Test For Language and Composition

Speaker

The person or group who creates a text

Subject

The topic of a text. What the text is about.

Text

Written word, any cultural product that can be "read

Occasion

The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written

Pathos

Greek for "suffering" or "experience," appeals to emotion

Audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text. Most texts are likely to have multiple audiences.

Concession

An acknowledgment that an opposing argument may be true or reasonable.

Connotation

Meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition

Context

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text

Counterargument

An opposing argument to the one a writer is putting forward

Ethos

Greek for "character" appeals to the type of person someone is

Logos

Greek for "embodied thought," appeals to logic

Persona

Greek for "mask", the face or character that a speaker shows to his or her audience.

Polemic

Greek for "hostile." An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others.

Propaganda

The spread of ideas and information to further a cause.

Purpose

The goal the speaker wants to achieve

Refutation

A denial of the validity of an opposing argument

Rhetoric

The faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.

rhetorical appeals

The use of emotional, ethical, and logical arguments to persuade in writing or speaking (pathos, ethos, logos)

Rhetorical Triangle

A diagram that illustrates the interrelationship among the speaker, audience, and subject in determining a text.

SOAPS

A mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker.

Author's Purpose

The reason an author decides to write about a specific topic.

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Exigence

A case or situation that demands prompt action or remedy; emergency

Figurative Language (including types of figurative language)

Language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. (Simile, Metaphor, Hyperbole, etc.)

Imagery

Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

Jolliffe's Framework

Diagram....

Organization/Structure/Form

An organized body of people with a particular purpose, especially a business, society, association, etc. The arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex. The visual shape.

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.