Rhetorical Concepts & Terms

The FOLLOWING LIST includes all the TWENTY "HAVE TO KNOW" RHETORICAL TERMS for the AP Language Exam. 
Below this list are additional sources and lists of terms that you can also use and should strive to know and be able to define, identify, and then analyze.

Rhetorical Terminology (in the CED - p. 83):
The following terms absolutely must be learned and memorized.  These are in the CED and you are definitely responsible for these terms.  There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of other rhetorical strategies or terms, and all of those are valid and useful - fair game - but you are not typically going to be required to know or identify them.
Context

Appeals

Purpose

Audience
Attitude

Diction

Syntax

Terms in the Big Ideas & Key Skills
The following additional terms are more of the academic language you need to know and will be used on the exam.  You need also to be responsible for these terms and identifying and analyzing them in texts.
Rhetoric
Rhetorical Situation
Claim
Evidence
Reasoning / Line of Reasoning
Organization
Argumentative Modes
Commentary
Style
Rhetorical Strategies / Devices
Speaker
Exigence
Tone

CED On Use of Rhetorical Terminology (p. 83):
Growth in skills cannot be measured or assessed as students’ mastery of a vocabulary of rhetorical terms. While older versions of this course (including questions on the AP English Language and Composition Exam itself) relied on knowledge of terminology as a way of assessing student work, the AP English Language and Composition Exam has evolved to emphasize

the appropriate application of such terminology in students’ analyses of texts. Any rhetorical terms that appear in this course are best situated as part of the teacher’s vernacular, not the students’. A rule of thumb for students’ vocabulary may be to reinforce language often heard in public discourse, or what we may call terms for functional rhetoric. These terms may include, but are not limited to context, appeals, purpose, audience, attitude, diction, and syntax.

A "Short"List (Top 55 Terms You Must Know; scroll down and see the terms below as well)

The Rhetorical Modes
These are essentially kinds of essays or compositions.  In general, there are FOUR categories of kinds of essays, but then more specifically you will see about twenty or so that fall into one of the four categories.  The four general categories are:
Narration
Description
Argumentation/Persuasion
Exposition/Information