AP English VocabularyKari Truong & John Fitzgerald

Logical Fallacies

Definition: Errors in reasoning and often occur in arguments.

- Napoleon was too short to be a distinguished general.

Either or reasoning: restricting the complex aspects of a difficult problem to only one of two solutions.

- Marry me or you’ll end up single forever.

Over simplification: providing simplistic answers to complex problems.

- Ban handguns and stop organized crime.

Logos

Definition: The use of or appeal to reason to determine a character’s actions or persuade to an argument, rather than ethics or emotions.

Examples:

- The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

- y = mx + b

- John’s birthday is January 11th, 1994.

Metaphor

Definition: The implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another without using a verbal signal such as “like” or “as”.

Examples:

- “The rain came down in long knitting needles” – Enid Bagnold, National Velvet

- “A man make break a word with you, sir, and words are but wind – Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors

- “Time is a dressmaker, specializing in alterations” – Faith Baldwin, Face Toward the Spring 1956

Nostalgia

Definition: Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time.

Examples:

- “To dwell even fitfully on the past, for James, was to risk crippling nostalgia; the past was the shadow side of will and therefore must be rejected.” —Jackson Lears

- A wave of nostalgia swept over me when I saw my childhood home.

- Kenyonf, your nostalgia is for a time that never existed. — They All Lost

Oxymoron

Definition: A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements.

Examples:

I. Music (Kid Cudi – Soundtrack 2 My Life)

- “Most of the clean faces be the most dirty.”

II. He’s awfully nice for giving her flowers.

III. John is a perfect screw up.

Paradox

Definition: A statement that seems contradictory, but is actually true.

Examples:

- “If you love someone, then you’ll let them go.”

- "I can resist anything but temptation.“ – Oscar Wilde

- “I must be cruel to be kind.” – Shakespeare in Hamlet

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