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AP Language & Composition Terminology Flashcards

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7070959025Alliterationthe repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables. ex. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.0
7070959026Allusionan indirect reference, often to another text or a historical event. ex. In George Orwell's Animal Farm, Napoleon is an allusion to Joseph Stalin and Snowball is an allusion to Leon Trotsky.1
7070959027Analogyan extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things. ex. "She was as quiet as a mouse."2
7070959028Anaphorathe repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses. ex. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech"3
7070959029Anecdotea short account of an interesting event.4
7070959030Annotationexplanatory or critical notes added to a text.5
7070959031Antecedentthe noun to which a later pronoun refers. ex. My sister is in a bad mood. The day went very poorly for her. ("her" refers to "my sister")6
7070959032Antimetabolethe repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen a contrast. ex. "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going."7
7070959033Antithesisparallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas. ex. "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice" "One small step for man, one giant leap for all mankind"8
7070959034Aphorisma short, astute statement of a general truth. ex. "All that glitters is not gold."9
7070959035Appositivea word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun. ex. John, my 22-year-old brother, is mocking me at this very moment.10
7070959036Archaic dictionthe use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language. ex. Use of the words thee, thou, shall, etc.11
7070959037Argumenta statement put forth and supported by evidence.12
7070959038Aristotelian trianglea diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle). ex. ethos, pathos, logos13
7070959039Assertionan emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument. ex. One could argue that Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a social commentary piece in the 1950s.14
7070959040Assumptiona belief or statement taken for granted without proof. ex. All Americans love fast food.15
7070959041Asyndetonleaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses. ex. "Speed up the film, Montag quick. Click, pick, look, eye, now... Uh! Bang! Wallop, bing, bong, boom!" (F451, leaving out "and")16
7070959042Attitudethe speaker's position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone. ex. She talked about her mother with such a positive attitude.17
7070959043Audienceone's listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed. ex. Thomas Jefferson's audience in the "Declaration of Independence" was King George III and the colonies.18
7070959044Authoritya reliable, respected source--someone with knowledge. ex. government figures, leaders, intellectuals19
7070959045Biasprejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue. ex. Although CNN claims to be unbiased, their network tends to favor democratic views.20
7070959046Citeidentifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source.21
7070959047Claiman assertion, usually supported by evidence.22
7070959048Close readinga careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text.23
7070959049Colloquialan informal or conversational use of language. ex. "When are y'all going to come over?"24
7070959050Common groundshared beliefs, values, or positions.25
7070959051Complex sentencea sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. ex. While she may have been living in luxury all her life, she was still very unhappy.26
7070959052Concessiona reluctant acknowledgement or yielding. ex. "I know you're worried about my safety, but I think that I'm mature enough to move out and live on my own."27
7070959053Connotationthat which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning (see denotation).28
7070959054Contextwords, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.29
7070959055Coordinationgrammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction such as and, or but. ex. We were supposed to go to New York that day, but it rained and we stayed home instead.30
7070959056Counterargumenta challenge to a position; an opposing argument. ex. Though some feel as if racism is no longer an issue in American society, there still exists several instances of discrimination toward minority groups in the United States.31
7070959057Cumulative sentencean independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply additional detail. ex. Her brother is stubborn, so much so that one time, he threw a tantrum in the middle of a store until his parents bought him the toy he wanted.32
7070959058Declarative sentencea sentence that makes a statement. ex. You aren't lazy. Those are my shoes. She asked about you.33
7070959059Deductionreasoning from general to specific. ex. Since all humans are mortal, and I am a human, then I am a mortal.34
7070959060Denotationthe literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition. ex. The denotation of home literally means the place someone lives, whereas a less literal meaning could refer to family and belonging.35
7070959061Dictionword choice ex. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, his way of speaking portrayed the way those in the South spoke during the Antebellum era.36
7070959062Documentationbibliographic information about the sources used in a piece of writing. ex. a works cited page37
7070959063Elegiacmournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone. ex. O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman is an elegy to Abraham Lincoln38
7070959064Epigrama brief witty statement. ex. "Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." - John F. Kennedy39
7070959065Ethosa Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos). ex. "Doctors all over the world would reccommend this type of treatment."40
7070959066Figurative languagean expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning. ex. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" "I've told you this a million times" "Time is money"41
7070959067Hyperboleexaggeration for the purpose of emphasis. ex. I am dying in anticipation That bag weighs a ton I love you to the moon and back42
7070959068Imageryvivid use of language that evokes a reader's senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing). ex. When she walked into her dim-lit kitchen, she was able to inhale the pungent aroma of her grandmother's cooking.43
7070959069Imperative sentencea sentence that requests or commands. ex. Do the right thing. Go ahead, make my day. Be nice to others.44
7070959070Inductionreasoning from specific to general. ex. Since the first three marbles she picked out of the bag were black, the bag must be filled with black marbles.45
7070959071Inversiona sentence in which the verb precedes the subject. ex. A great home run he made there. Astonished, I was. Next week will come the big announcement.46
7070959072Ironya contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result. ex. I have four exams today, how fun!47
7070959073Juxtapositionplacement of two things side by side for emphasis. ex. Sometimes, the good and the bad may live within the same person. That vacation was to be our first and our last.48
7070959074Logosa Greek term that means "word"; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos). ex. "All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is a mortal." (Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric) Data & charts can also be an example of logos49
7070959075Metaphora figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison. ex. Her singing was music to my ears. That class was a walk in the park.50
7070959076Metonymyuse of an aspect of something to represent the whole. ex. Could you lend me a hand? - hand represents help An heir to the throne. - throne represents royalty51
7070959077Occasionan aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing.52
7070959078Oxymorona figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms. ex. pretty ugly open secret virtual reality larger half53
7070959079Paradoxa statement that seems contradictory but is actually true. ex. The youth is wasted on the young. An enemy of my enemy is a friend. I am nobody.54
7070959080Parallelismthe repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns. ex. Like father, like son. Easy come, easy go.55
7070959081Parodya piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features or another; used for comic effect or ridicule. ex. SNL parodies a lot of occurences in pop culture and politics.56
7070959082Pathosa 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). ex. Sad instrumental music in ASPCA commercials with sad looking animals.57
7070959083Personathe speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing. ex. A politician may use a relative, "nice-guy" persona to appeal to his voter.58
7070959084Personificationassigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects. ex. The tableware in Beauty and the Beast. "The tall grass danced in the wind."59
7070959085Polemican argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion. ex. Debate on gun rights. Debate on LGBT+ rights. Debate on separation of church and state.60
7070959086Polysyndetonthe deliberate use of a series of conjunctions. ex. For Christmas, I want a new phone and jack and shoes and headphones. (use of a series of "and")61
7070959087Premise (major and 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. ex. All humans deserve a good life. (major) We are all human. (minor) We all deserve a good life. (conclusion)62
7070959091Propagandaa negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information. ex. George Orwell's Animal farm served as Anti-communist propaganda during the Russian Revolution.63
7070959092Purposeone's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.64
7070959093Refuteto discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument. ex. While some may argue that United States is faultless "Land of Opportunity," America may be more inopportune than it initially seems.65
7070959094Rhetoricthe study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the "available means of persuasion."66
7070959095Rhetorical modespatterns 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.67
7070959096Rhetorical questiona question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer. ex. Is rain wet? Are you kidding me? Who cares?68
7070959097Rhetorical trianglea diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian triangle).69
7070959098Satirean ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it. ex. "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift70
7070959099Schemea pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect. ex. "One should eat to live, not live to eat." - antimetabole "You can eat well or you can sleep well." - alliosis71
7070959100Sentence patternsthe arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions--such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. ex. She went to the movies. (simple) She went to the movies and bought popcorn. (compound)72
7070959101Sentence varietyusing a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.73
7070959102Similea figure of speech that uses "like" or "as" to compare two things. ex. As quiet as a mouse. Flow like water.74
7070959103Simple sentencea statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause. ex. She doesn't like fruits. He is nice.75
7070959104Sourcea book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.76
7070959105Speakera term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.77
7070959106Straw mana logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position; misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent's position. ex. Person 1: We should have stricter limitations on guns. Person 2: [Person 1] has no respect for our Constitution and they believe we should throw away the foundations set by our founding fathers.78
7070959107Stylethe distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech. ex. narrative, descriptive, etc.79
7070959108Subjectin rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.80
7070959109Subordinate clausecreated by a subordinate conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause. ex. My brother is a college student who is very smart but is too lazy to turn in assignments on time.81
7070959110Subordinationthe dependence of one syntactical element on another in a sentence. ex. The dog that bit me is on the loose again. "The dog... is on the loose again" - independent "... that bit me.." - dependent, thus subordinate82
7070959111Syllogisma form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor). ex. All rectangles are quadrilaterals. All squares are quadrilaterals. All squares are rectangles.83
7070959112Syntaxsentence structure. ex. "I cannot go out." vs "Go out, I cannot."84
7070959113Synthesizecombining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.85
7070959114Thesisthe central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.86
7070959115Thesis statementa statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.87
7070959116Tonethe speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience.88
7070959117Topic sentencea sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph's idea and often unites it with the work's thesis.89
7070959118Tropeartful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech. ex. I've done this a million times. (hyperbole) That's not the worst thing I've ever heard. (litotes) Blind as a bat. (simile)90
7347269635Understatementlack on emphasis in a statement or point; restrain in language often used for ironic effect. ex. The injury isn't too bad. I only broke both of my legs.91
7347271618VoiceIn grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice) In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in style and tone of writing ex. Grammar: I am going to cook dinner tonight. (active) Dinner is going to be cooked by me tonight. (passive) Rhetoric: Character Voice Third-Person Voice (objective and subjective)92
7347278509Zeugmaa construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs- often in different, sometimes incongruent ways- two or more words in a sentence ex. My dad lost his socks and his patience. He grew corn and bored on his farm.93

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