Modes of Discourse and Handouts
These are the same handouts from the Composition & Rhetoric page, copied here for convenience. Use these resources, especially the explanations & videos below, to supplement your study of the terms of discourse for AP Language and Composition.
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Basic Rhetorical Vocabulary and Other Frequently Used Terms
Essential Rhetorical Strategies
This introductory video provides explanations of rhetoric broadly, including the rhetorical triangle (ethos, logos, pathos) and an explanations of other terms like causality or causal relationships and refutation or counterclaim (described in the second half of the video devoted to the appeals). The unified effect or unity of these strategies are what make an argument effective in respect to audience, occasion, or purpose.
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This brief video offers VERY basic, concrete examples of analogy that may help you better recognize this essential logical device. Analogies with insufficiently parallel comparisons are false analogies (described in the video under the rhetorical fallacies heading) & should not be confused with figurative devices like metaphor or simile, which compare dissimilar concepts in an effort to build meaning.
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Deductive and Inductive Reasoning (& Abductive) are useful to know to better help with processing the degree to which a claim is logically and reasonably grounded. These short videos will support how we talk about a writer or speaker's reasoning and build our own.
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Rhetorical Fallacies
This video offers fairly concise explanations of many terms from your basic rhetorical strategies handout like begging the question (described as circular reasoning in the video), generalization, non-sequitur (described as slippery slope in the video), straw man, ad hominem, either-or reasoning (described as a false dichotomy in the video), emotional appeal (described as appeal to emotion in the video), and false analogy.
With all of these basic terms in mind, it is important to know that fallacies are not necessarily bad or evil. Like a strategic foul in a sports contest, it might be necessary to stop the play of your opposition to have time to rest or recalibrate your tactics. Delay, diversion, and misdirection can be quite effective. So it goes with language and rhetoric. Depending on the occasion or audience, speakers utilize rhetorical strategies (and sometimes fallacies) to achieve the aim of the moment at hand. Speakers and writers who make better choices than their opponents ultimately win the day.
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Red Herring vs Straw Man explained in detail. The red herring fallacy can be witnessed with the now very popular tendency to derail an opponent's argument by asking, "Well, what about...?"
Post Hoc fallacy is explained along with more on the notion of causality, correlation, and how our brains look for patterns.
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Syntatic Fluency & Style
Most of the terms from the handout have tutorial or informational videos that will hopefully support your study.
Anaphora
Cumulative and Periodic Sentences
Metonymy and Synecdoche
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Asyndeton is compared with Polysyndeton
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The concepts of Parallelism, Elliptical, Juxtaposition, Antimetabole, and Antithesis are noted, as well as Loose, Periodic, and Balanced
Inversion
Polysyndeton and Asyndeton (again, shorter video this time)
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Chiasmus
Isocolon
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