8455746184 | Metaphor | An implied comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common | 0 | |
8455746185 | Simile | An explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common; a comparison of two things using either "like" or "as" | 1 | |
8455746186 | Synechdoche | A figure of speech in which the part stands for the whole Example: All hands on deck. | 2 | |
8455746187 | Metonymy | Substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant Example: In Europe, we gave the cold shoulder to De Gaulle, and the warm hand to Mao Tse-tung. (Richard Nixon, 1960) | 3 | |
8455746188 | Zeugma | a figure of speech in which a word, usually a verb or an adjective, applies to more than one noun, blending together grammatically and logically different ideas Example: He maintained a flourishing business and racehorse. | 4 | |
8455746189 | Personification | investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities or abilities. Example: He glanced at the dew covered grass, and it winked back at him. | 5 | |
8455746190 | Apostrophe | Addressing an absent person or a personified abstraction. This imbues the subject with an emotional charge. Example: Death, thou shalt die (John Donne) | 6 | |
8455746191 | Hyperbole | the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect. Example: It's really ironical...I have gray hair. I really do. The one side of my head--the right side--is full of millions of gray hairs (Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye) | 7 | |
8455746192 | Litotes | Deliberate use of understatement, not to deceive someone but to enhance the impressiveness of what is stated Example: Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance for the worse (Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub) | 8 | |
8455746193 | Rhetorical Question | Asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely. | 9 | |
8455746194 | Sarcasm | Witty language used to convey insults or scorn. Example: Ugliness is in a way superior to beauty because it lasts (Serge Gainsbourg) | 10 | |
8455746195 | Onomatopoiea | Use of words whose sound echoes the sense Example: Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far (G.K. Chesterton, Lepanto) | 11 | |
8455746196 | Oxymoron | The yoking of two terms that are ordinarily contradictory, thus creating a startling effect. Involves a turn of meaning of juxtaposed words. Example: Sweet pain, cheerful pessimist, cruel kindness, thunderous silence. | 12 | |
8455746197 | Paradox | An apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth. Involves a turn of meaning in the whole statement. Art is a form of lying to tell the truth (Pablo Picasso) | 13 |
AP Language & Composition Tropes List Flashcards
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