AP® English Language and Composition review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/lang/units/1)
Unit 1
Skills used across the whole examRhetorical Situation, Claims and Evidence
Every piece of writing comes out of a specific situation: someone writing to someone else, for a reason, at a particular moment. In this unit you learn to name the parts of that rhetorical situation, then look at the basic building blocks of an argument: a claim someone could disagree with and the evidence that backs it up. You finish by writing your own paragraph that makes a claim and supports it.
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Flashcards (27)Practice questions (42)English Language must-know sheetFree-response questions on this unit
Write your own answer, then score it with the rubric or with AI.
- Rhetorical analysis essayRoosevelt's “The Strenuous Life”6 points · about 40 minutes
- Rhetorical analysis essayWashington's Atlanta Exposition address6 points · about 40 minutes
- Rhetorical analysis essayAnthony on the right to vote6 points · about 40 minutes
- Argument essayThe value of boredom6 points · about 40 minutes
- Argument essayIntentions or results?6 points · about 40 minutes
- Argument essayFocus deeply or explore widely?6 points · about 40 minutes
Big ideas
- Every text responds to a situation: writer, audience, purpose, context and exigence
- Writers make choices because of their situation
- An argument is a claim that needs defending
- Evidence only works when it fits the claim
Full unit reviews
Longer videos that cover the whole unit. Good for a first pass or a final review.
Topics
The rhetorical situation is everything around a text that shapes it: who is writing, who they're writing to, why, and what was going on when they wrote. Naming these parts first makes it much easier to explain why a writer made the choices they did.
Key terms
- rhetorical situation
- writer (speaker)
- audience
- purpose
- context
- exigence
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.
Exigence is the problem, event or need that pushes a writer to respond in the first place. Purpose is what the writer wants the text to do, such as persuade, explain, warn or get readers to act.
Key terms
- exigence
- purpose
- occasion
- call to action
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.
Writers shape a message for the specific people they expect to read it, and for the time, place and circumstances they're writing in. The same point might be made very differently to a friend, a school board or a whole nation.
Key terms
- audience
- intended audience
- context
- rhetorical choice
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.
A claim is a statement that a reasonable person could disagree with, so it needs support. If everyone already accepts something as a fact, you aren't arguing it; a claim takes a position you have to defend.
Key terms
- claim
- argument
- position
- defensible
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.
Writers back up claims with evidence such as facts, statistics, examples, expert testimony, anecdotes and personal experience. Each kind has its own strengths, and good evidence is clearly relevant to the claim it supports.
Key terms
- evidence
- statistics
- expert testimony
- anecdote
- example
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.
A strong paragraph states a claim, brings in evidence by quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing it, and then explains how that evidence supports the claim. When you work evidence smoothly into your own sentences, readers can see why it matters.
Key terms
- topic sentence
- quotation
- paraphrase
- summary
- commentary
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.