Terms : Hide Images
| 14266719517 | Ad hominem | Latin for "against the man." When a writer personally attacks his or her opponents instead of their arguments. | 0 | |
| 14266719518 | Allegory | a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. | 1 | |
| 14266719519 | Alliteration | The repetition of the same sounds - usually initial consonants of words. | 2 | |
| 14266719520 | Assonance | The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in the syllables of neighboring words. | 3 | |
| 14266777268 | Consonance | The repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel sounds are usually different. | 4 | |
| 14266777269 | Allegory | a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. | 5 | |
| 14266777270 | Allusion | An indirect or passing reference to some event, person, place, or artistic work, the nature and relevance of which is not explained by the writer but relies on the reader's familiarity with what is thus mentioned. | 6 | |
| 14266777271 | Anachronism | A term used in modern narratology to denote a discrepancy between the order in which events of the story occur and the order in which they are present to us in the plot. | 7 | |
| 14266894259 | Analogy | Illustration of an idea by means of a more familiar idea that is similar or parallel to it in some significant features. | 8 | |
| 14266894260 | Antithesis | contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangement of words or clauses. | 9 | |
| 14266894261 | Anaphora | A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences. | 10 | |
| 14266894262 | Aristotelian triangle | A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle). | 11 | |
| 14266894263 | Epistrophe | A rhetorical figure by which the same word or phrase is repeated at the end of successive sentences. | 12 | |
| 14267080724 | Anti-hero | A central character in a dramatic or narrative work who lacks the qualities of nobility and magnanimity expected of traditional heroes and heroines in romances and epics. | 13 | |
| 14267080725 | Aphorism | A statement of some general principle, expressed memorably by condensing much wisdom into few words. | 14 | |
| 14267080726 | Apology | In the literary sense, a justification or defense of the writer's opinions or conduct, not usually implying any admission of blame (as in the everyday use). | 15 | |
| 14267080727 | Apostrophe | A rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an abstraction or inanimate object. | 16 | |
| 14267080728 | Archetype | a recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology. | 17 | |
| 14267080729 | Asyndeton | A form of verbal compression which consists of the omission of connecting words between clauses. The most common form is the omission of "and," leaving on a sequence linked by commas. | 18 | |
| 14267080730 | Colloquialism | The use of informal expressions appropriate to everyday speech rather than to the formality of writing. | 19 | |
| 14267080731 | Comic Relief | The interruption of a serious work by humor. | 20 | |
| 14267080732 | Conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. A conceit displays intellectual cleverness as a result of the unusual comparison being made. | 21 | |
| 14267080733 | Concession | an acknowledgment of objections to a proposal (similar to anticipation of objection). | 22 | |
| 14267080734 | Connotation | The range of further associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its straightforward dictionary meaning. | 23 | |
| 14267080735 | Denotation | The explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it. | 24 | |
| 14267080736 | Diction | Related to style, diction refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. For the AP exam, you should be able to describe an author's diction (for example, formal or informal, ornate or plain) and understand the ways in which diction can complement the author's purpose. Diction, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary devices, etc., creates an author's style. | 25 | |
| 14267080737 | Didactic | A term used to describe fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking. | 26 | |
| 14267080738 | Enthymeme | an argument in which one premise is not explicitly stated. | 27 | |
| 14267080739 | Euphemism | From the Greek for "good speech," euphemisms are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. The euphemism may be used to adhere to standards of social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement. Saying "earthly remains" rather than "corpse" is an example of euphemism. | 28 | |
| 14267080740 | Fallacy | A failure in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. | 29 | |
| 14267080741 | Hyperbole | extreme exaggeration | 30 | |
| 14267080742 | Imagery | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory. On a broader and deeper level, however, one image can represent more than one thing. For example, a rose may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman's cheeks and/or symbolizing some degree of perfection. An author may use complex imagery while simultaneously employing other figures of speech, especially metaphor and simile. In addition, this term can apply to the total of all the images in a work.( On the AP language exam, pay attention to how an author creates imagery and to the effect of this imagery). | 31 | |
| 14267080743 | Inference/infer | To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. When a multiple choice question asks for an inference to be drawn from a passage, the most direct, most reasonable inference is the safest answer choice. If an inference is implausible, it's unlikely to be the correct answer. Note that if the answer choice is directly stated, it is not inferred and it is wrong. You must be careful to note the connotation - negative or positive - of the choices. | 32 | |
| 14267125553 | Irony | A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency. Verbal: A discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant. Situational: A discrepancy between what is thought to happen and what actually does. Dramatic: When the audience knows more about a character's situation that the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to a character's expectations. | 33 | |
| 14267125554 | Litotes | litotes (pronounced almost like "little tee") - a form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite. Litote 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" (Salinger, Catcher in the Rye). | 34 | |
| 14267125555 | Logic | An implied comparison resulting when one thing is directly called another. To be logically acceptable, support must be appropriate to the claim, believable and consistent. | 35 | |
| 14267125556 | loose sentence/non-periodic sentence | A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. If a period were placed at the end of the independent clause, the clause would be a complete sentence. A work containing many loose sentences often seems informal, relaxed, or conversational. Generally, loose sentences create loose style. The opposite of a loose sentence is the periodic sentence. Example: I arrived at the San Diego airport after a long, bumpy ride and multiple delays. Could stop at: I arrived at the San Diego airport. | 36 | |
| 14267125557 | Metaphor | A comparison between two unlike things without using the words "like" or "as." | 37 |
