Baby Its Cold Outside Rhetorical Analysis for Ap Language

One of the competencies y'all need to develop for AP Linguistic communication and Composition is a thorough understanding of rhetorical strategies and techniques. This is because you will both be expected to place these strategies and techniques in the writing of others and to use them in your own writing.

Merely given the huge number of rhetorical terms there are, how practise you know which ones you need to know and understand? Do you lot need to know what anaphora is? What about synecdoche?

In this article I'll provide 2 lists: ane of essential key AP Linguistic communication and Composition terms to know for the exam, and i list of useful bonus words that will serve y'all well on the exam. Then I'll suggest how to learn and use these terms for AP success!

Essential AP Language and Composition Terms

The following list of 37 terms, based on consulting both the AP English Language and Composition Class and Test Description and gratuitous-response fabric from past years, provides an of import overview of the major AP Lang rhetorical devices and techniques you lot need to know. With all of this AP Language and Composition vocabulary at your disposal, y'all'll be a elevation-notch rhetorical analyst in no time!

Each entry has a definition and case or further explanation. Don't be intimidated by the size of this list—many of these are terms you are probably already familiar with!

Essential Rhetorical Analysis Terms

Terms	Definition	Example/Explanation
Analogy	Explaining something circuitous by comparing information technology to something more simple.	"An apprentice playing in a professional game is like an ibex stepping into a king of beasts's den."
Argument	The combination of reasons, evidence, etc that an writer uses to convince an audition of their position.	Too comprehensive a concept for a unmarried example! In constructive rhetoric, every phrase serves to farther build the argument.
Aristotelian appeals	Three dissimilar methods of appealing to an audience to convince them—ethos, logos, and pathos.	Come across ethos, logos and pathos.
Attitude	The author'due south personal views or feelings virtually the discipline at mitt.	Difficult to convey in a short example, merely something like "the distressing land of this school" would convey that the author has a negative attitude towards the schoolhouse.
Audience	Who the author is directing his or her message towards	When you create a resume, your audience is potential employers.
Compare and contrast	Discussing the similarities and differences between 2 things to some persuasive or illustrative purpose.	"Hybrid cars have a much smaller carbon footprint than traditional midsize vehicles."
Connotation	The unsaid meaning of a word; words can broadly take positive, negative, or neutral connotations.	careful = positive connotation fussy = negative connotation
Context	The extra-textual environment in which the text is being delivered.	If I am delivering a congratulatory speech to awards recipients, the immediate context might be the awards presentation anniversary; the broader context might be the purpose or significance of the awards themselves.
Counterargument	The statement(s) against the author's position.	If I want to eliminate the apparel code, a counterargument might be that this will place a burden on students of a lower socioeconomic status, who must now afford an entire school wardrobe or run a risk unwanted attention.
Deductive reasoning	A course of logical reasoning wherein a general principle is applied to a specific example.	If all planets orbit a star, and Theta 2 is a planet, then it must orbit a star.
Denotation	The literal, dictionary-definition meaning of a discussion.	The denotation of "chair" is "a identify to sit."
Diction	The style of linguistic communication used; generally tailored to be advisable to the audience and situation.	Y'all might say "What'southward up, loser?" to your little blood brother, but y'all would probably say "How are yous doing today?" to your primary.
Ethos	Setting upwardly a source as credible and trustworthy.	"Given my PhD in the subject and years of experience in the field" is an appeal to ethos.
Testify	The information presented meant to persuade the audience of the writer's position.	If I were arguing that Anne is a good student, I might reference her directly-A report carte and her 1500 SAT score equally pieces of evidence.
Figurative language	The apply of language in a non-literal way; i.e. metaphor, simile, etc.	"The sky's like a precious stone box tonight!"
Genre	The specific type of piece of work existence presented.	Broader categories include "novel" and "play," while more specific genres would exist things like "personal essay" or "haiku."
Imagery	Any descriptive language used to evoke a vivid sense or epitome of something; includes figurative language.	"The water was a pearl-studded ocean of azure tipped with turquoise."
Implication	When something is suggested without beingness concretely stated.	"Spotter your wallet around Paul," implies that Paul is a thief without coming out and proverb "Paul is a thief."
Anterior reasoning	Making a generalization based on specific evidence at hand.	All of the planets in this solar system orbit a star, so all planets probably orbit stars.
Irony	At the well-nigh basic sense, saying the reverse of what you mean; likewise used to describe situations in which the results of an action are dramatically unlike than intended.	"I do and so promise there are more papers to sign," is something that might be said ironically.
Juxtaposition	Placing 2 very different things together for effect.	"In that location they stood together, the beggars and the lords, the princesses and the washerwoman, all crowding into the square."
Logos	Highly-seasoned to someone's sense of concrete facts and logic.	Citing peer-reviewed scientific studies is an appeal to logos.
Occasion	The reason or moment for writing or speaking.	When giving a graduation oral communication, the occasion is graduation.
System	How the unlike parts of an statement are arranged in a piece of writing or spoken language.	Call up about the outlines you write in training for drafting an argumentative essay and yous'll have an idea of what system is.
Pathos	An Aristotelian appeal. Involves appealing to someone's emotions.	Animal shelters ads with pictures of cute sad animals and dramatic music are using desolation.
Purpose	The author's persuasive intention.	If y'all are trying to convince your female parent you lot should get a dog, your purpose in addressing an essay on the subject to her would be to convince her that you should go a dog.
Repetition	Re-using a give-and-take or phrase repeatedly for issue or emphasis.	"We run, and we run, and we run, like rats on a wheel."
Rhetoric	The use of spoken or written give-and-take (or a visual medium) to convey your ideas and convince an audition.	Almost everything is an example of rhetoric!
Rhetorical triangle	The human relationship between the author, the audience, the text/message, and the context.	The author communicates to the reader via the text; and the reader and text are surrounded by context.
Speaker	The persona adopted by the author to deliver his or her message; may or may not actually be the aforementioned person as the author.	Similar to the difference betwixt author and narrator in a work of fiction.
Way	The writer'southward ain personal approach to rhetoric in the piece; similar to voice.	We might say the Taylor Swift'south songwriting style is straightforward and emotive.
Symbolism	Using a symbol to refer to an idea or concept.	"Fire" is commonly used a symbol for passion and/or anger.
Syntax	The way sentences are grammatically constructed.	"She likes pie," is syntactically simple. On the other manus, "As it and then happened, when Barbara got out of course early she liked to have a slice of pie—key lime or pecan, always—at the corner diner; while she was in that location she watched the people passing by the window and imagined herself inside each of their lives, riding in their heads for moments and moments until the afternoon was whiled abroad and she'd get fifty people," is syntactically complicated.
Synthesis	Combining sources or ideas in a coherent way in the purpose of a larger point.	A typical research paper involves synthesizing sources to brand a broader point about the topic.
Themes	Overarching ideas or driving bounds of a piece of work.	Some themes you will probably hear in your high school graduation speech include leaving behind a legacy, moving into the great unknown, condign an adult, and changing the globe.
Tone	The use of stylistic devices to reveal an writer'due south mental attitude toward a field of study.	Only a narrow distinction from attitude. The phrase "the deplorable state of this school" reveals a negative attitude, but the word selection of "deplorable" is office of the writer's tone.
Voice	An author's unique sound. Similar to style.	Recollect of the fashion that y'all tin can recognize a pop singer on the radio without hearing who it is first.

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Bonus AP Language and Composition Terms

Hither are 18 bonus AP Linguistic communication vocabulary terms that, while non absolutely essential to your success on the exam, volition be very helpful. They place some common simply obscurely named rhetorical techniques and some additional rhetorical and argumentative strategies.

These terms also each have a definition and an case or explanation.

Bonus Rhetorical Terms

Terms	Definition	Example/Explanation
Alliteration	Using words with the same kickoff letter repeatedly close together in a phrase or judgement.	"She purchased the pretty imperial parka."
Allusion	Making a brief reference to the cultural canon—e.k. the Bible, Shakespeare, classical mythology, etc.	"Like Eve in the Garden of Eden, George was not practiced at resisting temptation."
Chestnut	Offer a brief narrative episode. This device can serve many functions in a text—for example, introducing an effect, serving equally evidence, to illustrate a point, and so on.	"When I went to buy my morning java, I ran into an old friend. He told me he had won the lottery and he was virtually to buy a yacht. Two months later I heard he had declared defalcation."
Concession	Agreeing with the opposing viewpoint on a certain smaller betoken (but not in the larger argument).	"While I admit that hybrid cars accept higher carbon production costs than conventional automobiles, this is dramatically outset by the much-smaller lifetime carbon footprint of the vehicles."
Didactic	A text with an instructive purpose, often moral.	Aesop's fables are an example of a didactic piece of work.
Euphemism	Referring to something with a veiled phrase instead of saying it directly	"She let Bob go," is a euphemism for "she fired Bob."
Exemplification	Providing examples in service of a point.	"The Town Beautification Funds are being sorely misused; the streets are total of litter, the parks are full of broken equipment, and Metropolis Hall's facade is drab and aging."
Hyperbole	Overstating a situation for humorous or dramatic consequence.	"My backpack weighs tons!"
Idiom	A commonly used phrase that signifies something very different than its literal meaning.	"This costs an arm and a leg!" is an idiom which means "This is very expensive."
Onomatopoeia	Using "sound-effect" words (eastward.g. "clap," "buzz).	"We heard an ominous hiss from the kitchen."
Paradox	A phrase or assertion that appears to contradict itself (but the contradiction itself may take its own pregnant).	Paradoxical phrases include "dark angel," "fresh rot," "blissful hell," etc.
Parallelism	Repeated structural elements in a sentence.	"We went to sea; we went to war; we went to bed."
Parody	Using the form of something to mimic and make fun of information technology.	Weird Al is the chief of the musical parody genre.
Personification	Giving human being characteristics to a nonhuman object or idea.	"The sun was shining happily today."
Sarcasm	Mockingly stating the reverse of what you mean. Easier to convey in the spoken word than via writing.	"Did you come with that all by yourself?" might exist delivered sarcastically after someone delivers a poorly-thought out thought.
Satire	A genre of humorous and mocking criticism to expose the ignorance and/or ills of society.	Stephen Colbert is a popular modern satirist.
Synecdoche	Referring to 1 part of something as a way to refer to the whole.	"Enquire for her paw" is a synecdoche for marriage; the "hand" stands in for the whole woman.
Understatement	Deliberately minimizing something, usually for humorous effect.	"My mom'southward a petty bit irritated I crashed the car—I'1000 grounded for the next twenty-four months."

The Angry Tempest: a story of personification.

How to Learn and Use AP Language Terms

You might be tempted to bust out some flashcards, exercise some aggressive memorization, and call yourself finished. However, that's really only the offset pace of the iii-step process of really learning AP Lang terms.

Step 1: Learn Rhetorical Terms

As you initially try to familiarize yourself with these terms and what they mean, it'south fine to make flashcards. Yous could utilize the term on 1 side and the definition on the other, or the definition and the instance from the chart on one side and the term on the other—whatever's easier for you lot.

You lot can make concrete flashcards if you like to larn things with a tactile element involved, only for the sake of convenience, you lot might consider making online flashcards at a site like Quizlet, where a free business relationship lets you brand and save flash cards and then quiz yourself with a diverseness of games and strategies.

When you know the terms and their definitions inside and out, you're set up to movement on to the next step.

Footstep 2: Identify Rhetorical Strategies and Devices

Next, you need to work on identifying rhetorical strategies and devices in actual written works. Make an effort when you read to seek out examples of the dissimilar rhetorical techniques at work.

Think near the larger context of the piece: what's the author'due south purpose in writing this slice? Is the speaker the same equally the writer? What genre is information technology? What devices are being used repeatedly? You might endeavor jotting downwards your thoughts about how pieces you read are using rhetorical devices.

When you experience y'all can consistently identify these strategies at work in the writing of others, information technology'south fourth dimension to try your hand at using them yourself.

Stride 3: Deploy Rhetorical Strategies and Devices

In one case y'all feel you have a handle on identifying a given device/concept in other pieces, information technology'due south time to call up nigh using it in your own writing. Consider your own purpose and statement when you write. Think virtually audience. Deploy hyperbole and irony.

Meet what works and what doesn't. Trying to employ the terms will help y'all learn the concepts much better than unproblematic memorization.

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Deploy rhetorical parachutes!

Final Thoughts: AP Linguistic communication and Composition Terms

There are and then many rhetorical terms that it can be hard to decide which ones you lot demand to know for AP Language and Composition! This listing gives y'all an overview of all the essential AP English Language and Composition vocabulary.

When yous're trying to learn these concepts, it's better to endeavor to apply them—by seeing how other authors use them and using them in your ain writing—than to just memorize the terms and their definitions. The important thing is to understand the concepts, not just know the terms!

What'due south Side by side?

Need to familiarize yourself with the format of the AP Lang test? We become over exactly what's included on the AP Language test and how to tackle the multiple option section hither. Plus, check out our complete list of released do AP Linguistic communication tests.

If you're likewise taking AP Literature, come across our ultimate guide to the AP English Literature test and our AP Literature Reading List.

Studying poetry in class? Whether you're reading "Do non go gentle into that practiced night" past Dylan Thomas or a Shakespearean sonnet, you're going to want to brand certain you know important poetic devices and terms like assonance and iambic pentameter, just to proper name a few.

Nosotros tin help if you're not certain how to written report for AP exams.

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About the Author

Ellen has extensive education mentorship feel and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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