Super AP Lang Prep 24-25
Rhetorical Term Review
Rhetorical Analysis
Exigency: whatever inspired the author to write the thing (ex: 9/11 == write about buildings)
Persona: “mask” of the writer to deliver the message (child/pilot perspective)
Persuasive Strategies
Refutation: you are wrong, here is evidence that proves it
Rebuttal: you are wrong, here’s a different perspective (counterargument)
Induction: specific to general (observation -> theory)
- Ex: I died, I am a man, so all men will die
Deduction: general to specific (theory -> confirmation of observation)
- Premise: assumption of truth (ex: chocolate is yummy, all things die)
- Syllogism: using deductive reasoning to find a conclusion
- all men die (major premise), I am a man (minor premise), I will die (conclusion)
Rhetorical Question: to create dramatic effect or make a point, not get an answer (ex: How
could I be so stupid?)
Anecdote: a (true) short story about an incident
Analogy: a comparison between two things to show smth
Logical Fallacies
Circumlocution: never getting to the point, speaking in circles (you are bad, you suck, that is
why you’re bad)
Glittering Generality: emotionally appealing phrase with no inherent reasoning but is
associated with highly valued concepts (make America great again -> makes you ask “how?”)
Ad Hominem: attacking the writer, not the issue by mudslinging (insults, names, whatever)
Bandwagon: considering the majority’s beliefs as valid (if everyone says the sky is red, it is red)
False Dilemma/Black and White Thinking: believing there are only 2 options when there are
more
Slippery Slope: believing that one thing leads to another, more disastrous/significant thing
Red Herring: something to mislead ppl from the important info
Symbolic Strategies
Overstatement: exaggerated claim (I could eat a 3-course meal right now)
Hyperbole: exaggerated overstatement (I could eat a whole restaurant right now)
Apostrophe: addressing some nonexistent thing as if it was there and could hear (o Mr. Pickles!
Hear my prayer!, O Lord of Light! Help me win the iron throne and the seven kingdoms!)
Allusion: indirect reference to person/place/thing/idea (you were my Romeo!)
Allegory: (fictional) story/poem/picture that may have a moral/political meaning (“Totally, like,
you know” -> use conviction!)
,Sound Strategies
Alliteration: Repeating consonant sounds at the beginning (Peter Piper Picked a Peck)
- Consonance: alliteration but everywhere (Mike on a hike liked his new bike)
Assonance: repeating vowel sounds (How now brown cow)
Cacophony: clashing consonant sounds; sharp, harsh and mostly used to characterize noise
(Stick click snicker chuck knuck keys)
Euphony: smooth consonant sounds (sand banks, oh yeah)
Humor
Juxtaposition: placing (opposite) elements side-by-side for the reader to establish connection
(ex: mansion next to poor ppl)
● Oxymoron: pairing 2 opposing words (adjective-noun pairing -> cold fire, bright
darkness -> doesn’t make sense)
● Paradox: contradictory statement/situation with hidden meaning (war is peace ->
doesn’t make sense)
● Antithesis: contrasting ideas in statement (One small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind -> makes sense)
Satire: criticizing something to reveal social/political/moral flaw (ex: “totally, like, whatever”)
Parody: meant to mock for funsies
Caricature: gross exaggeration/distortion of characteristics (big ol’ booty, big ol’ face, etc)
Irony: what appears to be the case is radically different
● Verbal: difference in what is said vs. what is meant (“the weather is beautiful” - during
hurricane )
○ In contrast, sarcasm is a form of irony intended to criticize (“wow, you’re soooo
smart!” - after failing test)
● Situational: what happens vs. is expected to happen (fire station burns down)
● Dramatic: when reader knows something that the character doesn’t (we know Winston
will die, he doesn’t)
Meaning Terms
Semantics/Connotation: implications/meanings/associations implied by words
Denotation: opposite of semantics -> literal meaning of word
Innuendo: subtle, indirect observation that’s usually derogative (sexual/racial/offensive ->
“drink my special juice”)
Euphemism: making something sound better than it is (derogatory to neutral/happy -> you’re
not fat, you’re big boned)
Dysphemism: making something sound worse than it is (neutral/happy to derogatory -> you’re
not big boned, you’re a whale)
Didactic: to teach (philosophy, religious writing, textbooks)
, 🤓
Pedantic: overly scholarly, showing off knowledge (“can a 3-dimensional frequency table be
used to examine more complex data sets” -> )
Aphorism: short statement that has universal truth (“if it ain’t broke, dont fix it”)
Epithet: adjective/descriptive phrase to express a characteristic of a thing (“He, the skilled man,
knows a lot of sports”)
Epigram: less formal than aphorism -> concise, witty, maybe surprising/satirical statement
meant to be funny (“i like carrying photos of my childhood. It’s nice to see how much worse I’ve
gotten.”)
Language Placement
● Syntax (word order/sentence order/punctuation), Repetition, Parallelism, Arrangement
Language Style
Jargon: language specialized to field (“triple integral, closed interval, phi/rho/theta”)
Invective: language that blames/criticizes, can be ad hominem (“you are a failure!”)
Diction: choice of words
Colloquial: informal words (slang -> skibidi toilet irl is so sigma rizz from ohio, I ain’t capping)
Sentence Types
Declarative: tells something ( . ) -> I like cats.
Imperative: commands something ( . or ! ) -> Bring me a cat!
Interrogative: asks question ( ? ) -> Do you like cats?
Exclamatory: strong feeling ( ! ) -> I LOVE CATS!
Summary/Analysis of Every Text
Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave":
Summary: Socrates is portraying an image of prisoners chained in a dark cave since childhood
for Glaucon. They’re facing a wall and can see only the shadows of objects carried behind them.
These shadows, projected by a fire behind the prisoners, represent the only reality they know,
unable to perceive the actual objects causing them. When one prisoner is freed, he initially
suffers pain and confusion upon turning towards the fire and the world outside the cave. As he
ascends into the sunlight, he gradually adjusts to the light and begins to see the world as it
truly is. Eventually, the freed prisoner understands the sun as the ultimate source of light, life,
and truth. If this enlightened individual returns to the cave to share his knowledge, he will face
ridicule and disbelief from the remaining prisoners, who are unwilling to accept a reality
beyond the shadows. Worse, the prisoners might even try to kill anyone attempting to free
them, clinging to their familiar, albeit false, understanding of the world. Plato concludes that
the cave represents the physical world of appearances, while the journey out of the cave
symbolizes the ascent of the soul toward intellectual and spiritual understanding. The sun
represents the ultimate truth—the “Good”—that illuminates all knowledge and moral
understanding.
Key Themes:
Rhetorical Term Review
Rhetorical Analysis
Exigency: whatever inspired the author to write the thing (ex: 9/11 == write about buildings)
Persona: “mask” of the writer to deliver the message (child/pilot perspective)
Persuasive Strategies
Refutation: you are wrong, here is evidence that proves it
Rebuttal: you are wrong, here’s a different perspective (counterargument)
Induction: specific to general (observation -> theory)
- Ex: I died, I am a man, so all men will die
Deduction: general to specific (theory -> confirmation of observation)
- Premise: assumption of truth (ex: chocolate is yummy, all things die)
- Syllogism: using deductive reasoning to find a conclusion
- all men die (major premise), I am a man (minor premise), I will die (conclusion)
Rhetorical Question: to create dramatic effect or make a point, not get an answer (ex: How
could I be so stupid?)
Anecdote: a (true) short story about an incident
Analogy: a comparison between two things to show smth
Logical Fallacies
Circumlocution: never getting to the point, speaking in circles (you are bad, you suck, that is
why you’re bad)
Glittering Generality: emotionally appealing phrase with no inherent reasoning but is
associated with highly valued concepts (make America great again -> makes you ask “how?”)
Ad Hominem: attacking the writer, not the issue by mudslinging (insults, names, whatever)
Bandwagon: considering the majority’s beliefs as valid (if everyone says the sky is red, it is red)
False Dilemma/Black and White Thinking: believing there are only 2 options when there are
more
Slippery Slope: believing that one thing leads to another, more disastrous/significant thing
Red Herring: something to mislead ppl from the important info
Symbolic Strategies
Overstatement: exaggerated claim (I could eat a 3-course meal right now)
Hyperbole: exaggerated overstatement (I could eat a whole restaurant right now)
Apostrophe: addressing some nonexistent thing as if it was there and could hear (o Mr. Pickles!
Hear my prayer!, O Lord of Light! Help me win the iron throne and the seven kingdoms!)
Allusion: indirect reference to person/place/thing/idea (you were my Romeo!)
Allegory: (fictional) story/poem/picture that may have a moral/political meaning (“Totally, like,
you know” -> use conviction!)
,Sound Strategies
Alliteration: Repeating consonant sounds at the beginning (Peter Piper Picked a Peck)
- Consonance: alliteration but everywhere (Mike on a hike liked his new bike)
Assonance: repeating vowel sounds (How now brown cow)
Cacophony: clashing consonant sounds; sharp, harsh and mostly used to characterize noise
(Stick click snicker chuck knuck keys)
Euphony: smooth consonant sounds (sand banks, oh yeah)
Humor
Juxtaposition: placing (opposite) elements side-by-side for the reader to establish connection
(ex: mansion next to poor ppl)
● Oxymoron: pairing 2 opposing words (adjective-noun pairing -> cold fire, bright
darkness -> doesn’t make sense)
● Paradox: contradictory statement/situation with hidden meaning (war is peace ->
doesn’t make sense)
● Antithesis: contrasting ideas in statement (One small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind -> makes sense)
Satire: criticizing something to reveal social/political/moral flaw (ex: “totally, like, whatever”)
Parody: meant to mock for funsies
Caricature: gross exaggeration/distortion of characteristics (big ol’ booty, big ol’ face, etc)
Irony: what appears to be the case is radically different
● Verbal: difference in what is said vs. what is meant (“the weather is beautiful” - during
hurricane )
○ In contrast, sarcasm is a form of irony intended to criticize (“wow, you’re soooo
smart!” - after failing test)
● Situational: what happens vs. is expected to happen (fire station burns down)
● Dramatic: when reader knows something that the character doesn’t (we know Winston
will die, he doesn’t)
Meaning Terms
Semantics/Connotation: implications/meanings/associations implied by words
Denotation: opposite of semantics -> literal meaning of word
Innuendo: subtle, indirect observation that’s usually derogative (sexual/racial/offensive ->
“drink my special juice”)
Euphemism: making something sound better than it is (derogatory to neutral/happy -> you’re
not fat, you’re big boned)
Dysphemism: making something sound worse than it is (neutral/happy to derogatory -> you’re
not big boned, you’re a whale)
Didactic: to teach (philosophy, religious writing, textbooks)
, 🤓
Pedantic: overly scholarly, showing off knowledge (“can a 3-dimensional frequency table be
used to examine more complex data sets” -> )
Aphorism: short statement that has universal truth (“if it ain’t broke, dont fix it”)
Epithet: adjective/descriptive phrase to express a characteristic of a thing (“He, the skilled man,
knows a lot of sports”)
Epigram: less formal than aphorism -> concise, witty, maybe surprising/satirical statement
meant to be funny (“i like carrying photos of my childhood. It’s nice to see how much worse I’ve
gotten.”)
Language Placement
● Syntax (word order/sentence order/punctuation), Repetition, Parallelism, Arrangement
Language Style
Jargon: language specialized to field (“triple integral, closed interval, phi/rho/theta”)
Invective: language that blames/criticizes, can be ad hominem (“you are a failure!”)
Diction: choice of words
Colloquial: informal words (slang -> skibidi toilet irl is so sigma rizz from ohio, I ain’t capping)
Sentence Types
Declarative: tells something ( . ) -> I like cats.
Imperative: commands something ( . or ! ) -> Bring me a cat!
Interrogative: asks question ( ? ) -> Do you like cats?
Exclamatory: strong feeling ( ! ) -> I LOVE CATS!
Summary/Analysis of Every Text
Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave":
Summary: Socrates is portraying an image of prisoners chained in a dark cave since childhood
for Glaucon. They’re facing a wall and can see only the shadows of objects carried behind them.
These shadows, projected by a fire behind the prisoners, represent the only reality they know,
unable to perceive the actual objects causing them. When one prisoner is freed, he initially
suffers pain and confusion upon turning towards the fire and the world outside the cave. As he
ascends into the sunlight, he gradually adjusts to the light and begins to see the world as it
truly is. Eventually, the freed prisoner understands the sun as the ultimate source of light, life,
and truth. If this enlightened individual returns to the cave to share his knowledge, he will face
ridicule and disbelief from the remaining prisoners, who are unwilling to accept a reality
beyond the shadows. Worse, the prisoners might even try to kill anyone attempting to free
them, clinging to their familiar, albeit false, understanding of the world. Plato concludes that
the cave represents the physical world of appearances, while the journey out of the cave
symbolizes the ascent of the soul toward intellectual and spiritual understanding. The sun
represents the ultimate truth—the “Good”—that illuminates all knowledge and moral
understanding.
Key Themes:
