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| 2831521403 | ad hominem argument | From the latin meaning "to or against the man", this is an argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason, to feeling rather than intellect. | 0 | |
| 2831521404 | Allegory | The device of using character and / or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the 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 with moral truth or a generalization about human existence. | 1 | |
| 2831521405 | Alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words. Although the term is not used in the multiple choice section, you can look for alliteration in any essay passage. The repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, and / or supply a musical sound. | 2 | |
| 2831521406 | Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something that is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusion can be historical, literary, religious, or mythical. There are, of course, many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion. | 3 | |
| 2831521407 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. | 4 | |
| 2831521408 | 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 more familiar. Analogies can also make writing more vivid, imaginative, and intellectually engaging. | 5 | |
| 2831521409 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. The AP English Language and Composition Exam occasionally asks for the antecedent of a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences. | 6 | |
| 2831521410 | Antithesis | A figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced grammatical structure. The resulting parallelism serves to emphasize opposition of ideas. The familiar phrase "Man proposes, God disposes" is an example of antithesis. | 7 | |
| 2831521411 | Aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth or moral principle. If the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered to be a folk proverb. An aphorism can be a memorable summation of the author's point. | 8 | |
| 2831521412 | Apostrophe | A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. | 9 | |
| 2831521413 | Atmosphere | The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described. Even such elements as a description of the weather can contribute to the atmosphere. Frequently, at,ops here foreshadows events. | 10 | |
| 2831521414 | Caricature | A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject's distinct features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque imitation or misrepresentation. Synonymous words include burlesque, parody, travesty, satire, lampoon. | 11 |
