Unit 1: Part 3 Literary Terms

A speech is a nonfiction work that is delivered orally to an audience.

• Address: a formal speech prepared for a special occasion, such as the dedication of a memorial or the inauguration of a new leader

• Sermon: a speech intended to provide religious instruction

Regardless of the occasion, speeches typically include rhetorical devices—patterns of words and ideas that create emphasis, clarify meaning, and stir listeners' emotions.

• Anaphora: repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases

• Rhetorical Questions: questions asked for effect rather than answers

Repetition: restating an idea using the same words

Antithesis: juxtaposition of strongly contrasting words, images, or ideas

Parallelism: repeating a grammatical structure

Exclamation: an emotional statement, often indicated in texts by an exclamation mark

Persuasive orators like Henry and Franklin also use allusions, references to well-known people or events from history, literature, the Bible, and other sources.

Persuasion is writing that presents an argument, or message meant to get readers to think or act in a certain way.

Persuasion is writing that presents an argument, or message meant to get readers to think or act in a certain way.

Jefferson and Paine wrote for different audiences, or readers.

Phillis Wheatley wrote in heroic couplets, a traditional poetic form, or structure.

The word autobiography is composed of three Greek roots: -auto-, which means "self," -bio-, which means "life," and -graph-, which means "write." Hence, an autobiography is a life history written by its subject.

A similar motivation is at work in his writing of the aphorisms—short sayings with a message—for Poor Richard's Almanack.

Write an editorial to appear in a local newspaper in which you explain why the situation needs attention and how it should be corrected.

A memo is a piece of business writing that usually begins with these headings: TO: recipients' names; FROM: your name; DATE: date of writing; SUBJECT: your topic.

Write an analytical essay in which you identify and explain the multiple effects of Benjamin Franklin's plan for self-improvement.

Write the information for a large museum placard that visitors might read at the beginning of a museum exhibit about Olaudah Equiano and the slave trade during the eighteenth century.

A manual is an informational document that organizations publish to instruct readers in how to use a product or perform a task.

An argumentative essay is not a piece of writing in which you start a fight. An argument is a well-reasoned position or opinion.

For each vocabulary word, choose the letter of the antonym, or word that most closely expresses an opposite meaning.

Analogies show the relationships between pairs of words.

When you use subordination, you show which idea is more important.

A dictionary is a reference work containing words and information about them.

A thesaurus is a book of synonyms, or words with similar meanings.

Persuasive Appeals: More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle identified three types of appeals, or techniques, that can occur in any argument: ethos, pathos, logos

Ethos, or appeal to authority, cites the speaker's credibility, or authority; for example, a noted scientist discussing issues in medical ethics.

Pathos, or appeal to sympathy, engages the audience's emotions.

Logos, or appeal to logic, applies reasoning and facts to build convincing arguments.

Evidence: Effective arguments employ strong evidence.

• Anecdotes: stories that illustrate a point

• Expert Testimony: statements by people who are widely viewed as authorities on a subject

Logical fallacies are types of reasoning that may seem convincing but contain inherent flaws. Be alert to arguments built on such faulty reasoning.

Logical fallacies are types of reasoning that may seem convincing but contain inherent flaws. Be alert to arguments built on such faulty reasoning.

• Ad Hominem: an attack on a person's character, not his or her ideas

• False Causality: an assumption that because A happened before B, A caused B

• Red Herring: something a speaker tosses into an argument to distract listeners from a more important issue or question

• Overgeneralization: a conclusion based on too little evidence

• Bandwagon: the assumption that something is right because it is popular

Propaganda, another negative technique, presents one-sided information and does not fairly represent an opposing view.

With a partner, conduct a colloquy, or formal discussion, about the meaning of a key term as it is used and refined in a text from this unit.