Terms : Hide Images
| 5893527037 | 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 generalization about human existence. | 0 | |
| 5893527038 | Alliteration | repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in 2+ neighboring words. | 1 | |
| 5893527039 | Allusion | a direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, or place. Allusions can be historical, (like referring to Hitler), literary (like referring to Huck Finn), religious (like referring to Noah and the flood), or mythical (like referring to Atlas). An author's use of this device tends to presuppose that readers in general will possess the knowledge to recognize the allusion. Because of the connotations they carry, allusions are used to enrich meaning or broaden the impact of a statement. | 2 | |
| 5893527040 | Ambiguity | multiple meanings, intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence or passage. | 3 | |
| 5893527041 | Analogy | a literary device employed to serve as a basis for comparison. It is assumed that what applies to the parallel situation also applies to the original circumstance. In other words, it is the comparison between two different items. | 4 | |
| 5893527042 | Anaphora | exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences. | 5 | |
| 5893527043 | Anecdote | a brief account of some interesting or entertaining and often humorous incident | 6 | |
| 5893527044 | Antecedent | the word, phrase or clause to which a pronoun refers (can be called a pronoun referent). | 7 | |
| 5893527045 | Antithesis | a rhetorical device in which two ideas are directly opposed. For a statement to be truly antithetical, the opposing ideas must be presented in a grammatically parallel way, thus creating a perfect rhetorical balance. Example: "Give me liberty or give me death." | 8 | |
| 5893527046 | Aphorism | a terse statement of known authorship, which expresses a general truth or moral principle. (If the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered a folk proverb.) An aphorism can be a memorable summation of the author's point. | 9 | |
| 5893527047 | Apostrophe | a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. The speaker addresses the object of the apostrophe as if this object were present and capable of understanding and responding. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. William Wordsworth addresses John Milton as he writes, "Milton, thou shouldst be living in this hour. England hath need of thee." | 10 | |
| 5893527048 | Attitude | a writer's intellectual position/emotion regarding the subject. In the essay section, expect to be asked what the writer's attitude is and how the language conveys that attitude. Although the singular term "attitude" is used, the passage will rarely have only one attitude. More often, the author's attitude will be more complex, and the student who presents this complexity will appear to be more astute than the student who uses one adjective to describe attitude. Understand that an accurate statement of an attitude is not likely to be blatantly obvious. | 11 | |
| 5893527050 | Chiasmus | a rhetorical device in which certain words, sounds, concepts, or syntactic structures are reversed or repeated in reverse order. Chiastic structure may also create or heighten paradox. (ex: "Fair is foul and foul is fair." "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.") | 12 | |
| 5893527051 | Colloquial | the use of slang in writing, often to create local color and to provide an informal tone. | 13 | |
| 5893527052 | Connotation | interpretative level of a word based on its associated images rather than literal meaning | 14 | |
| 5893527053 | Descriptive Detail | when an essay uses this phrase, look for the writer's sensory description. Descriptive detail appealing to the visual sense is usually the most predominant, but don't overlook other sensory detail. | 15 | |
| 5893527054 | Devices | the figures of speech, syntax, diction and other stylistic elements that collectively produce a particular artistic effect. | 16 | |
| 5893527055 | Dialectic | a method of logical argumentation that typically addresses conflicting positions. | 17 | |
| 5893527057 | Ellipsis | indicated by a series of three periods, the ellipsis shows some material has been omitted. Be wary of the ellipsis; it could obscure the real meaning of the piece of writing. | 18 | |
| 5893527058 | Euphemism | from the Greek for "good speech" euphemisms are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. 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. | 19 | |
| 5893527059 | Figurative Language | includes apostrophe, hyperbole, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, and understatement. | 20 | |
| 5893527060 | Hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses deliberate exaggeration to achieve an effect. | 21 | |
| 5893527061 | Imagery | sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions, typically related to the five senses. On a deeper level, 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. In addition, this term can apply to all images in a work. On the AP exam, pay attention to how an author creates imagery and its effect. | 22 | |
| 5893527063 | Irony | an unexpected twist or contrast between what happens and what was intended or expected to happen. It can be verbal, situational or dramatic. | 23 | |
| 5893527066 | Litotes | a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in "This is no small problem." | 24 | |
| 5893527067 | Metaphor | a direct comparison between dissimilar things. | 25 | |
| 5893527068 | Metonymy | a figure of speech in which one thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it. A monarch may be referred to as "the crown," or a news release claim, "the White House declared" rather than "the President declared." | 26 | |
| 5893527070 | Mood | prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura. Setting, tone and events can affect the mood. | 27 | |
| 5893527071 | Motif | a unifying element in an artistic work, especially any recurrent image, symbol, theme, character, type, subject or narrative detail. Specific colors such as green and white serve as motifs in The Great Gatsby. | 28 | |
| 5893527074 | Onomatopoeia | use of words that sound like they mean or signify meaning through sound effects. | 29 | |
| 5893527075 | Oxymoron | from the Greek for "pointedly foolish," a figure of speech that juxtaposes two opposite or apparently contradictory words to present an emphatic and dramatic paradox for a rhetorical purpose or effect. Ex: wide fool, bittersweet, eloquent silence. | 30 | |
| 5893527076 | Paradox | a statement that seems self-contradictory or nonsensical on the surface but that, upon closer examination, may be seen to contain an underlying truth. As a rhetorical device, paradox is used to grab the reader's attention and to direct it to a specific point or image that provokes the reader to see something in a new way. Ex: "We had to destroy the village to save it." | 31 | |
| 5893527077 | Parallelism (or parallel structure) | 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. The effects of parallelism are numerous, but frequently, they act as an organizing force to attract the reader's attention, add emphasis and organization, or simply provide a musical rhythm. | 32 | |
| 5893527078 | Pathos | a quality in a work that makes the reader experience pity, sorrow or tenderness. Pathetic characters are usually helpless, innocent victims suffering through no fault of their own. | 33 | |
| 5893527079 | Pedantic | a term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing. It is scholarly and academic and often overly difficult and distant. | 34 | |
| 5893527080 | Personification | the assigning of human qualities to inanimate objects or concepts. | 35 | |
| 5893527082 | Rhetoric | from the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively. | 36 | |
| 5893527083 | Rhetorical Purpose | the reason for the speaker's remarks, or a definition of the attitude that the author would like the reader to adopt. | 37 | |
| 5893527084 | Satire | a mode of writing based on ridicule that criticizes the foibles and follies of society without necessarily offering a solution. | 38 | |
| 5893527085 | Selection of detail | facts, circumstances, characteristics, techniques, etc., used by the writer to convey tone, purpose or effect. | 39 | |
| 5893527090 | Synesthesia | a psychological process whereby one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another. For instance, the sight of ants may make you feel itchy. When used with reference to literature, it refers to the practice of associating two or more different senses in the same image. It speaks of one sensation in terms of another. Ex: a red hot coal evokes both color (sight) and heat (touch). | 40 | |
| 5893527091 | 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. To refer to a boat as a sail is synecdoche. In Night, Wiesel uses synecdoche when he speaks of himself as "a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach." | 41 | |
| 5893527092 | Syntax | the way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses and sentences. Syntax is similar to diction, but you can differentiate the two by thinking of syntax as referring to groups of words, while diction refers to individual words. When you are analyzing syntax, consider such elements as the length or brevity of sentences, unusual sentence constructions, the sentence patterns used, and the kinds of sentences the author uses. The writer may use questions, declarations, exclamations, or rhetorical questions; sentences are classified as periodic, simple, compound, or complex. First try to classify what kind of sentences the author primarily uses, and then try to determine how the author's choices amplify meaning, in other words why they work well for the author's purpose. | 42 | |
| 5893527093 | Tone | similar to mood, tone describes the author's attitude toward his or her material, the audience, or both. Tone is easier to determine in spoken language than written. Considering how a work would sound if it were read aloud can help in identifying an author's tone. Some words describing tone are playful, serious, businesslike, sarcastic, humorous, formal, ornate and somber. As with attitude, an author's tone in the exam's passages can rarely be described by one word. Expect that it will be more complex. | 43 | |
| 5893527094 | Understatement | the ironic minimalizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant than it is. The effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic. Understatement is the opposite of hyperbole. | 44 | |
| 5898370404 | Periodic Sentence | stylistic device employed at the sentence level, described as one that is not complete grammatically or semantically before the final clause or phrase. | 45 |
