APEL Rhetorical Terms Set #4 (Parody - Sarcasm)

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parody

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A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. It distorts or exaggerates distinctive features of the original and mimics the work to illuminate weaknesses.

Example: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: This work parodies the popular travel narratives of its time, using a fantastical journey to critique human nature, government, and the ongoing rivalries between nations.

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pedantic

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An adjective describing words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish.

Example: In the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper is an example of a pedantic character. He is very knowledgeable, yet lacks the social skills to know when to avoid launching into a highly technical discussion that others don't care about. He takes pride in being smarter than others and brags excessively about his IQ.

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periodic sentence

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A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end, preceded by a phrase or clause that cannot stand alone. Example: 'Ecstatic with my AP score, I let out a loud, joyful shout.'

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personification

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A figure of speech where concepts, animals, or inanimate objects are endowed with human attributes or emotions to make them appear more vivid to the reader.

Example: In his speeches, Lyndon B. Johnson employed personification to describe the "heart of America" as "heavy" and the "spirit of America" as "weeping."

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point of view

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The perspective from which a story is told. Includes first person ('I') and third person ('he,' 'she,' 'it') with subdivisions like omniscient and limited omniscient.

Example: Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech combines logical facts with emotional appeals from his 1st person point of view.

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predicate adjective

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A subject complement that is an adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clause following a linking verb, describing the subject.

Example:

• The weather is frightening. (frightening describes weather)

• That sounds incredible! (incredible describes that)

• My plants look pretty. (pretty describes plants)

• He felt bad after the game. (bad describes he)

• The floor feels sticky. (sticky describes floor)

• The soup smells delicious. (delicious describes soup)

• The child seemed tired. (tired describes child)

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predicate nominative

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A subject complement that is a noun, group of nouns, or noun clause renaming the subject, following a linking verb.

Example:

Teacher: "Amanda is a teacher." (Teacher renames Amanda)

• Doctor: "She is a doctor." (Doctor renames she)

• Fireman: "Ben is a fireman." (Fireman renames Ben)

• Aliens: "Your teachers are space aliens." (Aliens renames teachers)

• She: "This is she." (She renames the subject "this")

• Mark Twain: "Samuel Clemens's pen name is Mark Twain." (Mark Twain renames Samuel Clemens's pen name) 

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prose

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A major division of genre referring to fiction and nonfiction, where the printer determines the length of the line, unlike poetry.

Example: Famous examples of prose rhetoric include Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Mark Antony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, all of which use rhetorical devices like repetition, pathos, and parallelism to persuade audiences. Other examples include literary passages from works like Animal Farm and The Catcher in the Rye. 

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repetition

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The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language such as sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern.

• Example: In Martin Luther King Jrs's "I Have a Dream" speech, he exclaims,
  “I have a dream that my four little children will . . . I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia . . . I have a dream today!"

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rhetor

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The speaker who uses elements of rhetoric effectively in oral or written text.

Example: Famous public speakers include historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, and Mahatma Gandhi.