Grammar Funn: (the extra n is for the extra f
Fallacies
Terms You know
Writing Strategies
Is That Really in Important? Why?
100
Explode! Scream! Sneeze! Type! Kick! are examples of this type of verb.
What is an action verb?
100
This Bill: "I believe that abortion is morally wrong." Dave: "Of course you would say that, you're a priest." Bill: "What about the arguments I gave to support my position?" Dave: "Those don't count. Like I said, you're a priest, so you have to say that abortion is wrong. Further, you are just a lackey to the Pope, so I can't believe what you say." Is an example of this fallacy.
What is an Ad Hominem?
100
understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part. (A form of metonymy.) *Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6 *I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" *The U.S. won three gold medals. (Instead of, The members of the U.S. boxing team won three gold medals.)
What is a Synecdoche?
100
According to Smith, "you need to study for this exam" (source E). This is the correct way to do this. Be specific.
What is internal cite in a synthesis essay?
100
In the sentence, "The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table," "a cockroach" is an example of this.
What is an appositive?
200
In the sentence, "Our basset hound Bailey sleeps peacefully on the living room floor," "peacefully is this.
What is an adverb?
200
This fallacy is committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough. It has the following form: Sample S, which is too small, is taken from population P. Conclusion C is drawn about Population P based on S.
What is hasty generalization?
200
the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses. *I said, "Who killed him?" and he said, "I don't know who killed him but he's dead all right," and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Bay and she was all right only she was full of water. Hemingway, After the Storm *omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque coloremque et crinis flavos et membra decora iuventae Vergil, Aeneid 4.558-9 *Horae quidem cedunt et dies et menses et anni, nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur, nec quid sequatur sciri potest. Cicero, De senectute
What is Polysyndeton?
200
This is the last sentence of your introduction.
What is the thesis?
200
two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them. *Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. *Longa tibi exsilia et vastum maris aequor arandum. Vergil, Aeneid
What is Zeugma?
300
Fanning the slice of pizza with a napkin, Jolene waited for it to cool, she had already burned the roof of her mouth with the fried cheese sticks. The sentence above has this error.
What is a comma splice?
300
This fallacy is committed when it is concluded that one event causes another simply because the proposed cause occurred before the proposed effect. More formally, the fallacy involves concluding that A causes or caused B because A occurs before B and there is not sufficient evidence to actually warrant such a claim.
What is a Post Hoc?
300
This is the use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought. *No one, rich or poor, will be excepted. *Ears pierced while you wait! *I have seen no stranger sight since I was born.
What is Pleonasm?
300
This one sentence summaries your entire essay.
What is the thesis?
300
This is the repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence. *With malice toward none, with charity for all. Lincoln, Second Inaugural
What is Tautology?
400
These are words that indicate location.
What are prepositions?
400
This a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and to another topic. This sort of "reasoning" has the following form: Topic A is under discussion. Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A). Topic A is abandoned.
What is a red herring?
400
This is apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another. *Festina lente. *I must be cruel only to be kind. Shakespeare, Hamlet
What is an oxymoron?
400
These are not allowed in your writing because it shows egotism.
What are personal pronouns?
400
This is a surprise or unexpected ending of a phrase or series. *He was at his best when the going was good. Alistair Cooke on the Duke of Windsor *There but for the grace of God -- goes God. Churchill *Laudandus, ornandus, tollendus. Cicero on Octavian
What is Paraprosdokian?
500
In the sentence, "Since Francisco was five years old, swimming has been his passion," swimming is an example of this.
What is a gerund.
500
This is a fallacy with the following form: Person A is (claimed to be) an authority on subject S. Person A makes claim C about subject S. Therefore, C is true. This fallacy is committed when the person in question is not a legitimate authority on the subject. More formally, if person A is not qualified to make reliable claims in subject S, then the argument will be fallacious.
What is an appeal to authority?
500
This is a substitution of one word for another which it suggests. *He is a man of the cloth. *The pen is mightier than the sword. *By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread.
What is Metonymy?
500
You must remember this when you are writing so that you do not offend the reader.
What is the audience?
500
This is an inversion of the natural sequence of events, often meant to stress the event which, though later in time, is considered the more important. *"I like the island Manhattan. Smoke on your pipe and put that in." -- from the song "America," West Side Story lyric by Stephen Sondheim (submitted per litteram by guest rhetorician Anthony Scelba) *Put on your shoes and socks! *Hannibal in Africam redire atque Italia decedere coactus est. Cicero, In Catilinam
What is Hysteron Proteron?
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