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AP Language Terms Flashcards

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4423522065Active VoiceSubject is doing the acting. Ex: Kevin hit the ball. Effect: flow better and make it easier to understand.0
4423522066AllegoryStory, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. Ex: In Lord Of The Flies the conch stands for law and order. Effect: Makes the author's story or characters stand for something larger in meaning than what they literally stand for.1
4423528335AnaphoraUse of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition. Ex: My life is purpose. My life is goal. my life is inspiration. Effect: Adds rhythm makes it more pleasurable to read and easier to remember.2
4423528336AphorismA pithy observation that contains a general truth. Ex: Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. (Franklin) Effect: Allows writer to teach a moral truth.3
4423529958ElegyPoem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead. Ex: Thomas Gray's elegy written in a Country Churchyard. Effect: Relies on memories of those who are no more, has a capacity to hold emotions that deeply influence people.4
4423529959Epistropherepetition of a word at the end of a successive clauses or sentences. Ex: Last week, he was just fine. Yesterday, he was just fine. And today, he was just fine. Effect : Give emphasis to an idea, thought, or passage.5
4423532080EuphemismA mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. Ex. Passed away instead of died. Effect: Helps convey ideas that have become a social taboo or are too embarrassing to mention directly.6
4423532081Foilprevent from succeeding. Ex:7
4423533790synecdochePart of something represents the whole or it may use a whole to represent a part. Ex: The word "sails" refers to whole ship. Effect: Gives common ideas and objects deeper meanings8
4423535941Metonymyreplaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which is closely associated with. Ex: "As he swung toward them holding up the hand Half in appeal, but half as if to keep The life from spilling" Effect: Gives more profound meanings to otherwise common or usual things.9
4423535942litoteEmploys an understatement by using double negatives (positive statement expressed by its opposite expressions.) Ex: Your comments on politics are not useless. Effect: Use an understatement in order to emphasize an idea rather than minimizing its importance.10
4423538384MalapropismThe mistaken use of a word in a place11
4423538385odeForm of poetry such as sonnet or elegy. lyrical in nature but not very lengthy. Ex.There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight To me did seem Apparelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. It is not now as it hath been of yore. Effect:12
4423542371AnthrapphorismThe attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. Ex:My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me, I do not know these nice distinctions myself. To me they are only fine large words meaning nothing. My mother had a fondness for such; she liked to say them, and see other dogs look surprised and envious, as wondering how she got so much education.... When I was well grown, at last, I was sold and taken away, and I never saw her again. She was broken-hearted, and so was I, and we cried; but she comforted me as well as she could. Effect: Make a wider appeal to readers could make the story more visually appealing.13
4423542372shiftChange in mood or attitude typically followed by a corresponding change in focus and language if a literary scene. EX: At the end of Gatsby whenever Gatsby dies and Daisy dosent even go to his funeral it puts a shift in the story. Effect: allows the reader to get into the suspense of whats going on around them.14
4423544571asyndetonthe omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence. Ex:Call up her father. Rouse him. Make after him, Poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets. Incense her kinsmen, And, though he in a fertile climate dwell. Effect: Speeding up the rhythm of words.15
4423544572polysyndytonStylistic device in which several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve an artistic effect. Ex:"Let the whitefolks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and mostly-mostly-let them have their whiteness." (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) Effect: Joins words and phrases and adds rhythm.16
4423550794syllogismrhetorical device that starts an argument with a reference to something general from this it draws a conclusion about something more specific. Ex. "All love is wonder; if we justly do account her wonderful, why not lovely too?" Effect: Identify the general truths in a particular situation.17
4423550795zeugmaA figure of speech in which a word usually a verb or adjective, applies to more than one noun blending together grammatically and logically different ideas. Ex.[They] covered themselves with dust and glory. Effect: Adds flavor to help create as it helps produce a dramatic effect.18
4423550796chiasmusTwo or more clauses are balanced against each other by the reversal of their structures in order to produce an artistic effect. Ex: "you forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget." Effect: lay emphasizes on what they want to communicate.19
4423552797anadiplosisrepetition of a word or words in successive clauses in such a way that the second clause starts with the same word which marks the end of the previous clause. Ex: "For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, Young Lycidas and hath not left his peer." Effect: Adds emphasizes to the main idea20
4423554988simple sentenceA sentence containing only one clause, with a single subject and predicate. Ex: The company plans to market the product overseas. Effect: Communicate clearly and make key points.21
4423554989compound sentenceA sentence with more than one subject or predicate. Ex: I really want to go to work, but I am too sick to drive. Effect: Link ideas together to describe something more in depth.22
4423557661complex sentenceA sentence containing a subordinate clause or clauses. Ex: Because my coffee was too cold, I heated it in the microwave. Effect: create a feeling of cause and effect.23
4423559819compound-complex sentenceA sentence having two or more coordinate independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. Ex: Although I like to go camping , I haven't had the time to go lately, and I haven't found anyone to go with. Effect: The effect of creating suspense or feeling of climax.24

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