Vocabulary 42-52 – Ms. Barbour’s Definitions and Examples
42. antithesis
a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other,
"The worldwill little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but itcan never forgetwhat they did here." (Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address”)
I don’t remember what the movie was about, but I will never forget what happened in the theater.
43. caricature
1: exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics
2: a representation especially in literature or art that has the qualities of caricature
"[O]ver the course of the last several weeks, commentators have taken to portraying Mr. Obama as clinical and insufficiently emotive, which is really just another way of saying the president is not really knowable. It is a caricature his opponents can exploit in part because a lot of voters remain murky on his cultural identity."
(Matt Bai, "Ethnic Distinctions, No Longer So Distinctive." The New York Times, June 29, 2010)
A caricature in this sense is negative. The writer is saying that people understand President Obama with the depth of a cartoon character –looking only at a few superficial characteristics.
44. colloquial
: using an informal style
“Hey, dude, what’s up” versus “Hello, how are you?”
45. main clause
I talked on the phone while I doodled on a paper.
46. subordinate clause
While I talked on the phone, I doodled on a paper.
Look for “subordinate conjunctions” to identify subordinate clauses. The “subordinate conjunctions” are words such as after, although, as, because…
47. diction
word choice
I recommend that you proceed carefully if your girlfriend asks you if she is fat. Diction is important in such a case. “You’re curvy” works better than “you’re lumpy.”
48. didactic
designed or intended to teach something
“In the past twenty years, no period of American history has been the subject of a more thoroughgoing reevaluation than Reconstruction –the violent, dramatic, and still controversial era following the Civil War.” (Eric Foner, “The New View of Reconstruction”)
49. juxtaposition
:the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side; also: the state of being so placed
The juxtaposition of these two billboards has what kind of effect?
“Merry and tragical? Tedious and brief?
That is hot ice, and wondrous strange snow!
How shall we find the concord of this discord?”
-Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V, Scene i
“Yeah, yeah, I’ma up at Brooklyn, now I’m down in Tribeca
Right next to De Niro, but I’ll be hood forever”
- Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind”
50. persuasive
Writing that persuades.
"The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." (Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address”)
51. exposition
Writing that explains.
In Paris the painters who reacted against Impressionism were known as ‘les fauves’ (the wild beasts), a name first used as a witticism by the critic Louis Vauxcelles at the time of the Autumn Salon of 1905. (Herbert Read, A Concise History of Modern Painting)
52. narration
Writing that tells a story.
“It is early evening in New York City and Norman, who is maybe ten or eleven, is sitting in the dim stairwell of the brownstone building where the family lived. He hears the front door of the building creak open and the sound of his father coming up the stairs.” (Deborah Solomon, American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell)
Rhetorical modes - This flexible term describes the variety, the conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing. The four most common rhetorical modes and their purposes are as follows: (1) The purpose of exposition (or expository writing) is to explain and analyze information by presenting an idea, relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion. The AP language exam essay questions are frequently expository topics. (2) The purpose of argumentation is to prove the validity of an idea, or point of view, by presenting sound reasoning, discussion, and argument that thoroughly convince the reader. Persuasive writing is a type of argumentation having an additional aim of urging some form of action. (3) The purpose of description is to re-create, invent, or visually present a person, place, event or action so that the reader can picture that being described. Sometimes an author engages all five senses in description; good descriptive writing can be sensuous and picturesque. Descriptive writing may be straightforward and objective or highly emotional and subjective. (4) The purpose of narration is to tell a story or narrate an event or series of events. This writing mode frequently uses the tools of descriptive writing. These four modes are sometimes referred to as mode of discourse.