FINAL EXAM WORDS 4

an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion which is intended to excite and involve the audience in the argument. Also known as emotional appeal.

A term used to describe writings that borders on lecturing. It is scholarly and academic and often overly difficult and distant.

a type of sentence which presents the main clause at the end of the sentence for emphasis and sentence variety

A form of argumentation one of the four modes of discourse; language intended to convince through appeals to reason or emotion.

Sentence which uses and or another conjuction (with no commas) to seperate the items in a series. Polysyndeton appear in the form of X and Y and Z, stressing equally each member of a series. It makes the sentence slower and the items more emphatic than in the asyndeton.

When a writer raises an irrelevent issue to draw attention away from the real issue. Reductio ad Absurdum is the Latin for "to reduce to the absurd." This is a technique useful in creating a comic effect and is also an argumentative technique. It is considered a rhetorical fallacy because it reduces an argument to an either/ or choice.

an element in literature that conveys a realistic portrayal of a specific geographical locale, using the locale and its influences as a major part of the plot.

the art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse; Rhetoric focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement, and style in order to create felicitous and appropriate discourse.

one that does not expect an explicit answer. It is used to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience.

harsh, caustic personal remarks to or about someone; less subtle than irony.

a work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. It doesn't simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal ( as in sarcasm).  It targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals.

Time and place of a literary work

the voice of a work; an author may speak as himself or herself or as a fictitious persona.

a character who represents a trait that is usually attributed to a particular social or racial group and who lacks individuality; a conventional patter, expression or idea.

When a writer argues against a claim that nobody actually holds or is universally considered weak. Setting up a straw man diverts attention from the real issues.

an author's characteristic manner of expression through diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to style.

a personal presentation of events and characters, influenced by the author's feeling and opinions.

A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and conclusion is drawn from them. A syllogism is the format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

the use of symbols or anything that is meant to be taken both literally and as representative of a higher and more complex significance.

the use of symbols or anything that is meant to be taken both literally and as representative of a higher and more complex significance.

Ability to create a variety of sentence structures, approximately complex and/or simple and varied in length.

Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. They are often difficult for a reader to follow..

the grammatical structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence. It includes length of sentence, kinds of sentences (questions, exclamations, declarative sentences, rhetorical questions, simple, complex, or compound.)

the central idea or "message" of a literary work.

the main idea of a piece of writing. It presents the author's assertion or claim. The effectiveness of a presentation is often based on how well the writer presents, develops, and supports this.

the characteristic emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject, and audience (anger, sarcastic, loving, didactic, emotional, etc.)

a word or phrase that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from one part of a piece of writing to another

Sentence consisting of three parts of equal importance and length, usually three independent clauses. "Be sincere, be brief, be seated."

the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.

quality of a piece of writing (also see coherence)

refers to two different areas of writing. One refers to the relationship between a sentence's subject and verb (active and passive voice). The second refers to the total "sound" of a writer's style.