Terms : Hide Images
| 6470165619 | Allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. For example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction like hope or freedom. | 0 | |
| 6470165620 | Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. These can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. | 1 | |
| 6470165621 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. | 2 | |
| 6470165622 | Analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. | 3 | |
| 6470165623 | Aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle; a memorable summation of the author's point. | 4 | |
| 6470165624 | 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." | 5 | |
| 6470165625 | Colloquial/colloquialism | The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing, this gives a work a conversational, familiar tone. | 6 | |
| 6470165626 | Connotation | The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. | 7 | |
| 6470165627 | Denotation | The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color. | 8 | |
| 6470165628 | Diction | Related to style, this refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. | 9 | |
| 6470165629 | Didactic | Something described as this has the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles. | 10 | |
| 6470165630 | Euphemism | Words that are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. These may be used to adhere to standards of social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement. | 11 | |
| 6470165631 | Extended metaphor | A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work. | 12 | |
| 6470165632 | Figurative language | Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. | 13 | |
| 6470165633 | Figure of speech | A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things. These include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement. | 14 | |
| 6470165634 | Genre | The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. On the AP language exam, expect the majority of the passages to be: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing. There may be fiction or poetry. | 15 | |
| 6470165635 | Hyperoble | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. | 16 | |
| 6470165636 | Imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On the AP language exam, pay attention to how an author creates imagery and to the effect of this imagery. | 17 | |
| 6470165637 | Inference/infer | To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. | 18 | |
| 6470165638 | Irony | The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, or the difference between what appears to be and what is actually true. | 19 | |
| 6470165639 | Verbal irony | When the words literally state the opposite of the writer's (or speaker's) meaning. | 20 | |
| 6470165640 | Situational irony | When events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen. | 21 | |
| 6470165641 | Dramatic irony | When facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work. | 22 | |
| 6470165642 | Litotes | A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite. This is the opposite of hyperbole. Examples: "Not a bad idea," "Not many," "It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." | 23 | |
| 6470165643 | Metaphor | A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity. | 24 | |
| 6470165644 | Metaphor | A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity. | 25 | |
| 6470165645 | Mood | The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work. | 26 | |
| 6470165646 | Narrative | The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. | 27 | |
| 6470165647 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox. Simple examples include "jumbo shrimp" and "cruel kindness." | 28 | |
| 6470165648 | 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. | 29 | |
| 6470165649 | Parallelism | This term refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. This can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of a grammatical element such as a preposition or verbal phrase. | 30 | |
| 6470165650 | Anaphora | A sub-type of parallelism, when the exact repetition of words or phrases appears at the beginning of successive lines or sentences. | 31 | |
| 6470165651 | Parody | A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. It exploits peculiarities of an author's expression (propensity to use too many parentheses, certain favorite words, etc.) | 32 | |
| 6470165652 | Pedantic | An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish (language that might be described as "show-offy"; using big words for the sake of using big words). | 33 | |
| 6470165653 | Prose | One of the major divisions of genre, this refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms. The length of the line is determined by the printer/author. | 34 | |
| 6470165654 | Repetition | The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern. | 35 | |
| 6470165655 | Rhetoric | This term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. | 36 | |
| 6470165656 | Sarcasm | This term involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. It may use irony as a device, but not all ironic statements are intended to ridicule. Speaking in this manner can be witty or insightful. | 37 | |
| 6470165657 | Satire | A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule. Regardless of whether or not the work aims to reform human behavior, this term is best seen as a style of writing rather than a purpose for writing. It can be recognized by the many devices used effectively by the writer: irony, wit, parody, caricature, hyperbole, understatement, and sarcasm. | 38 | |
| 6470165658 | Semantics | The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another. | 39 | |
| 6470165659 | Syllogism | A deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion (All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal). | 40 | |
| 6470165660 | Symbol (natural, conventional, literary) | Anything that represents itself and stands for something else. Usually this is something concrete -- such as an object, action, character, or scene - that represents something more abstract. | 41 | |
| 6470165661 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part. | 42 | |
| 6470165662 | Syntax | The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. | 43 | |
| 6470165663 | Theme | The central idea or message of a work, and the insight it offers into life. | 44 | |
| 6470165664 | Thesis | In expository writing, this is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or position. Expository writing is usually judged by analyzing how accurately, effectively, and thoroughly a writer has proven this. | 45 | |
| 6470165665 | Tone | Similar to mood, this describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both. | 46 | |
| 6470165666 | Understatement | The ironic minimalizing of fact, this presents something as less significant than it is. | 47 | |
| 6470165667 | Wit | In modern usage, this is intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. It's often humorous, while suggesting the speaker's verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks. | 48 |
