Rhetorical Situation
The person or group intended to read the text and be persuaded by it
Audience
Appeals to character, credibility, or trustworthiness
Ethos
Figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present
Apostrophe
Writers relate the characteristics, features, or sensory details of an object or idea, sometimes using examples or illustrations.
Attacking a weaker version of your opponent's position than the one they are actually arguing
Strawman
Social, political, cultural, and other factors that affect the writing of a text.
Context
Appeals to reason and logic
Logos
A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea, human vice, or weakness
Satire
Writers present a category of comparison and then examine the similarities and/or differences between the objects of comparison
Comparison-Contrast
An argument that uses misleading or unrelated evidence to support a conclusion
Red herring
Specific circumstances for which a text is composed
Exigency or Occasion
Appeals to the audience's emotions, beliefs, and values
Pathos
Placing two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose
Juxtaposition
Writers present a cause and assert effects of that cause, or present a series of causes and the subsequent effect(s)
Cause-Effect
Ad hominem
The person who composes a text
Author
Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by giving it human qualities
Personification
Writer offers details about real-life experiences and offers reflections and insights on the significance of those experiences
Narration
A conclusion that oversimplifies the argument by reducing it to only two sides or choices
Either/or
What the author is trying to accomplish in writing a text
Purpose
The implication or tone of a word, NOT its dictionary definition
Connotation
A faulty conclusion that assumes that, because one thing followed another, it was caused by the other
Post hoc