appositive

Question 11

The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.

Answer 11

Archaic dictation

Question 12

A statement put forth and supported by evidence.

Answer 12

Argument

Question 13

A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle).

Answer 13

Aristotelian triangle

Question 14

An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.

Answer 14

Assertion

Question 15

A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.

Answer 15

Assumption

Question 16

Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses.

Answer 16

Asyndeton

Question 17

The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.

Answer 17

Attitude

Question 18

One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing
is addressed.

Answer 18

Audience

Question 19

A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.

Answer 19

Authority

Question 20

Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.

Answer 20

Bias

Question 21

Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source.

Answer 21

Cite

Question 22

An assertion, usually supported by evidence.

Answer 22

Claim

Question 23

A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements
of a text.

Answer 23

Close reading

Question 24

An informal or conversational use of language.

Answer 24

Colloquialism

Question 25

Shared beliefs, values, or positions.

Answer 25

Common ground

Question 26

A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Answer 26

Complex sentence

Question 27

A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.

Answer 27

Concession

Question 28

That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning (see denotation).

Answer 28

Connotation

Question 29

Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.

Answer 29

Context

Question 30

Grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction such as and, or but.

Answer 30

Coordination

Question 31

A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.

Answer 31

Counterargument

Question 32

An independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply additional detail.

Answer 32

Cumulative sentence

Question 33

A sentence that makes a statement.

Answer 33

Declarative sentence

Question 34

Reasoning from general to specific

Answer 34

Deduction

Question 35

The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.

Answer 35

Denotation

Question 36

Word choice.

Answer 36

Diction

Question 37

Bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing.

Answer 37

Documentation

Question 38

Mournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone.

Answer 38

Elegiac

Question 39

A brief witty statement.

Answer 39

Epigram

Question 40

A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos).

Answer 40

Ethos

Question 41

The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.

Answer 41

Figurative language

Question 42

The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.

Answer 42

Figure of speech

Question 43

Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.

Answer 43

Hyperbole

Question 44

Vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).

Answer 44

Imagery

Question 45

A sentence that requests or commands.

Answer 45

Imperative sentence

Question 46

Reasoning from specific to general.

Answer 46

Induction

Question 47

A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject.

Answer 47

Inversion

Question 48

A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.

Answer 48

Irony

Question 49

Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.

Answer 49

Juxtaposition

Question 50

A Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos) .

Answer 50

Logos

Question 51

A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.

Answer 51

Metaphor

Question 52

Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole.

Answer 52

Metonymy

Question 53

An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing.

Answer 53

Occasion

Question 54

A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.

Answer 54

Oxymoron

Question 55

A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.

Answer 55

Paradox

Question 56

The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.

Answer 56

Parallelism

Question 57

A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.

Answer 57

Parody

Question 58

A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).

Answer 58

Pathos

Question 59

The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.

Answer 59

Persona

Question 60

Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.

Answer 60

Personification

Question 61

An argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion.

Answer 61

Polemic

Question 62

The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.

Answer 62

Polysendeton

Question 63

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).

Answer 63

Premise: major, minor

Question 64

A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.

Answer 64

Propaganda

Question 65

A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.

Answer 65

Propaganda

Question 66

A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.

Answer 66

Purpose

Question 67

To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.

Answer 67

Refute

Question 68

The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available means of persuasion.”

Answer 68

Rhetoric

Question 69

Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.

Answer 69

Rhetorical modes

Question 70

A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.

Answer 70

Rhetorical question

Question 71

A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian triangle).

Answer 71

Rhetorical triangle

Question 72

An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.

Answer 72

Satire

Question 73

A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect.

Answer 73

Scheme

Question 74

The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

Answer 74

Sentence patterns

Question 75

Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.

Answer 75

Sentence variety

Question 76

A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.

Answer 76

Simile

Question 77

A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause.

Answer 77

Simple sentence

Question 78

A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.

Answer 78

Source

Question 79

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.

Answer 79

Speaker

Question 80

A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position; misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent’s position.

Answer 80

Straw man

Question 81

The distinctive qualitiy of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.

Answer 81

Style

Question 82

In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.

Answer 82

Subject

Question 83

Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause.

Answer 83

Subordinate clause

Question 84

The dependence of one syntactical element on another in a sentence.

Answer 84

Subordination

Question 85

A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).

Answer 85

Syllogism

Question 86

Sentence structure.

Answer 86

Syntax

Question 87

Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.

Answer 87

Synthesize

Question 88

The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.

Answer 88

Thesis

Question 89

A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.

Answer 89

Thesis statement

Question 90

The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.

Answer 90

Tone

Question 91

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.

Answer 91

Topic sentence

Question 92

Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech.

Answer 92

Trope

Question 93

Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.

Answer 93

Understatement

Question 94

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.

Answer 94

Voice

Question 95

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.

Answer 95

Zeugma