English Composition Notes Copy

8/21/2019 English Composition Notes Copy

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ENGLISH COMPOSITION

Next: Composing Sentences

PunctuationCommasCommas indicate slight pauses in reading and di"erentiate sentence parts. You must

use commas:

1. Before any conjunction that connects two independent clauses:

I thought it would rain, and it did.

2. After an introductory phrase:

After the rainfall, the sun finally came out.

3. To separate items in a series:

I like rock, pop, blues, country, and hip-hop.

4. To set o"a parenthetical phrase:

Amateur dancers, who often know little about traditional Spanish music,

sometimes confuse dances such as the mambo and the samba.

5. With dates:

On August 8, 1976, the music world changed forever.

6. To set o!quotations that occur inside a sentence:

Sarah said, I love you, and she meant it.

7. To subdivide numbers into groups of three digits:

4,251,730

8. To indicate direct address:

Greg, give me the remote control.

9. To separate adjectives:

The hot, humid, nasty day made Alison irritable.

10. To indicate omissions of verbs in parallel clauses:

Jenny likes the Mets; Pedro, the Angels; and Frank, the Marlins.

Apostrophes
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1. Indicate possession when added to a noun or pronoun.

In certain academic corners, Philippa Foots mid-century philosophy is

influential.

2. Indicate that letters have been left out when used as part of a contraction.

I dont speak French.

3. Do not indicate plurals and are not necessary in verbs.

Incorrect: The cats play outside.

Incorrect: He calls his dog.

Quotation Marks1. Represent text as speech:

I would have been great, he insisted.

2. Indicate material excerpted from another wriers work:

Not every love a"air is star-crossd.

3. Indicate titles of poems, essays, and short stories:

Shelleys Ode to a Skylark meditates on spontaneous artistic creation.

4. May not be used in place of underlining or italicizing for emphasis.

Incorrect: Hey Dad! This wins for you.

# Periods and commas go inside punctuation marks.# Question marks, exclamation marks, colons, semicolons, and dashes go

outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation.

Semicolons1. Take the place of a conjunction that joins independent clauses. In such

cases, if a period replaces the comma, the sentence still will make sense.

Betsy liked to sew; it was her passion.

2. Separate items in series that contain commas within single-itemdescriptions.

He had an old, unraveling sweater; a new, hand-knit sweater; and a faded, torn

pair of jeans.

Composing SentencesSubject-Verb Agreement

1. Singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs.

Correct: The dog eats his food.


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Incorrect: The dog eat his food.

2. Separated subjects and verbs: If the verb and subject are separated by other

words, the verb should agree with its subject rather than with the nearest

noun.

Correct: The actors in the movie, which we went to see before dinner on

Tuesday, were impressive.Incorrect: The actors in the movie, which we went to see before dinner on

Tuesday, was impressive.

3. Collective nouns:When the subject is a singular noun that refers to a group,

the verb remains singular.

Correct: The band of soldiers piles into the chopper.

Incorrect: The band of soldiers pile into the chopper.

4. A singular subject that is part of a plural element:When a singular subject

is isolated from a larger group, use a singular verb.Correct: One of the backup singers was unable to perform at the Presidents

Day concert.

Incorrect: One of the backup singers were unable to perform at the Presidents

Day concert.

5. Two singular subjects joined by and take a plural verb.

Correct: Frankie and Edmund love dancing.

Incorrect: Frankie and Edmund loves dancing.

6. Two subjects combined to form a single unit take a singular verb.Correct: Cutting and pasting is a good technique to master.

Incorrect: Cutting and pasting are a good technique to master.

7. Two singular subjects joined by or or nor take a singular verb.

Correct: Either Darla or Judith is going with me to the dance.

Incorrect: Either Darla or Judith are going with me to the dance.

8. A mixed subject joined by or or nor: The verb agrees with the closest

noun.

Correct: Neither milk nor eggs contain much Vitamin A.

Correct: Neither eggs nor milk contains much Vitamin A.

Subject-Phrase CorrespondenceDescriptive phrases that introduce sentences must agree with the grammatical

subject of the sentence.


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Correct: Hanging in the closet, my dress smelled like mothballs.

Incorrect: Hanging in the closet, I saw my dress.

Comparisons1. To compare two items, use -er or more.

Julia is shorter than Isabelle.Isabelle is the more imaginative of the two girls.

2. To indicate a superlative among more than two items, use -est or most.

Jack is the fastest runner in the group.

Luther is the most gifted dancer in New York.

Pronouns

1. Pronouns must agree with the nouns they replace in person, number, andgender.

Original: Jenny and Sarah crashed Matts car into a tree.

With pronouns: They crashed his car into it.

2. None takes a singular verb when it indicates no one or not one and a

plural verb when it indicates more than one thing or person.

Correct: None of us is perfect.

Correct: None are as angry as those whose money was stolen.

3. Pronouns should refer clearly to a particular noun.Correct: As John showed his house to Joseph, John asked him what he thought

of it.

Incorrect: John asked Joseph what he thought of his house.

4. Do notchange a sentences perspective by switching personal pronoun

reference midway.

Incorrect: They thought of calling a cab, but you cant always trust cab drivers,

so they didnt.

Correct: They thought of calling a cab, but they didnt trust cab drivers, so

they didnt.

Things to Avoid1. Fragments. Dont use incomplete sentences as complete sentences.

Incorrect: She liked all sorts of movies. Such as dramas, comedies, and

mysteries.

Correct: She liked all sorts of movies, including dramas, comedies, and


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mysteries.

2. Double negatives. If two negations (words like not or never) occur in the

same phrase, they confuse the meaning of the phrase by canceling one

another out.

Incorrect: You should never not change the batteries in your smoke detector.

Correct: You should always change the batteries in your smoke detector.

3. Comma splice. Using a comma instead of a semicolon or period to separate

independent clauses is incorrect and creates a run-on sentence.

Incorrect: There are many people in India, the country has a high population

density.

Correct: There are many people in India; the country has a high population

density.

Composing Paragraphs

A paragraph can be divided into three parts: the topic sentence, the body, and theconcluding sentence.

1. The topic sentence introduces your paragraph and states its main idea.

2. The body provides evidence and support for your topic sentence.

3. The concluding sentence summarizes the main argument of the paragraph.

Not every paragraph needs a concluding sentence: short paragraphs, or

paragraphs that are part of a larger flow of argument, often do better without

them.

Example of a paragraph:

Although most people believe that April showers bring May flowers, May often

proves to be a far rainier month than April. For the past five years, the average EastCoast rainfall in May has been 4.6 inches, as opposed to just 3.2 inches for April.

When confronted with this statistic, some meteorologists argue that April once was

rainier than May, before ocean current patterns shifted to increase Mays average

rainfall. Others point out that, in some parts of the world, April remains rainier than

May. A third group o$cially opposes any inquiry into the statistical anomaly,

asserting that April showers bring May flowers is a totally unscientific proverb

perpetuated by TV weather reporters who lack real understanding of the weather.

Although no one doubts the fallacy of the ever-popular adage, the scientific

community does not agree on the reason for the statements untruthfulness.

Composing an EssayThe Thesis Statement

A thesis statement notifies your reader of your original idea regarding a topic.

While your general argument may be something like Slavery didnt cause the

Civil War, your thesis statement gives your original, specific idea about a

subject. A thesis statement should be neither obvious nor vague. A thesis

must be controversial and arguable; it should be possible for someone to


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come up with a reasonable argument contradicting your own.

Example of a good thesis statement:

Disagreement between the North and South over tariffs and states rights was a

more significant cause of the Civil War than were opposing views aboutslavery.

This thesis statement is strong. It makes a controversial claim against

which people could argue and clearly identifies specific economic and

political factors.

Thesis Paragraph

The first paragraph of the paper describes the focus of your argument and your

reason for making it. In the paragraph, you should:

1. Give background material and context. Assume that your reader is

well educated and can understand an argument about a book or event

with which he or she is unfamiliar. Give only the most relevant

background information in your first paragraph.

2. State your motive and thesis. Your introductory paragraph should tell

your reader why your paper is relevant. Typically, youll want to make

your thesis statement in the final sentences of the introductory paragraph.

Example of a good thesis paragraph:

Almost as soon as the Civil War ended, Americans began to search for a wayto understand the reasons for the bitter conflict. Even today, strong feelings

and personal bias influence debate over the causes of the war. Because the

years leading up to the war were characterized by growing conflicts over a

series of political and economic disagreements between the Northern and

Southern states, isolating individual causes of the war is difficult. It is easy to

assume that the main cause of the war was disagreement over slavery simply


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because the outcome of the war had such dramatic effects on the institution of

slavery. In fact, disagreement between the North and South over tariffs and

states rights was a more significant cause of the Civil War than were

opposing views about slavery.

Body Paragraphs

1. Topic sentences begin every paragraph. They should introduce new

information that confirms or complicates your thesis statement.

2. Evidence and analysis. Within the paragraph, use specific evidence to

support the idea stated in your topic sentence. Use analysis sentences to

explain why this evidence supports your argument.

3. Transitions within paragraphs. The ideas in a body paragraph should

come in a logical sequence that explains, complicates, or develops the

idea put forth in the paragraphs topic sentence.

# Transitional words (furthermore, in contrast, for example,

as a result) help your reader understand the way that you are

developing your main idea.

4. Transitions between paragraphs. Each paragraph should explicitly

relate to the preceding and following paragraph.

# Phrases like also important, in addition, or we should also

note that are weak because they dont explain the relationship

between ideas in consecutive paragraphs.

Example of a body paragraph:

Disagreements between the North and South regarding cotton tariffs created a

divisive political atmosphere that was instrumental in states decisions to

secede from the Union. Vice President John Calhoun proposed that individual

states had the right to nullify specific acts of Congress in order to protect the

welfare of the states against the federal government. When Calhoun proposed


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this doctrine of nullification, it became clear that the South worried that the

North was wielding power in order to damage the Souths economy. This

worry influenced the Southern states to consider separation from the North. In

short, the economic issue of cotton export, separate from moral concerns over

slavery, marked the initial split between North and South.

This body paragraph is effective because it states an argument and then

uses evidence persuasively. A strong topic sentence is supported by a

specific incident, which is then explained. The paragraph does not simply

retell the events surrounding cotton exportation. Rather, it shows how

economic concern about cotton relates to the division between North and

South.

Concluding Paragraph

A conclusion should explain the significance of your thesis statement in a

larger context. Although a conclusion should provide a sense of closure, it

should not make broad, unwarranted generalizations or claims.

Techniques for concluding:

1. One of the most effective ways to provide a sense of closure is to cite a

relevant quotation from the text you are working with and explain how

to interpret that quotation using your argument.

2. Another technique is to explain a term that you bring up in your thesis

statement.

3. Ending your paper by showing that your argument can be applied to a

related topic reiterates the relevance of your ideas.

Example of a strong concluding paragraph:

In 1876, after the end of the Civil War, Confederate General Robert Hunter

asked, Had the South permitted her property, her constitutional rights and

her liberties to be surreptitiously taken from her without resistance and made


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no moan, would she not have lost her honor with them? Understanding that

the South feared not only a loss of slave labor, but also a loss of honor, can

make the root causes of the Civil War a bit clearer. In referring to her

constitutional rights and her liberties, Hunter does refer to the institution of

slavery. However, he also refers to the pride of economic productivity, which

the South feared would wither and die under the economic policies of the

North. Although an absolute understanding of the causes of the Civil War is

unattainable, identifying the interactions among various causes is an ongoing

project.

Style GuidelinesUnlike grammar rules, which you must follow, these style guidelines are suggestions

that help make your writing clear and e"ective.

Use the Active VoiceWhenever possible, use the active voice, which is clearer than and provides more

specific information than the passive voice. To use the active voice, make the subject

of the sentence perform the action on the predicate of the sentence.

Passive: My car was driven to Tulsa by Sarah.

Active: Sarah drove my car to Tulsa.

Passive: The hill was taken.

Active: The soldiers took the hill.

Use Parallel ConstructionsA parallel sentence construction repeats a grammatical pattern in order to express a

logical relationship between ideas in a sentence. Common parallel structures repeat

prepositional phrases, verb phrases, noun phrases, predicate nouns, or predicate

adjectives.

1. The words that introduce the separate parts of a parallel construction should

serve identical grammatical functions.

Incorrect: I told her to be brave, love her country, and that she should trust in

God.Correct: I told her to be brave, to love her country, and to trust in God.

2. Parallel construction always should be balanced in length. If one element of a

list of comparison is significantly longer than the others, readers will have

di$culty remembering the other elements in the list.

Incorrect: The movie bored the audience because it dragged on for hours, had

repetitive music, and was the first work of a director who liked to use jarring


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camera techniques and numerous characters.

Correct: The movie, which was its directors first e"ort, bored the audience

with its excessive length, repetitive music, rudimentary direction, and

numerous characters.

Avoid Wordy LanguageIf you can convey the same meaning with fewer words, do so. Padding paragraphs

with extra words is confusing and usually obvious to readers and teachers.

Specifically, the phrase there is almost always is unnecessary and may be

eliminated.

Incorrect: These instances of three-dimensional representation manifest the

preoccupation with concrete structure inherent in their societal formation.

Correct: These sculptures demonstrate their societys interest in structure.

Incorrect: There is a urn that sits next to the fireplace.

Correct: An urn sits next to the fireplace.

Avoid Gender BiasWhenever possible, avoid using gendered pronouns to refer to both men and

women.

1. Use humanity or humankind rather than man or mankind.

2. Fix gender bias by using he or she or his or her, or by pluralizing.

Incorrect: The average American washes his hands three times every day.

Correct: The average American washes his or her hands three times every day.

Correct: Average Americans wash their hands three times every day.

Use Euphemism Only When NecessaryEuphemism is the use of an indirect word or phrase to hint at real meaning.

1. Euphemism can be useful if you are discussing a delicate or sensitive topic or

if you want to avoid language that is too vulgar or harsh.

Incorrect: Im sorry that your mother was run over by a car.

Correct: Im sorry that your mother passed away.

2. Unnecessary euphemism, however, often just confuses writing.

Incorrect: Maggie didnt complete her work because she is motivationally

challenged.

Correct: Maggie didnt complete her work because she is lazy.


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Avoid Colloquial or Regional LanguageMany figures of speech and idioms used in conversation are inappropriate for

writing.

Incorrect: Ben hit the nail on the head when he suspected Isabel of boosting his

watch.

Correct: Bens suspicion that Isabel had stolen his watch was astute.

Dont Mix MetaphorsDo not compare a thing to more than one other thing in the same sentence.

Incorrect: The argument was veiled behind a sea of disagreement.

Correct: Disagreement veiled the argument.

Correct: A sea of disagreement surrounded the argument.

Avoid ClichsOverused words and idioms make sentences informal and di$cult to understand.

Incorrect: He stood by her side through thick and thin; even when their relationship

was on the rocks, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Correct: He was loyal to her both in good and bad times; even when they had

disagreements, he was optimistic that their relationship would remain strong.

Commonly Confused Words and Phrasesa!ect/e!ect - A"ect is a verb meaning to cause something to change. E"ect is a

noun meaning a result brought about by a cause.

He tried to a"ect the outcome.

He had an e"ect on the outcome.

aggravate/irritate - Aggravate means worsen. Irritate means annoy or cause

minor pain.

The loud music aggravated her headache.

The cigarette smoke irritated her throat.

all ready/already - All ready means prepared. Already means previously.

The dancer was all ready to go on stage.The dancers performance is over already.

all right/alright - Alright is a common contraction of all right. Although alright

technically is not incorrect, all right is strongly preferred.

He said he felt all right.

Incorrect: He said he felt alright.

a lot/alot - Alot is a common contraction of a lot, but is incorrect.

She liked it a lot.

Incorrect: She liked it alot.


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allusion/illusion - An allusion is a reference to something else. An illusion is a false

vision or a fantasy.

The poem contains an allusion to Greek mythology.

The ghost was an illusion.

an with H-words - Use a instead of an in front of words that begin with H

unless the H is silent.

A hero played a harp for an hour.and also - And also is redundant. Use either and or also, not both.

aural/oral - Aural relates to the ears and hearing; oral relates to the mouth.

The loud drum music damaged her aural capabilities.

Regular brushing and flossing are important components of oral hygiene.

awhile/a while - Awhile is an adverb meaning for some time. A while is an article

and noun and should be used as an object. The phrase for awhile is incorrect.

Take o"your shoes and rest awhile.

Rest for a while.

backward/backwards - Backward is preferred in the U.S.; backwards is acceptable

as an adverb but never as an adjective.He glanced backward.

She caught his backward glance.

bad/badly - Bad is an adjective; badly, an adverb. Do not use bad as an adverb. The

phrase I feel badly is commonly used but incorrect.

The bad man hit his brother.

He plays tennis badly.

Incorrect: She hurt him bad.

Incorrect: I lied to her and now I feel badly about it.

bazaar/bizarre - Bazaar is a noun meaning market. Bizarre is an adjective

meaning strange or unusual.beside/besides - Beside means next to. Besides means also or in addition to.

I ran beside the river.

He is a liar, and besides that, a thief.

between/among - Between is used when something is shared by only two people or

things. Among is used when something is shared by more than two people or things.

This secret will remain between you and me.

Among the four brothers, Aaron was the tallest.

breath/breathe - Breath is a noun; breathe is a verb.

I took a deep breath.

I breathe heavily.

capitol/capital - A capitol is a building in which a legislative body meets, whereas

capital is used to refer to political centers and uppercase letters.

Senator Smith walked into the U.S. Capitol.

Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah.

Every sentence must begin with a capital letter.

council/counsel - A council is a group. Counsel is advice or guidance; to counsel is

to advise.

The city council met on Tuesday.


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I was confused, but my teacher gave me counsel.

compare to/compare with - Compare to connotes similarity between the things

compared. Compare with can connote similarity or di"erence.

He compared her apple pie to heaven.

He compared Lincoln with Hitler.

complement/compliment - Complement means to go well with. A compliment is

a flattering statement or the act of making one.My sense of humor complements her love of laughter.

I paid her a compliment.

continual/continuous - Something that is continuous never stops. Something that

is continual is recurring but can stop.

The Earth rotates continuously.

My girlfriend continually asks me to give her flowers.

criteria/criterion - Criteria is the plural of criterion.

di!erent than/di!erent from - Di"erent from is more correct than di"erent than.

discreet/discrete - Discreet means prudent or modest. Discrete means

separate.They left the party discreetly to avoid making a scene.

He had several discrete groups of friends.

etc./e.g./i.e. Etc. is short for et cetera and means and so forth. E.g. is short for

exempli gratia and means for example. I.e. is short for id est and means that is.

He was an expert in tropical dieases: malaria, typhoid fever, cholera, etc.

She loved Shakespeares more fanciful comedies, e.g., A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Asbestos is carcinogenic, i.e., cancer-causing.

forward/forwards - Forward is preferred in the U.S.

further/farther - Further refers to time or degree. Farther refers to physical

distance.After further thought, he chose to surrender.

He moved the desks farther apart to avoid crowding.

good/well - Good is an adjective. Well is an adverb. I feel good means I feel

moral, not I feel healthy or I feel happy.

The good man donated half of his estate to charity.

I dont feel well; my stomach hurts.

hanged/hung - Always use hung except in the case of execution with a rope.

We hung the stockings on the line.

The convicts were hanged.

its/its - Its is the possessive form of it. Its is a contraction meaning it is.

Its main use is as a spice grinder.

Its used mainly for grinding spices.

lay/lie - Lay is used when the subject of the sentence acts on a direct object. Lie is

used when there is no direct object.

Julie lays down the book.

Julie lies down for a nap.

less/fewer - Less is used for quantities that cannot be counted. Fewer is used for

quantities that can be counted.


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In winter, there is less daylight because the sun is in the sky for fewer hours.

lightening/lightning - Lightening means making light. Lightning flashes from the

clouds during storms.

Taking o"your backpack would help in lightening your load.

He was struck by lightning during the storm.

like/as - As is a conjunction; it comes before a complete clause. Like is a

preposition. If the phrase introduced by like or as includes a verb, use as; if not, uselike.

He ran quickly, as a runner should.

He ran like the wind.

little/few - Little refers to quantities that cannot be counted. Few refers to

quantities that can be counted.

He had little hope.

He had few prospects.

medium/media - Media is the plural of medium.

Oil paint is the favorite medium of many artists.

Art students learn techniques in a variety of media, including pencil, oil paint, andwatercolor.

much/many - Much generally refers to quantities that cannot be counted. Many

refers to quantities that can be counted.

There was much dirt in the old truck.

Dirt has many uses.

predominant/predominate - Predominant is an adjective. Predominate is a verb.

It is the predominant idea among scientists.

The idea predominates among scientists.

principle/principal - Principle refers to an idea, especially a moral precept. Principal

refers to high rank or importance.I agree with the principle of nonviolence.

Human error was the principal cause of the accident.

Principal Jones suspended the student.

prior/previous/before - Prior and previous are interchangeable adjectives. Before is

an adverb.

The previous arrangement existed prior to this arrangement.

This arrangement was made before the new information came to light.

prophesy/prophecy - Prophesy is a verb that means to make prophecies.

Prophecy is a noun that means a prediction of future events.

The seer prophesied that Oedipus would be ruined.

The prophecy came true when Oedipus killed his father and married his mother.

quote/quotation - Quote is a verb; quotation, a noun.

I want to quote Twain in my paper.

That quotation from Twains novel is really clever.

real/really - Real is an adjective. Really is an adverb. A common mistake is to use

real as an adverb.

The terror of the situation was real.

The situation was really terrifying.


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Incorrect: I did real well.

so - Avoid using so as an word of emphasis. It was very cold is preferable to It

was so cold.

stationary/stationery - Stationary is an adjective referring to a state of

motionlessness. Stationery is a noun referring to paper and envelopes.

than/then - Than is a comparative term. Then refers to chronological sequence.

Cornelius was smarter than Rocky.I slept, and then I woke up.

that/which - That is used to provide information that is necessary to identify a

specific item. Which is used to add extra information about an item already

identified.

The ticket that John bought was nonrefundable.

John paid for the ticket, which cost fifty dollars.

their/theyre - Their is the possessive form of they. Theyre is a contraction

meaning they are.

Their eyes were closed in sleep.

Theyre sleeping.toward/towards - Toward is preferred in the U.S.

try to/try and - Try to introduces an action to be tried. Try and is correct only if

followed by an unrelated action.

Try to stop me.

You will try and fail.

Incorrect: Try and stop me.

used to/use to - Used to refers to a past action. Use to is incorrect.

We used to play ball in this field.

Incorrect: We use to play ball in this field.

whether/if - If means on the condition that. Whether is used in situations ofspeculation or uncertainty.

I will go to the party if I get my work done first.

I wonder whether the plane will arrive on time.

Incorrect: I wonder if the plane will arrive on time.

If the plane is late, he will wonder what is wrong.

who/whom - Who is a subject; whom is an object.

Who is coming to the party?

Whom should I invite?

Tim saw Cheryl, who was wearing a red coat.

Tim saw Cheryl, whom he loves like a sister.

whos/whose - Whos is a contraction meaning who is. Whose is the possessive

form of who.

Whos there?

Whose car is that?

Table of Irregular Verbs

Base Form

Simple Past

Past Participle


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arise

arose

arisen

awake

awoke/awakened

awoken

be

was/were

been

bear

bore

born/borne

beat

beat

beaten/beat

become

became

become

befall

befell

befallen

begin

began

begun

behold

beheld

beheld

bend bent bent

bet

bet/betted

bet/betted

bid

bid

bid

bind

bound

bound

bite

bit

bitten

bleed

bled

bled

blow

blew

blown


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break

broke

broken

breed

bred

bred

bring

brought

brought

broadcast

broadcast

broadcast

browbeat

browbeat

browbeat

build

built

built

burn

burnt/burned

burnt/burned

burst

burst

burst

bust

busted/bust

busted/bust

buy bought bought

cast

cast

cast

catch

caught

caught

choose

chose

chosen

cling

clung

clung

come

came

come

cost

cost

cost


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creep

crept

crept

cut

cut

cut

deal

dealt

dealt

dig

dug

dug

dive

dove

dived

do

did

done

draw

drew

drawn

dream

dreamt/dreamed

dreamt/dreamed

drink

drank

drunk

drive drove driven

dwell

dwelt/dwelled

dwelt/dwelled

eat

ate

eaten

fall

fell

fallen

feed

fed

fed

feel

felt

felt

fight

fought

fought


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find

found

found

fit

fit

fit

flee

fled

fled

fling

flung

flung

fly

flew

flown

forbid

forbade

forbidden

forecast

forecast

forecast

forego

forewent

foregone

foresee

foresaw

foreseen

foretell foretold foretold

forget

forgot

forgotten

forgive

forgave

forgiven

forsake

forsook

forsaken

freeze

froze

frozen

get

got

gotten/got

give

gave

given


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go

went

gone

grind

ground

ground

grow

grew

grown

hang

hung

hung

have

had

had

hear

heard

heard

hide

hid

hidden

hit

hit

hit

hold

held

held

hurt hurt hurt

input

input

input

inset

inset

inset

interbreed

interbred

interbred

interweave

interwove

interwoven

keep

kept

kept

kneel

knelt/kneeled

knelt/kneeled


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knit

knit/knitted

knit/knitted

know

knew

known

lay

laid

laid

lead

led

led

lean

leaned/leant

leaned/leant

leap

leapt/leaped

leapt/leaped

learn

learned/learnt

learned/learnt

leave

left

left

lend

lent

lent

let let let

lie

lay

lain

light

lit/lighted

lit/lighted

lose

lost

lost

make

made

made

mean

meant

meant

meet

met

met


22/83

mishear

misheard

misheard

mislay

mislaid

mislaid

mislead

misled

misled

misread

misread

misread

misspell

misspelled/misspelt

misspelled/misspelt

mistake

mistook

mistaken

mow

mowed

mowed/mown

outbid

outbid

outbid

outdo

outdid

outdone

outgrow outgrew outgrown

outrun

outran

outrun

outsell

outsold

outsold

overcast

overcast

overcast

overcome

overcame

overcome

overdo

overdid

overdone

overdraw

overdrew

overdrawn


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overeat

overate

overeaten

overhang

overhung

overhung

overhear

overheard

overheard

overlay

overlaid

overlaid

overlie

overlay

overlain

overpay

overpaid

overpaid

override

overrode

overridden

overrun

overran

overrun

oversee

oversaw

overseen

oversell oversold oversold

overshoot

overshot

overshot

oversleep

overslept

overslept

overtake

overtook

overtaken

overthrow

overthrew

overthrown

partake

partook

partaken

pay

paid

paid


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plead

pled/pleaded

pled/pleaded

pre-set

pre-set

pre-set

proofread

proofread

proofread

prove

proved

proven/proved

put

put

put

quit

quit/quitted

quit/quitted

read

read

read

rebind

rebound

rebound

rebuild

rebuilt

rebuilt

recast recast recast

redo

redid

redone

remake

remade

remade

repay

repaid

repaid

rerun

reran

rerun

resell

resold

resold

reset

reset

reset


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rethink

rethought

rethought

rewind

rewound

rewound

rewrite

rewrote

rewritten

rid

rid

rid

ride

rode

ridden

ring

rang

rung

rise

rose

risen

run

ran

run

say

said

said

see saw seen

seek

sought

sought

sell

sold

sold

send

sent

sent

set

set

set

sew

sewed

sewn/sewed

shake

shook

shaken


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shear

sheared

shorn/sheared

shed

shed

shed

shine

shined/shone

shined/shone

shoot

shot

shot

show

showed

shown/showed

shrink

shrank/shrunk

shrunk

shut

shut

shut

sing

sang

sung

sit

sat

sat

slay slew slain

sleep

slept

slept

slide

slid

slid

sling

slung

slung

slit

slit

slit

smell

smelled/smelt

smelled/smelt

speak

spoke

spoken


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speed

sped/speeded

sped/speeded

spell

spelled/spelt

spelled/spelt

spend

spent

spent

spin

spun

spun

spit

spit/spat

spit/spat

split

split

split

spoil

spoiled/spoilt

spoiled/spoilt

spread

spread

spread

spring

sprang/sprung

sprung

stand

stood stood

steal

stole

stolen

stick

stuck

stuck

sting

stung

stung

stink

stank/stunk

stunk

strew

strewed

strewn/strewed

stride

strode

stridden


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strive

strove

striven

strike

struck

struck/stricken

string

strung

strung

strive

strove/strived

striven/strived

swear

swore

sworn

sweep

swept

swept

swell

swelled

swollen/swelled

swim

swam

swum

swing

swung

swung

take took taken

teach

taught

taught

tear

tore

torn

tell

told

told

think

thought

thought

throw

threw

thrown

thrust

thrust

thrust


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tread

trod

trodden/trod

unbind

unbound

unbound

underlie

underlay

underlain

understand

understood

understood

undertake

undertook

undertaken

underwrite

underwrote

underwritten

undo

undid

undone

unwind

unwound

unwound

uphold

upheld

upheld

upset upset upset

wake

woke/waked

woken/waked

wear

wore

worn

weave

wove

woven

wed

wed/wedded

wed/wedded

weep

wept

wept

wet

wet/wetted

wet/wetted


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win

won

won

wind

wound

wound

withdraw

withdrew

withdrawn

wring

wrung

wrung

write

wrote

written

Commonly Misspelled Words

absence

accidentally

accommodate

accumulate

achieve

acquaintance

acquire

acquitted

advice

advise

amateur

among

analysis

analyze

annual

apartment

apparatus

apparent

appearance

appropriate

Arctic

arguing

argument

arithmetic

ascend

athletic

attendance

balance

battalion

beginning

belief

believe

beneficial

benefited

boundaries

Britain

business

calendar

candidate

category

cemetery

changeable

changing

choose

chose


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coming

commission

committee

comparative

compelled

conceivable

conferred

conscience

conscientious

conscious

control controversial

controversy criticize deferred

definitely

definition

describe

description

desperate

dictionary

dining

disappearance

disappoint

disastrous

discipline dissatisfied dormitory effect eighth

eligible

eliminate

embarrass

eminent

encouragement

encouraging

environment

equipped

especially

exaggerate

exceed

excellence

exercise

exhilarate

existence

existent

experience

explanation

familiar

fascinate

February

fiery

foreign

formerly

forty

fourth

frantically

gauge

generally

government

grammar grandeur grievous height heroes

hindrance

hoping

humorous

hypocrisy

hypocrite

immediately

incidentally

incredible

independence

inevitable


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intellectual

intelligence

interesting

irresistiblejewelry

judgment

kindergarten

knowledge

laboratory

laid

led

lightning

loneliness

lose

losing

maintenance

maneuver

manufacture

marriage

mathematics

maybe

mere

miniature

mischievous

mysterious

necessary

ninety

noticeable

occasionally

occurred

occurrence

omitted

opinion

optimistic

paid

parallel

paralysis

paralyze

particular

pastime

performance

permissible

perseverance

personal

personnel

perspiration

physical

picnicking

possession

possibility

possible

practically

precede

precedence

preference

preferred

prejudice

preparation

prevalent

principal

principle

privilege

probably

procedure

proceed

profession

professor

prominent

pronunciation

pursue

quantity

quizzes

recede

receive

receiving

recommend

reference

referring

repetition

restaurant


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rhyme

rhythm

ridiculous

sacrifice

sacrilegious

salary

schedule

seize

sense

separate

separation

sergeant

severely

shining

similar

sincerely

sophomore

specifically

specimen

statue

studying

succeed

succession

surprise

technique

temperamenta

l

tendency

tragedy

traveled

transferring

tries

truly

tyranny

unanimous

undoubtedly

unnecessary

until

usually

village

villain

weather

Wednesday

weird

whether

woman

women

writing

Rhetorical Terms - Argument

antagonist -The character who opposes the interests of theprotagonist.

Ex: In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien creates Lord Sauron as the

antagonist to Frodo.


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antanaclasis -Repetition of a word in two different senses.

Ex: If we do not hang together, we will hang separately.

anticipated objection -The technique a writer or speaker uses in an

argumentative text to address and answer objections, even though

the audience has not had the opportunity to voice these objections.

Ex: "You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea,

and airYou ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is

victory." (Winston Churchill)

antimetabole -The repetition of words in successive clauses inreverse grammatical order.

Ex: One should eat to live, not live to eat.

apologist -A person or character who makes a case for some

controversial, even contentious, position.

Ex: In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo makes a

case for marrying Juliet, despite the controversy over the issue.

apology -An elaborate statement justifying some controversial, even

contentious, position.

Ex: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out

the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal.'" (Martin Luther King Jr.)

apostrophe -The direct address of an absent person or personified

object as if he/she/it is able to reply.

Ex: "O' Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" (William


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Shakespeare)

appeal to authority -In a text, the reference to words, action, or

beliefs of a person in authority as a means of supporting a claim,

generalization, or conclusion.

Ex: Isaac Newton was a genius and he believed in God. Therefore,

God must exist.

appeal to emotion -The appeal of a text to the feelings or interests

of the audience.

Ex: If you don't graduate from high school, you will always be poor.

argument by analysis -An argument developed by breaking the

subject matter into its component parts.

Ex: The Virginians failed miserably at initial colonization and

suffered through disease, war, and famine because of their high

expectations and greed, which also molded their colony socially and

economically.

asyndeton -The omission of conjunctions between related clauses.

Ex: "This is the villain among you who deceived you, who cheated

you, who meant to betray you completely." (Aristotle)

basic topic -One of the four perspectives that Aristotle explained

could be used to generate material about any subject matter: greater

or less, possible and impossible, past fact, and future fact.

Ex: Topics include justice, peace, rights, and movie theaters.


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brain-storming -Within the planning act of the writing process, a

technique used by a writer or speaker to generate many ideas, some

of which he or she will later eliminate.

Ex: I brainstorm before history essays by writing down as many

specific Exs as I can think of for the prompt.

cloze test -A test of reading ability that requires a person to fill in

missing words in a text.

Ex: The SAT's language portion contains questions modeled in this

way.

common topic -One of the perspectives, derived from Aristotle's

topics, used to generate material. The six common topics are

definition, division, comparison, relation, circumstances, and

testimony.

Ex: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson's political opinions

can be the subject of a common topic, such as division.

compound subject -A sentence in which two or more nouns, noun

phrases, or noun clauses constitute the grammatical subject of a

clause

Ex: The dog and the cat scurried away from the approaching car.

confirmation -In ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech inwhich the speaker or writer could offer proof or demonstration of the

central idea.

Ex: In Julius Caesar's speech, the confirmation was scattered


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throughout.

conflict -The struggle of characters with themselves, with others, or

with the world around them.

Ex: In The Grapes of Wrath, migrants conflict with property owners.

connotation -The implied meaning of a word, in contrast to its

directly expressed "dictionary meaning."

Ex: Home literally means one's house, but implies feelings of family

and security.

consulting -Seeking help for one's writing from a reader.

Ex: I often consult my parents.

dramatistic pentad -The invention strategy, developed by Kenneth

Burke, that invites a speaker or writer to create identities for the act,

agent, agency, attitude, scene, and purpose in a situation.

effect -The emotional or psychological impact a text has on a reader

or listener.

Ex: The Grapes Of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, causes the reader to

have sympathy for migrant workers.

ellipsis -The omission of words, the meaning of which is provided

by the overall context of a passage.

Ex: "Medical thinking . . . stressed air as the communicator of

disease, ignoring sanitation or visible carriers" (Tuchman).


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epanalepsis -Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that

occurred at the beginning of the clause.

Ex: Blood hath brought blood.

epithet -A word of phrase adding a characteristic to a person's

name.

Ex: Alexander the Great.

figurative language -Language dominated by the use of schemes

and tropes.

Ex: "The ground is thirsty and hungry."

flashback -A part of the plot that moves back in time and then

returns to the present.

Ex: In Oedipus Rex, both Oedipus and Iocaste recall previous

events.

generalization -A point that a speaker or writer generations on the

basis of considering a number of particular examples.

Ex: "All French people are rude."

genre -A piece of writing classified by type.

Ex: Science Fiction.

investigating -Activities that writers use, during the writing process,

to locate ideas and information.

Ex: For my research paper, I have investigated many sources in the


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library and online.

irony -Writing or speaking that implies the contrary of what is

actually written or spoken.

Ex 1: "Of course I believe you," Joe said sarcastically.

Ex 2: "I can't describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved

herI even hoped for a while that she'd throw me over" (Fitzgerald

157).

narration -In ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech in which

the speaker provided background information on the topic.Ex: Julius Caesar used narration in many of his speeches.

pace -The speed with which a plot moves from one event to another.

Example: In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck paces the story

somewhat slowly, interspersing it with main-idea chapters.

parallelism -A set of similarly structured words, phrases, or clauses

that appears in a sentence or paragraph.

Ex 1: The dog ran, stumbled, and fell.

Ex 2: "After two years I remember the rest of that day, and that night

and the next day" (Fitzgerald 17).

parenthesis -An insertion of material that interrupts the typical flow

of a sentence.

Ex: The dog (which was black) ran, stumbled, and fell.

people's topics -The English translation of konnoi topoi, the four


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topics that Aristotle explained could be used to generate material

about any subject matter; also called basic topics.


periodic sentence -A sentence with modifying elements included

before the verb and/or complement.

Ex: "John, the tough one, the sullen kid who scoffed at any show of

sentiment, gave his mother flowers."

scheme -An artful variation from typical formation and arrangement

of words or sentences.Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Rhetorical Terms - Diction

act -In a dramatistic pentad created by a speaker or writer in order

to invent material, the words the speaker or writer uses to describe

what happened or happens in a particular situation.

Ex: "With the cunning typical of its breed, the automobile never

breaks down while entering a filling station with a large staff of idle

mechanics.It waits" (Russell Baker)

agency -In a dramatistic pentad created by a speaker or writer in

order to invent material, the words the speaker or writer uses to

describe the means by which something happened or happens in a

particular situation.


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Ex: "As a general rule, any object capable of breaking down at the

moment when it is most needed will do so.

The automobile is typical

of the category." (Russell Baker)

agent -In a dramatistic pentad created by a speaker or writer in

order to invent material, the words the speaker uses to describe the

person or persons involved in taking action in a particular situation.

Ex: "Thus [the automobile] creates maximum misery, inconvenience,

frustration, and irritability among its human cargo, thereby reducing

its owner's life span." (Russell Baker)

anecdote -A brief narrative offered in a text to capture the

audience's attention or to support a generalization of claim.

Ex: "A good man, gray on the edges, an assistant manager in a

brown starched and ironed uniform, is washing the glass windows of

the store...Good night, m'ijo! he tells a young boy coming out after

playing the video game..." (Dagoberto Gilb)

compound sentence -A sentence with two or more independent

clauses.

Ex: Canada is a rich country, but it still has many poor people.

conclusion (of syllogism) -The ultimate point or generalization that

a syllogism expresses.Ex: All mortals die.All men are mortals.All men die.

contraction -The combination of two words into one by eliminating

one or more sounds and indicating the omission with an apostrophe.


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Ex: "Do not" becomes "don't." "Should have" becomes "should've."

contraries -See contradiction.

Ex: The book is red. The book is not green. If the book is read, then

the book is not green. If the book is not red, then the book may be

green.

data (as evidence) -Facts, statistics, and examples that a speaker or

writer offers in support of a claim, generalization, or conclusion.

Ex: Conserve electricity.

42% of America's carbon dioxide

emissions come from electricity generation.

deductive reasoning -Reasoning that begins with a general

principle and concludes with a specific instance that demonstrates

the general principle.

Ex: "Gravity makes things fall. The apple that hit my head was due

to gravity."

delivery -The presentation and format of a composition.

Ex: The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, is formatted by

chapters, which either present general information about farmers or

the specific story of Joe and his family.

editing -The final observation, before delivery, by a writer or

speaker of a composition to evaluate appropriateness and to locate

missteps in the work.

Ex: For process papers, I edit my work many times before submitting


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a final draft.

efferent reading -Reading to garner information from a text.

Ex: For history, I perform efferent reading of the textbook.

enthymeme -Logical reasoning with one premise left unstated.

Ex: We cannot trust this man, for he has perjured himself in the past.

(Missing: Those who perjure themselves cannot be trusted.)

euphemism -An indirect expression of unpleasant information in

such way as to lesson its impact.

Ex 1: "Passed way" for "died."

Ex 2: "You see, I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of a

sideline, you understand"(Fitzgerald 87).

image -A passage of text that evokes sensation or emotional

intensity.Ex: "Waves crashing on the ocean look like knives."

inference -A conclusion that a reader or listener reaches by means

of his or her own thinking rather than by being told directly by a

text.

Ex: I infer that America became isolationist during the 1920s

because of the horrors of World War I.

memory -Access to information and collective information.

Ex: I will use my memory to remember these terms.


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narrative intrusion -A comment that is made directly to the reader

by breaking into the forward plot movement.

Ex: Narrator: The dog ran very fast across the street, dodging two

cars.

point of view -The perspective or source of a piece of writing. A

first-person point of view has a narrator or speaker who refers to

himself or herself as "I." A third-person point of view lacks "I" in

perspective.

Ex: The Great Gatsby is written in first-person point of view.

ratio -Combination of two or more elements in a dramatistic pentad

in order to invent material.

reading -The construction of meaning, purpose, and effect in a text.

Ex: I am reading The Great Gatsby.

reading journal -A log in which readers can trace developing

reactions to what they are reading.

Ex: I am maintaining a character log while reading The Great

Gatsby.

rhetorical choices -The particular choices a writer or speaker

makes to achieve meaning, purpose, or effect.

Ex: F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby chooses to use imagery,

similes, and metaphors often.

stock settings -Stereotypical time and place settings that let readers


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know a text's genre immediately.

Ex: For science fiction, if the text takes place in the future, on

another planet, or in another universe.

Rhetorical Terms - Scheme

alliteration -The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning or

in the middle of two or more adjacent words.Ex: "To make a man to meet the moral need/ A man to match the

mountains and the sea" (Edwin Markham)

anadiplosis -The repetition of the last word of one clause at the

beginning of the following clause.

Ex: "Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the

sovereign or state; servants of fame; and servants of

business." (Francis Bacon)

anaphora -The repetition of a group of words at the beginning of

successive clauses.

Ex: "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall

fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fightwith growing confidence" (Winston Churchill)

antecedent-consequence relationship -The relationship expressed

by "ifthen" reasoning.


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Ex: If industries poison rivers with pollutants, then many fish will

die.

anthimeria -The substitution of one part of speech for another.

Ex: "The thunder would not peace at my bidding." (William

Shakespeare)

appeal -One of three strategies for persuading audiences--logos,

appeal to reason; pathos, appeal to emotion; and ethos, appeal to

ethics.

Ex: "I elicited the anger of some of the most aggressive teenagers inmy high school.

A couple of nights later, a car pulled up in front of

my house, and the angry teenagers in the car dumped garbage on

the lawn of my house as an act of revenge and intimidation." (James

Garbarino)

appositive -A noun or noun phrase that follows another nounimmediately or defines or amplifies its meaning.

Ex: Orion, my orange cat, is sitting on the couch.

argument -A carefully constructed, well-supported representation

of how a writer sees an issue, problem, or subject.

Ex: The Patriots prevailed over the Loyalists, who they violently

persecuted due to their conflicting position; both betrayed theAfrican slaves to temporarily bolster their military.

Aristotelian triangle -A diagram showing the relations of writer or

speaker, audience (reader or listener), and text in a rhetorical


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situation.

canon -One of the traditional elements of rhetorical composition --

invention, arrangement, style, memory, or delivery.

Ex: Frederick Douglass's style (one aspect of canon) is both

objective and subjective.

casuistry -A mental exercise to discover possibilities for analysis of

communication.

dramatic narration -A narrative in which the reader or viewer does

not have access to the unspoken thoughts of any character.

dynamic character -One who changes during the course of the

narrative.

Ex: Romeo is a dramatic character in Romeo and Juliet, by William

Shakespeare.

evidence -The facts, statistics, anecdotes, and examples that

a

speaker or writer offers in support of a claim, generalization, or

conclusion.

Ex: "Recent studies in the brain chemistry of rats show that when

they play, their brains release large amounts of

dopamine . . ." (Rifkin).

metonymy -An entity referred to by one of its attributes or

associations.


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Ex: "The press" for the news media.

symbol -In a text, an element that stands for more than itself and,

therefore, helps to convey a theme of the text.

Ex: Purple symbolizes royalty.

East Egg in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald symbolizes the

""old rich."""

tautology -A group of words that merely repeats the meaning

already conveyed.

Ex: "If you don't get any better, then you'll never improve."

thesis -The main idea in a text, often the main generalization,

conclusion, or claim.

Ex: The corruption of America's rich in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott

Fitzgerald.

thesis statement -A single sentence that states a text's thesis,

usually somewhere near the beginning.

Ex: "Sweatt v. Painter advanced equality by ultimately improving

African American educational rights, thus transforming American

democracy for a better today."

topic -A place where writers go to discover methods for proof and

strategies for presentation of ideas.

Ex: Gun control laws, the environment, or communism.


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trope -An artful variation from expected modes of expression of

thoughts and ideas.

Ex: Pun or metonymy.

voice -The textual features, such as diction and sentence structure,

that convey a writer's or speaker's persona.

Ex: F. Scott Fitzgerald's voice is made up of mystery.

writing process -The acts a writer goes through, often recursively,

to complete a piece of writing: inventing, investigating, planning,

drafting, consulting, revising, and editing.Ex: I used this to write my research paper.

Rhetorical Terms - Syntax

audience -The person or persons who listen to a spoken text or read

a written one and are capable of responding to it.

Ex: The audience of Michael Chabon's lecture at the Mondavi

Center was composed of many Oak Ridge students.

chiasmus -Inverted relationship between two elements in two

parallel phrases.

Ex: "To stop too fearful and too faint to go."

claim -The ultimate conclusion, generalization, or point that a

syllogism or enthymeme expresses. The point, backed up by


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support, of an argument.

Ex: In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck's claim was that the

poor are wrongly mistreated.

climax -The arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in order of

increasing number or importance.

Ex: "He risked truth, he risked honor, he risked fame, he risked all

that men hold dear,yea, he risked life itself..."

climbing the ladder -A term referring to the scheme of climax.

Ex: See climax.

isocolon -Parallel elements that are similar in structure and in

length.

Ex: " to impress the ignorant, to perplex the dubious, and to

confound the scrupulous "

mnemonic device -A systematic aid to memory.

Ex: "Roy G. Biv" for the most common colors.

onomatopoeia -A literary device in which the sound of a word is

related to its meaning.

Ex: Words like "bang," and "click".

revising -Returning to a draft to rethink, reread, and rework ideas

and sentences.

Ex: I am currently revising my research paper.


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scene -In a dramatistic pentad created by a speaker or writer in

order to invent material, the words the speaker or writer uses to

describe where and when something happened or happens in a

particular situation.

Ex: "My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this

Middle Western city for three generations" (Fitzgerald 2).

simple sentence -A sentence with one independent clause and no

dependent clause.

Ex: The dog ran.

situation -The convergence in a situation of exigency (the need to

write), audience, and purpose.

Ex: Before drafting my research paper, I had to analyze my purpose

and how much background information to provide for my audience.

Rhetorical Terms - Trope

allegory -An extended metaphor.

Ex 1: "During the time I have voyaged on this ship, I have avoided

the cabin; rather, I have remained on deck, battered by wind andrain, but able to see moonlight"

Ex 2: "This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow

like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes


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take forms of houses and...of men..." (Fitzgerald 27).

allusion -A reference in a written or spoken text to another text or to

some particular body of knowledge.

Ex 1: "I doubt if Phaethon feared more -- that time/ he dropped the

sun-reins of his father's chariot/ and burned the streak of sky we see

today" (Dante's Inferno).

Ex 2: "Have you read 'The rise of the Coloured Empires' by this man

Goddard?" (Fitzgerald 17).

anastrophe -Inversion or reversal of the usual order of words.Ex: Echoed the hills.

anthimeria -The substitution of one part of speech for another.

Ex: The thunder would not peace at my bidding.

antithesis -The juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas, often inparallel structure.

Ex 1: "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the

pursuit of justice is no virtue." (Barry Goldwater)

Ex 2: "found her lying on her bed as lovely as the June night in

her flowered dress--and as drunk as a monkey" (Fitzgerald 81).

flat character -A figure readily identifiable by memorable traits but

not fully developed.

Ex: Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

format -The structural elements that constitute the presentation of a


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written text.

Ex: The Modern Language Association (MLA) has created a format

for research papers.

freewriting -Intuitive writing strategy for generation of ideas by

writing without stopping.

Ex: In English 1, I performed freewriting for two short pieces.

functional part -A part of a text classified according to its function.

Ex: The introduction.

hyperbole -An exaggeration for effect.

Ex 1: "I told you a billion times not to exaggerate."

Ex 2: "we scattered light through half Astoria" (Fitzgerald 72).

invention -The art of generating material for a text; the first of the

five traditional canons of rhetoric.Ex: I use brainstorming before an essay as invention.

journal -A text in which writers produce informal compositions that

help them "think on paper" about topics and writing projects.

Ex: I had a journal last year for Honors English in which I recorded

my thoughts on various novels I read.

journaling -The process of writing in a journal.

Ex: I wrote a journal last year for Honors English on the books I

read.


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loose sentence -A sentence that adds modifying elements after the

subject, verb, and complement.

Ex: "Bells rang, filling the air with their clangor, startling pigeons

into flight from every belfry, bringing people into the streets to hear

the news."

meiosis -Representation of a thing as less than it really is to compel

greater esteem for it.

Ex: Calling an act of arson a prank.

metaphor -An implied comparison that does not use the word likeor as.

Ex: "No man is an island" (Donne).

oxymoron -Juxtaposed words with seemingly contradictory

meanings.

Ex: "O miserable abundance! O beggarly riches!" (Donne).

paralipsis -Irony in which one proposes to pass over a matter, but

subtly reveals it.

Ex: "She is talented, not to mention rich."

peroration -In ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech in which

the speaker would draw together the entire argument and include

material designed to compel the audience to think or act in a way

consonant with the central argument.

Ex: In Julius Caesar's speech, the peroration came at the end.


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protagonist -The major character in a piece of literature; the figure

in the narrative whose interests the reader is most concerned about

and sympathetic toward.

Ex: Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath.

repretoire -A set of assumptions, skills, facts, and experience that a

reader brings to a text to make meaning.

setting -The context--including time and place--of a narrative.

Ex: The area surround New York City in the 1920s is the setting of

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

sharing -A system calling for writers to read or listen to one

another's work and suggest ways to improve it.

Ex: In AP US History, we peer reviewed each other's take-home

DBQs.

simile -A type of comparison that uses the word like or as.

Ex: "There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened

sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those

intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles

away" (Fitzgerald 2).

syllogism -Logical reasoning from inarguable premises.

Ex: All mortals die. All humans are mortal. All humans die.

synecdoche -A part of something used to refer to the whole.


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Ex: "The hired hands are not doing their jobs."

syntax -The order of words in a sentence.

Ex: "The dog ran" not "The ran dog."

theme -The message conveyed by a literary work.

Ex: The decline of the American dream in The Great Gatsby by F.

Scott Fitzgerald.

tone -The writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject matter.

Ex: Light-hearted in the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

by Michael Chabon.

understatement -Deliberate playing down of a situation in order to

make a point.

Ex: "I think there's a problem between Shias and Sunnis."

unity -The sense that a text is, appropriately, about only one subject

and achieves one major purpose or effect.

Ex: Pride by Dagoberto Gilb

unreliable narrator -An untrustworthy or nave commentator on

events and characters in a story.

Ex: The people at Gatsby's parties like Jordan who spread rumors

about Gatsby's past in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

verisimilitude -The quality of a text that reflects the truth of actual

experience.


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Ex: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael

Chabon has medium verisimilitude.

zeugma -A trope in which one word, usually a noun or the main

verb, governs two other words not related in meaning.

Ex: He governs his will and his kingdom.

Rhetorical Terms - Writing

Material

aesthetic reading -Reading to experience the world of the text.

Ex: One often reads John Steinbeck's novels, like The Grapes of

Wrath, to experience his detailed settings.

aim -The goal a writer or speaker hopes to achieve with the text --

for example, to clarify difficult material, to inform, to convince, to

persuade. Also called intention and purpose.

Ex: In Pride, Dagoberto Gilb's aim is to define pride and what it

means to him.

Anglo-Saxon diction -Word choice characterized by simple, often

one- or two- syllable nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

Ex: Words include "thinking," "kingly," "bridge," "stone," and


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"early."

apposition -Two nouns that are adjacent to each other and reference

the same thing.

Ex: I know the dog Toto.

arrangement -In a spoken or written text, the placement of ideas

for effect.

Ex: In essays, writers often strategically arrange their essays into

paragraphs and order their points from most convincing to least.

assonance -The repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables

of two or more adjacent words.

Ex: "Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies" (John Keats)

assumption -An opinion, a perspective, or a belief that a writer or

speaker thinks the audience holds.Ex: "We think a problem is weakness, mental laziness, intellectual

inflation, but an issue is deep-rooted, interior, and

personal." (Allison Amend)

attitude -In an adapted dramatistic pentad created by a speaker or

writer in order to invent materials, the manner in which an action is

carried out.

Ex: "Truth be told, we have replaced problem with issue in our

vocabulary.And issue is a euphemism." (Allison Amend)

auxesis -Magnifying the importance or gravity of something by


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referring it with a disproportionate name.

Ex: Calling a scratch on an arm a wound.

begging of the question -The situation that results when a writer or

speaker constructs an argument on an assumption that the audience

does not accept.

Ex: This painting is horrible because it is obviously worthless.

causal relationship -The relationship expressing, "If X is the cause,

then Y is the effect," or, "If Y is the effect, then X caused it."

Ex: If the dog runs away, then the boy will be sad.

character -A personage in a narrative.

Ex: Romeo was a character in Romeo and Juliet, by William

Shakespeare.

complex sentence -A sentence with one independent clause and oneor more dependent clauses.

Ex: As long as it isn't cold, it doesn't matter if it rains.

compound-complex sentence -A sentence with two or more

independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

Ex: The package arrived in the morning, but the courier left before I

could check the contents.

context -The convergence of time, place, audience, and motivating

factors in which a piece of writing or a speech is situated.

Ex: Kate Chopin lived in the late 1800s in Southern America as a


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feminist. This background formed the foundation of The Awakening.

contradiction -One of the types of rhetorical invention included

under the common topic of relationships. Contradiction urges the

speaker or writer to invent an example or a proof that is counter to

the main idea or argument.

Ex: "If war is the cause of our misery, peace is the way to promote

our happiness."

denotation -The "dictionary definition" of a word, in contrast to its

connotation, or implied meaning.Ex: A house is literally a dwelling usually for a family.

descriptive writing -Writing that relies on sensory images to

characterize a person or place.

Ex: "so much depends/ upon/ the red wheel/ barrow/ glazed with

rain/ water/ beside the white/ chickens" (William Carlos Williams)

dialect -The describable patterns of language--grammar and

vocabulary--used by a particular cultural or ethnic population.

Ex: A Caribbean dialect is often "sing-songish" and leaves out

words from sentences.

dialogue -Conversation between and among characters.

Ex: "Jim, I don't get it," Blair said.

Jim raised an

eyebrow. "Don't get what?"

diction -Word choice, which is viewed on scales of formality/


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informality, concreteness/abstraction, Latinate derivation/Anglo-

Saxon derivation, and denotative value/connotative value.

Ex: Using "issue" instead of "problem."

double entendre -The double meanings of a group of words that the

speaker or writer has purposely left ambiguous.

Ex 1: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye

mighty, and despair!" (Shelley).

Ex 2: "West Egg especially still figures into my more fantastic

dreams" (Fitzgerald 185).

drafting -The process by which writers get something written on

paper or in a computer file so that they can develop their ideas and

begin moving toward an end, a start-to-finish product; the raw

material for what will become the final product.

Ex: For the research paper, we will have to revise and draft many

times to perfect our papers.

dramatic monologue -A type of poem, popular primarily in the

nineteenth century, in which the speaker is delivering a monologue

to an assumed group of listeners.

Ex: In "My Last Duchess," by Robert Browning, shows off a painting

of his late wife and reveals his cruelty to her.

epistrophe -The repetition of a group of words at the end of

successive clauses.

Ex: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared


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to what lies within us" (Emerson).

erotema -Asking a question to assert or deny something obliquely

not for an answer.

Ex: "How much longer must our people endure this injustice?"

ethos -The appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the

speaker, writer, or narrator.

Ex: If you don't graduate from high school, you will always be poor.

exaggeration -An overstatement.

Ex: The Matrix is the best movie ever made.

example -An anecdote or a narrative offered in support of a

generalization, claim, or point.

Ex: Animals have more intelligence than imagined. "On human IQ

tests, she [a gorilla named Koko] scores between 70 and95" (Rifkin).

exordium -In ancient roman oratory, the introduction of a speech;

literally, the "web" meant to draw the audience in the speech.

Ex: Julius Caesar's speech begins with an exordium.

extended analogy -An extended passage arguing that if two things

are similar in one or two ways, they are probably similar in other

ways as well.

Ex: In "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts," Catton argues some


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similarities between Grant and Lee.

extended example -An example that is carried through several

sentences or paragraphs.

Ex: In "Pride," Dagoberto Gilb extends an Ex of pride in the form of

an anecdote through two paragraphs.

fable -A narrative in which fictional characters, often animals, take

actions that have ethical or moral significance.

Ex: Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a fable.

figures of rhetoric -Schemes--that is, variations from typical word

or sentence formation--and tropes, which are variations from typical

patterns of thought.

Ex: "When I first saw her, my soul began to quiver."

flashforward -A part of the plot that jumps ahead in time andreturns to the present.

Ex: Oedipus is told he will sleep with his mother and kill his father

by a prophet.

heuristic -A systematic strategy or method for solving problems.

Ex: Lawrence Lessig has argued that patents in different industries

should be given different amounts of time, using this strategy.

house analogy -In ancient Roman oratory, the method that speakers

used to memorize their speeches, connecting the introduction to the

porch of a house, the narration and partition to the front foyer, the


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confirmation and refutation to rooms connected to the foyer, and the

conclusion to the back door.

Ex: Julius Caesar most likely used this method to memorize his

speeches.

hyperbaton -Unusual or inverted word order.

Ex: "Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you?" (Yoda).

imagery -Language that evokes particular sensations or emotionally

rich experiences in a reader.

Ex 1: Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery in The Fall of the House of theUsher.

Ex 2: "ran for a huge black knotted trees whose massed leaves

made a fabric against the rain" (Fitzgerald 93).

implied metaphor -A metaphor embedded in a sentence rather than

expressed directly as a sentence.Ex 1: "John swelled and rustled his plumage." (John was a

peacock.)

Ex 2: "Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas

as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory

heart" (Fitzgerald 25).

inductive reasoning -Reasoning the begins by citing a number ofspecific instances or examples and then shows how collectively they

constitute a general principle.

Ex: This ice is cold. Thus, all ice is cold.


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intention -The goal a writer or speaker hopes to achieve with the

text.

Ex: One of John Steinbeck's intentions in The Grapes of Wrath was

to end humans' inhumanity to fellow humans.

jargon -The specialized vocabulary of a particular group.

Ex: Bilateral periorbital hematoma (a black eye).

konnoi topoi -People's topics; ordinary patterns of reasoning; also

called basic topics.


Latinate diction -Vocabulary characterized by the choice of

elaborate, often complicated words from Latin roots.

Ex: Words like "deviate," "aqueduct," and "insulate".

limited narration -A narrative in which the reader or viewer hasaccess to the unspoken thoughts of one character or partial thinking

of more than one character.

Ex: "Murgatroyd met Madeline on New Year's Eve in 2002. He

attended a party and she opened the door. Her hair! Only a goddess

could have hair so fine."

litotes -Understatement.

Ex 1: "This is no ordinary city" rather than "this is an impressive

city".

Ex 2: "I lived at West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable of the two,


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though this is a most superficial tag" (Fitzgerald 9).

logic -The art of reasoning.

Ex: All humans are mortal. Socrates is human. Thus, Socrates is

mortal.

logos -The appeal of a text based on the logical structure of its

argument or central ideas.

Ex: "If there really were such strong evidence of racial bias in the

justice system it would be newsworthy. . ." (Taylor 6).

mood -The feeling that a text is intended to produce in the audience.

Ex: In John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the mood is mostly

dark and gloomy.

narrative -An anecdote or a story offered in support of a

generalization, claim, or point. Also, a function in textsaccomplished when the speaker or writer tells a story.

Ex: "A good man, gray on the edges, an assistant manager in a

brown starched and ironed uniform, is washing the glass windows of

the store...Good night, m'ijo! he tells a young boy coming out after

playing the video game..." (Dagoberto Gilb)

omniscient narration -A narrative in which the reader or viewer

has access to the unspoken thoughts of all the characters.

Ex: Our Town by Thornton Wilder.

parable -A usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral


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attitude or a religious principle.

Ex: Ignacy Krasicki's "The Blind Man and the Lame."

paradox -A statement that seems untrue on the surface but is true

nevertheless.

Ex: "Not having a fashion is a fashion."

paronomasia -To call with a slight change of name; a play on

words.

Ex: "Independence is what a boy wants from his father when he

wants to be let a loan."

partition -In ancient Roman oratory, the part of a speech where the

speaker would divide the main topic into parts.

Ex: Julius Caesar used partitions to better communicate his

argument.

pathos -The appeal of a text to the emotions or interests of the

audience.

Ex: ". . . Helped feed a wave of national breast-beating over the

unfairness of the juvenile justice system" (Taylor 1).

peer review -A system calling for writers to read or listen to one

another's work and suggest ways to improve it.

Ex: In AP US History, we peer reviewed each other's take-home

DBQs.

pentad -Kenneth Burke's system for analyzing motives and actions


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in communication. The five points of the pentad are act, agent,

agency, scene, and purpose.

periphrasis -The substitution of an attributive word or phrase for a

proper name, or the use of a proper name to suggest a personality

characteristic.

Ex 1: "He was no Romeo; but then again, she was no Juliet."

Ex 2: "I stared at it, like Kant at

Documents

English Composition Notes Copy