Literary Devices
"Bambi's mother now grazes in the pastures of forever" is an example of this literary device that uses a safer word or phrase instead of something that some might find inappropriate or unappealing.
What is euphemism?
A failure of logical reasoning.
What is a fallacy?
This clause contains a noun and a verb, but is an incomplete thought or sentence and relies on the rest of the sentence to make sense.
What is a dependent clause?
An appeal to credibility
What is ethos?
The use of words to express something other than and often the opposite of the literal meaning.
What is irony?
Calling a piece of real estate "the promised land" is an example of this referential literary device.
What is an allusion?
A possible answer that seems to be correct, but is either wrong or not the best solution.
What is a distractor?
A regional speech pattern. Helpful to keep in mind when analyzing an author's colloquial language.
What is dialect?
An appeal to emotion.
What is pathos?
An exaggeration that bolsters an argument.
What is a hyperbole?
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" is an example of this literary device.
What is alliteration?
"It seems that every time you turn on the game on television, the team loses" is an example of this post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
What is cause and effect?
The sentence "Mordred was bitten by the dog," rather than "The dog bit Mordred," is an example of this form of voice where something happens to someone.
What is passive voice?
An appeal to reason.
What is logos?
A term that signifies a relational comparison of or similarity between two objects or ideas.
What is an analogy?
"The bubbly heaviness of the treasure chest" is an example of this literary device used to call attention to a particular point in an argument.
What is an oxymoron?
An observation or claim that is in opposition to your claim or an author's claim.
What is an antithesis?
"We will fight them on the beaches, and fight them in the hills, and fight them in the forests, and in the villages of the dell" is an example of this pattern of language that creates a rhythm of repetition. This is very likely on the AP exam. College Board loves to ask questions about this.
What is parallelism?
A question whose answer is assumed.
What is a rhetorical question?
A minor figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole. For example, "All hands on deck."
What is a synecdoche?
"The crown spoke with authority about the gathering crisis over bread and cheese" is an example of this figure of speech.
What is metonymy?
This argumentative tactic seeks to create a mental discontinuity. For example, "Be careful how you pace yourself--by walking too quickly, you get there more slowly."
What is a paradox?
When the ending of a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences use the same word or words. For example, "This government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth."
What is an epistrophe?
This occurs when the author of an essay alters his or her diction, syntax, or both to underline a critical point or shift in their argument.
What is a rhetorical shift?
"The thunder grumbled all night as rain slapped the windows" is an example of an argumentative tactic that makes something in an argument seem more approachable or potentially agreeable.
What is personification?