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| 14147568959 | Allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to a literal meaning. In some allegories, for example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction like hope or freedom. The allegorical meaning usually deals w oral truth or generalization about human existence. | 0 | |
| 14147568960 | Alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words (as in "she sells sea shells"). Althought the term is not frequently in the multiple-choice section, you can look for alliteration in any essay passage. The repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage. | 1 | |
| 14147676661 | Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. There are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion. | 2 | |
| 14147676662 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word , phrase, sentence, or passage. | 3 | |
| 14147676663 | Analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. An analogy can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something familiar. Analogies can also make writing more vivid, imaginative, or intellectually engaging. | 4 | |
| 14176326008 | Anaphora | One of the devices of repetition, in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." | 5 | |
| 14176326009 | Anecdote | A short narrative detailing the particulars of an interesting episode or event. The term most frequently refers to an incident in the life of a person. | 6 | |
| 14176326010 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. The AP language exam occasionally asks for the antecedent if a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences. | 7 | |
| 14176326011 | Aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle ( if the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered to be a folk proverb). If aphorism can be a memorable summation of the authors point. | 8 | |
| 14176326012 | Apostrophe | A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. William Wordsworth addresses John Milton as he writes, "Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour:/ England hath need of thee." | 9 | |
| 14176729756 | Atmosphere | The emotional mood created by the entity of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the authors choice of objects that are described. Even elements as a description of the weather can contribute to the atmosphere. Frequently atmosphere foreshadows events. Perhaps it can create a mood. | 10 | |
| 14176729757 | Clause | A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. An independent, or main, clause expresses a compeleré thought and can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent, or subordinate clause cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause. The point that you want to consider is the question of what or why the author subordinates one element to the other. Be aware of making effective use of subordination in your own writing. | 11 | |
| 14176729758 | Colloquial | The use of slang le informalities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing, colloquialisms give a work conversational, family tone. Colloquial expressions in writing include local le regional dialects. | 12 | |
| 14216353983 | Coherence | A principle demanding that the parts of any composition be arranged so that the meaning of the whole may be immediately clear and intelligible. Words, phrases, clauses within the sentence; and sentence, paragraphs, and chapters in larger pieces of writing are the units that, by their progressive and logical arrangement, make a coherence. | 13 | |
| 14216569885 | Conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. A conceit displays intellectual cleverness as a result of the unusual comparison being made. | 14 | |
| 14216569886 | Connotation | The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. Connotations may involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes. | 15 | |
| 14216569887 | Denotation | The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. | 16 | |
| 14216569888 | Diction | Related to style, refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. For the AP exam, you should be able to describe the authors diction ( for example, formal or informal, ornate or plain) and understand the ways in which diction can complement the authors purpose. Diction, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary devices, etc. created an authors style. | 17 | |
| 14216569889 | Didactic | From the Greek, didactic literally means "teaching." Didactic words have the primary aim of teaching or instructing,especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles. | 18 | |
| 14216569890 | Euphemism | From the Greek for "good speech", euphemisms, are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. The euphemism may be used to adhere to the standards of a social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement. Saying "earthly remains" rather than "corpse" is an example. | 19 | |
| 14216569891 | Exposition | In essays, one of the four chief types of composition, the others being argumentation, description, and narration. The purpose of exposition is to explain something. In drama, the exposition is the introductory material, which creates the tone, gives the setting, and introduces the characters and conflict. | 20 | |
| 14216569892 | Extended metaphor | A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work. | 21 | |
| 14227560686 | Figurative language | Writing or speech that is not intended to carry a literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. | 22 | |
| 14227560687 | Figure of speech | A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things. Figures of speech include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile.m, synecdoche, and understatement. | 23 | |
| 14227560688 | Generic conventions | This term describes traditions for each genre. These conventions help to define each genre; for example, they differentiate an essay and journalistic writing or an autobiography and political writing. On the AP language exam, try to distinguish the unique features of a writer's work from those dictated by convention. | 24 | |
| 14227560689 | Genre | The major category in which literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. However, genere is flexible in term; within these broad boundaries exist many subdivisions that are often called genres themselves. For example, prose can be divided into tragedy, comedy, melodrama, farce, etc. On the AP language exam, expect the majority of the passages to be from the following genres: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing. | 25 | |
| 14332882954 | Homily | This term literally means "sermon", but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice. | 26 | |
| 14332882955 | Hyperbole | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often hyperboles produce irony. | 27 | |
| 14332882956 | Imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. In a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses; we refer to visual, can represent more than one thing. For example, a rose may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman's cheeks and/or symbolizing some degree of perfection(it is the the highest flower in the Great Chain Being). An author may use complex imagery while simultaneously employing other figures of speech, especially metaphor and simile. In addition, this term can apply to the total of all the images in a work. On the AP exam, pay attention to how an author created imagery and to the effect of this imagery. | 28 | |
| 14332882957 | Inference/infer | To draw a reasonable conclusions form the information presented. When a multiple-choice question ask for an inference to be drawn form a passage, the most direct, most reasonable inference is the safest choice. If an inference is implausible, it's likely to be the correct answer. Note that to the answer choice is not directly stated, it is not inferred and is wrong. As we hav seen in the multiple-choice selections that we have been trying, you just be careful to note the connotation-negative or positive- of the choices. | 29 | |
| 14332882958 | Invective | An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. | 30 | |
| 14332882959 | Irony/Ironic | the contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The difference between what appears to be and what actually is true. In general, there are three major types of irony used in language; (1) in verbal irony, the words literally state the opposite of the writers (or speakers) true meaning. (2) in situational irony, events turn out the opposite of what was expected. What the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen. (3) in dramatic irony, farce or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or the characters in the work. Irony is used for many reasons, but frequently, it's used to create poignancy it humor. | 31 | |
| 14332882960 | Juxtaposition | A placing or being placed in nearness or contiguity or side by side, often done in order to compare/contrast the two, or to show similarities or differences. | 32 | |
| 14332882961 | Loose sentence | A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. If a period were placed at the end of the independent clause, the clause would be a complex sentence. A work containing many loose sentences often seems informal, relaxed, and conversational. Generally loose sentences create loose style. | 33 | |
| 14332882962 | Metaphor | A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarities. Metaphorical language makes writing more vivid, imaginative, thought provoking, and meaningful. | 34 | |
| 14332882963 | Metonymy | A term from the Greek meaning "changed label" or "substitute name," metonymy is a figure of speech in Which the name of one object is substituted for that of other closely associated with it. A news release that claims "the White House declared" rather than "the presidential declared" is using metonymy. The substituted term generally carries a more potent emotional impact. | 35 | |
| 14332882964 | Narrative | A telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events | 36 | |
| 14332882965 | Onomatopoeia | A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. Simple examples include such words as buzz, hiss, hum, crack, whinny, and murmur. If you note examples onomatopoeia in an essay passage, note the effect. | 37 | |
| 14332882966 | Oxymoron | From the Greek for "pointedly foolish" an oxymoron is a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox. Simple examples include "jumbo shrimp" and "cruel kindness." This term does not usually appear in the multiple choice questions, but there is a chance that you might find it in an essay. Take note of the effect, which the author achieves with this term. | 38 | |
| 14332882967 | Paradox | A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity , | 39 | |
| 14332882968 | Parallelism | Also referred to as parallel construction or parallel structure, these terms comes for the he Greek roots meaning "beside one another", it refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of works, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. This can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of a grammatical element such as preposition or verbal phrase. A famous example of parallelism begins Charles Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The effects of parallelism are numerous, but frequently they act as an organizing force to attract the readers attention, add emphasis and organization, or simply porcine a musical rhythm. | 40 | |
| 14332882969 | Parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. As comedy, parody distorts or exaggerates distinctive feature of the original. Well-written parody offers enlightenment about the original, but poorly written parody offers only ineffectual imitation. Usually an audience must grasp literary allusion and understand the work being parodied in order to fully appreciate the nuances of the newer work. Occasionally, however, parodies take on a life of their own and don't require knowledge of the original. | 41 | |
| 14332882970 | Pendantic | An adjective that describes the words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic or | 42 | |
| 14332882971 | Periodic sentence | A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end. This independent clause is preceded by a phrase or clause that cannot stand alone. For example: "ecstatic with my AP score, I let out a loud, joyful shout.!" The effect of a periodic sentence is to add emphasis and structural variety. It is also a much stronger sentence than the loose sentence. | 43 | |
| 14332882972 | Personification | A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions. Personification is used to make these abstractions,animals, or objects appear more vivid to the reader. | 44 | |
| 14332882973 | Point of view | In literature, the perspective from which the story is told. There are two general divisions of point of view and many subdivisions within these. (1) the first person tells the story with first person pronouns "I" and is a character in the story. The narrator can be the protagonist, a participant (character in a secondary role), or an observer(character who watches the action). (2) the third person narrator relates the events either the 3rd person pronouns "he", "she", and "it". There are two main subdivisions to be aware of: omniscent | 45 | |
| 14332882974 | Prose | One of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and non-fiction, including all its forms. In prose the printer determines the length of the line; in poetry, he poet determines the length of the line. | 46 |
