English III AP students
Summer Reading assignment
This summer you are to choose a book (from the list below) and
take notes either on loose leaf paper or in the book as to
setting, plot, characterization, etc. You also need to use the
rhetorical devices sheet attached as you will need to identify
these devices in the novel as you read.
There is no specific number of devices to locate, but I want you
to find as many DIFFERENT types as possible other than just
figurative language. We will use this novel in 2 different
forms of assessment in class: 1) A multiple choice test which
will cover your ability to analyze a work; 2) a Socratic
seminar that will evaluate your ability to offer insightful,
meaningful discussion about your book. Both of these
assessments will come after interims of the first 9 weeks and
be a part of your first quarter’s grade.
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening
George Orwell’s 1984
Solomon Northup’s Twelve Year’s a Slave
Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief
William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury
Ms. Gini Foreman
Lakeshore High School, AP English III
[email protected]
AP English III
Ms. Foreman
Rhetorical Terms and Strategies
Anecdote – short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident
Diction – word choice (a single word)
Denotation – the straightforward (dictionary) meaning of a word (glass, bucket, nail, dirt, car, box, tree)
Euphemism – a more agreeable word substituted for an unpleasant one (died/passed away) Colloquialism –
slang and use of familiar expressions
Connotation – emotional overtones of a word: poison, victim, seized, or gently, brutally, softly, harshly
Figurative language – language not meant to be taken literally
Allusion – reference to history, mythology, religion, or literature
Analogy – illustration of an idea by means of a more familiar idea that is similar or parallel Apostrophe –
addressing an absent figure or abstraction (“Oh pardon me thou bleeding piece of flesh, that I am meek and
gentle with your butchers.” Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)
Extended metaphor – a metaphor defined with several examples (Emily Dickinson, "Hope is the thing with
feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune-­ - ­ without the words, And never stops at all.” It can be in the
form of a simile: Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. “It was a male; long, his brown--­furred segmented
abdomen. His multijointed legs, pale and powerful, were shaggy as a bear’s.”)
Hyperbole – extreme exaggeration (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, “Caesar hath cried so many tears, the Tiber hath
o’erflowed its banks.”)
Image – any description that appeals to one of the five senses: visual, auditory, kinetic, gustatory, or olfactory
Juxtaposition – the placing of two unlike things close to each other (T. S. Eliot, “The Lovesong of J. Alfred
Prufrock: “Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized
upon a table;”)
Oxymoron – conjoining contradictory terms (two words: Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, “hideous luxuriance”)
Paradox – statement that seems impossible or not true but that proves true (a statement: you can be alone in a
crowd)
Understatement – minimalizes a fact (Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Bean Eaters,” “They eat beans mostly, this
old yellow pair.”)
Mode – in writing the categories of delivery: narration, description, exposition, and persuasion
Argumentation – one of the four chief “forms of discourse” with a purpose Description –
pictures a place or object or setting (details and imagery)
Exposition – explains events; can include classification, comparison/contrast, definition, or analysis
Narration – account of an event
Persuasion – one of the major types of composition whose purpose is to convince others of the wisdom of a
certain line of action
Rhetoric – the deliberate exploitation of eloquence for the most persuasive effect in public speaking or writing; the art of
persuasion that includes elements of anything else on this document
Message – main idea of a text based on details and examples
Purpose – what the speaker wants the audience to do or think about; the persuasive element
Speaker – establishes credibility; connects with values of audience
Audience – a specific person or group that can be characterized as having values and beliefs
Context – the situation that gives rise to the text
Shift – change in position; movement (as in tone shift, shift in point of view
Satire – writing that exposes the failings (vice or folly) of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn in
order to change it
Inference – information derived by reasoning
Invective – the harsh denunciation of some person or thing in abusive speech or writing
Parody – imitation of serious work or style in a ridiculous manner (Saturday Night Live)
Lampoon – imitation in writing (humorous) harsh satire directed toward an individual or thing
Sarcasm – technique that ridicules through caustic language
Style – blend of choices about diction, syntax, and figurative language unique to individuals (compare paragraphs from
Hemingway and Dickens)
Syntax – the way in which words or phrases are ordered and connected to form sentences; or the set of
grammatical rules governing such order
Antecedent – word referred to by a pronoun
Antithesis – a balance of opposites
Clause – group of words with a subject and a verb; can be independent or subordinate
Loose sentence – type of sentence in which main idea comes first (We went over the river and through
the woods to Grandmother’s house.”
Periodic sentence – main idea comes last (“Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s
house we go.”)
Pacing – rate at which a text develops (fast, slow, steady, hurried) based on length and arrangement of
sentences
Parallelism – the arrangement of similarly constructed clauses or sentences suggesting some correspondence
between them (Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the
nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-­ - ­to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”)
Repetition – repeating a word or phrase for emphasis
Tone – writer’s attitude toward the subject and audience -­­ created by diction, details, images, language, syntax
english.byu.edu/writingcenter/handouts/revision/files/diction.doc
Levels of Diction
There are basically three levels of diction:
Formal—Used when addressing a highly educated audience. This includes sermons, scholarly journals, etc.
Standard—Used when addressing a well-­­educated audience. Commonly this is the level used for college
papers, mass publications, and business communication
Informal—used when addressing a familiar or specific audience. This includes personal letters, emails, and
documents with conversational or entertaining purposes. This level also includes “slang” language.
Examples of Diction
Formal
edify
optate
beguile
Standard
learn
choose
mislead
Informal
wise up
pick out
jerk your chain
This information was prepare by Sandra Coker, AP College Board, and the BYU writing lab.