6812512667 | Alliteration | The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables. | 0 | |
6812512668 | Allusion | An indirect reference, often to another text or an historic event. | 1 | |
6812512669 | Ambiguity | quality of being intentionally unclear. Events or situations that are ambiguous can be interpreted in more than one way | 2 | |
6812512670 | Analogy | An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things. | 3 | |
6812512671 | Analysis | the process of examining the components of a literary work | 4 | |
6812512672 | Anaphora | The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses. | 5 | |
6812512673 | Anecdote | A short account of an interesting event. | 6 | |
6812512674 | Annotation | Explanatory or critical notes added to a text. | 7 | |
6812512675 | Antecedent | The noun to which a later pronoun refers. | 8 | |
6812512676 | Antithesis | Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas. | 9 | |
6812512677 | Aphorism | A short, astute statement of a general truth. | 10 | |
6812512678 | Archaic diction | The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language. | 11 | |
6812512679 | Argument | A statement put forth and supported by evidence. | 12 | |
6812512680 | Aristotelian triangle | A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle). | 13 | |
6812512681 | Assertion | An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument. | 14 | |
6812512682 | Assonance | the repeated use of a vowel sound | 15 | |
6812512683 | Assumption | A belief or statement taken for granted without proof. | 16 | |
6812512684 | Asyndeton | leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses. | 17 | |
6812512685 | Attitude | The speaker's position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone. | 18 | |
6812512686 | Audience | One's listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed. | 19 | |
6812512687 | Authority | A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge. | 20 | |
6812512688 | Bias | prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue | 21 | |
6812512689 | Chiasmus | the opposite of parallel construction; inverting the second of the two phrases that would otherwise be in parallel form. | 22 | |
6812512690 | Cite | Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source. | 23 | |
6812512691 | Claim | An assertion, usually supported by evidence. | 24 | |
6812512692 | Close reading | A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text. | 25 | |
6812512693 | Colloquialism | An informal or conversational use of language. | 26 | |
6812512694 | Common ground | Shared beliefs, values, or positions. | 27 | |
6812512695 | Concession | A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding. | 28 | |
6812512696 | Connotation | That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning (see denotation). | 29 | |
6812512697 | Consonance | the same consonant sound in words with different vowel sounds. | 30 | |
6812512698 | Context | Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning. | 31 | |
6812512699 | Counterargument | A challenge to a position; an opposing argument. | 32 | |
6812512700 | Credible | worthy of belief; trustworthy | 33 | |
6812512701 | Deduction | Reasoning from general to specific. | 34 | |
6812512702 | Denotation | The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition. | 35 | |
6812512703 | Diction | Word choice. | 36 | |
6812512704 | Epigram | A brief witty statement. | 37 | |
6812512705 | Ethos | A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos). | 38 | |
6812512706 | Euphemism | substitution of an inoffensive word or phrase for another that would be harsh, offensive, or embarrassing. A euphemism makes something sound better than it is but is usually more wordy than the original. | 39 | |
6812512707 | Explication of text | Explanation of a text's meaning through an analysis of all of its constituent parts, including the literary devices used; also called close reading. | 40 | |
6812512708 | Figurative language | The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect. | 41 | |
6812512709 | Figure of speech | An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning. | 42 | |
6812512710 | Flashback | interruption of a narrative by the introduction of an earlier event or by an image of a past experience. | 43 | |
6812512711 | Foreshadowing | hints at what is to come. It is sometimes noticeable only in hindsight, but usually it is enough to set the reader wondering. | 44 | |
6812512712 | Genre | the category into which a piece of writing can be classified—poetry, prose, drama. Each genre has its own conventions and standards. | 45 | |
6812512713 | Hyperbole | Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis. | 46 | |
6812512714 | Imagery | Vivid use of language that evokes a reader's senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing). | 47 | |
6812512715 | Induction | Reasoning from specific to general | 48 | |
6812512716 | Inversion | A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject. | 49 | |
6812512717 | Irony | A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result. | 50 | |
6812512718 | Juxtaposition | Placement of two things side by side for emphasis. | 51 | |
6812512719 | Logos | A Greek term that means "word"; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos) . | 52 | |
6812512720 | Metaphor | A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison. | 53 | |
6812512721 | Metonymy | Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole. | 54 | |
6812512722 | Modifier | a word, phrase, or clause that qualifies or describes another word, phrase, or clause | 55 | |
6812512723 | Mood | feeling or atmosphere a writer creates for a reader | 56 | |
6812512724 | Motif | a recurring subject, theme, or idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work | 57 | |
6812512725 | Narration | Retelling an event or series of events. | 58 | |
6812512726 | Occasion | An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing. | 59 | |
6812512727 | Onomatopoeia | words that imitate sounds | 60 | |
6812512728 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms. | 61 | |
6812512729 | Paradox | A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true. | 62 | |
6812512730 | Parallelism | The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns. | 63 | |
6812512731 | Parody | A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule. | 64 | |
6812512732 | Pathos | A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos). | 65 | |
6812512733 | Persona | The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing. | 66 | |
6812512734 | Personification | Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects. | 67 | |
6812512735 | Point of view | perspective of the speaker or narrator in a literary work | 68 | |
6812512736 | Polysyndeton | The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions. | 69 | |
6812512737 | Premise | major, minor, Two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise. [Major premise: All mammals are warm-blooded. Minor premise: All horses are mammals. Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded (see syllogism).] | 70 | |
6812512738 | Propaganda | A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information. | 71 | |
6812512739 | Purpose | One's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing. | 72 | |
6812512740 | Refute | To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument. | 73 | |
6812512741 | Repetition | a word or phrase used more than once to emphasize an idea | 74 | |
6812512742 | Rhetoric | The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the "available means of persuasion." | 75 | |
6812512743 | Rhetorical modes | Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation. | 76 | |
6812512744 | Rhetorical question | A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer. | 77 | |
6812512745 | Rhetorical triangle | A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian triangle). | 78 | |
6812512746 | Satire | An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it. | 79 | |
6812512747 | Scheme | A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect. | 80 | |
6812512748 | Sentence patterns | The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. | 81 | |
6812512749 | Sentence variety | Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect. | 82 | |
6812512750 | Simile | A figure of speech that uses "like" or "as" to compare two things. | 83 | |
6812512751 | Source | A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information. | 84 | |
6812512752 | Speaker | A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing. | 85 | |
6812512753 | Stream of consciousness | a form of writing which replicates the way the human mind works. Ideas are presented in random order; thoughts are often unfinished. | 86 | |
6812512754 | Structure | the particular way in which parts of a written work are combined | 87 | |
6812512755 | Style | The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech. | 88 | |
6812512756 | Subject | In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing. | 89 | |
6812512757 | Syllogism | A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor). | 90 | |
6812512758 | Symbol | a concrete object, scene, or action which has deeper significance because it is associated with something else, often an important idea or theme in the work | 91 | |
6812512759 | Synecdoche | a figure of speech where one part represents the entire object or vice versa | 92 | |
6812512760 | Syntax | Sentence structure. | 93 | |
6812512761 | Synthesize | Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex. | 94 | |
6812512762 | Tone | The speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience. | 95 | |
6812512763 | Trope | Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech. | 96 | |
6812512764 | Understatement | Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect. | 97 | |
6812512765 | Voice | In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing. | 98 | |
6812512766 | Zeugma | A construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs—often in different, sometimes incongruent ways—two or more words in a sentence. | 99 |
AP Language and Composition Terms Flashcards
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