English III AP Terms
Terms : Hide Images
| 268521119 | Ad Hominem | means "against the man"- a personal attack used during argument/persuasion *The public used __ __________ attacks to demean Palin; for example, people accused her of raising her children immorally. *Beowulf and Unferth use these type of attacks | |
| 268521120 | Allegory | (think Animal Farm)- using characters/storyline to symbolically represent an idea (hope, freedom, totalitarianism, etc.). Characters are usually not human. *kids' books; Native American creation stories | |
| 268521121 | Allusion | reference to historical, literary, biblical, or mythological characters, events, etc. *(biblical __________ in Beowulf) | |
| 268521122 | Analogy | a comparison of two ideas which are alike in some way. Usually used to explain something unfamiliar through a familiar term idea. (almost always relies on simile/metaphor but is longer-winded!) *Being a female is like... Being in high school can be compared to... | |
| 268521123 | Anaphora | a device of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive clauses, lines, or sentences. *It was the best of times; it was the worst of times | |
| 268521124 | Antithesis | strongly contrasting words, ideas, or figures *hot and cold *war and peace *Harry Potter and Voldemort. | |
| 268521125 | Aphorism | (adage): a brief intelligent statement; embodies a common value. *"An eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind" -Gandhi | |
| 268521126 | Apostrophe | addressing or commanding an inanimate object (or something that cannot talk back). *Blow, wind; blow and awaken all to the day | |
| 268521127 | Personification v. Apostrophe | **Personification- The wind whispered and ran its fingers through my hair. ** Apostrophe- Blow, wind; blow and awaken all to the day | |
| 268521128 | Archetype | the ultimate example or model * ultimate villain, ultimate hero, etc. | |
| 268521129 | Asyndeton | the omission of conjunctions (and, or, but) for a punchy, urgent and/or concise effect; it can also create an "afterthought" out of the ending word or phrase. *(I laughed; I cried; it was better than Cats). | |
| 268521130 | Catharsis | a major moment of purifying or cleansing one's emotions *John Proctor, "my name" speech *The Braveheart speech *male heroes | |
| 268521131 | Colloquialism/colloquial language | informal, casual, and often "improper" language. *Hey, sweet ride, Dude. | |
| 268521132 | Connotation | (what is implied; the figurative meaning) *cool= swell, awesome | |
| 268521133 | Connotation v. Denotation | Connotation (what is implied; the figurative meaning) vs. denotation (dictionary definition) *the word "cool" = connotation is awesome, swell *The word "cool" connotes general fabulousness | |
| 268521134 | Cynicism | the state of bitterly questioning a norm with the idea of challenging it and expressing negativity or doubt toward it. *A cynic "you're being cynical" | |
| 268521135 | Diction | word choice. *2 major types: formal = sophisticated, educated, didactic (instructional) informal= (everyday, simple, colloquial); | |
| 268521136 | Rules of Diction | NEVER EVER SAY "THE AUTHOR USES GOOD DICTION" Do SAY: The author's informal diction makes the passage relatable. | |
| 268521137 | Elegy | a formal poem pondering death, misery, or other depressing themes. *Elegiac (adj) - mournful (el-eh-jay-ec) | |
| 268521138 | Ellipsis | the omission of a word or phrase (that can be implied) *Banquo says this about the witches: "Would they had stay'd!" (whole sentence = "I wish they would have stayed") *note that it can be ... *EFFECT: exasperation, urgency | |
| 268521139 | Epiphany | (the lightbulb): a sudden realization or comprehension *(vs. catharsis) | |
| 268521140 | Ethos | (appeal to ______): ethics. Used in persuasion. (animal testing = why are humans above animals; animals feel pain and therefore it's unethical to harm them) | |
| 268521141 | Euphemism | an indirect, "softened" definition, usually to avoid uncomfortable moments. *"passed away" *"let go" for fired *"put a pet to sleep" | |
| 268521142 | Euphony | (beautiful sound = Choeur) *vs. cacophony (nails on chalkboard) | |
| 268521143 | Foil | a character whose behavior and values contrast with another character (Gatsby and Tom; Huck and Buck) | |
| 268521144 | Genre | a category (literary, musical, film) poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and essays. | |
| 268521145 | Hubris | overbearing pride and arrogance *(this is a quality, not a device) *Tom Buchanan's ______ makes him unlovable | |
| 268521146 | Hyperbolic Language | exaggerated language for serious, ironic, or comedic effect. | |
| 268521147 | Dramatic Irony | when the audience knows something one or more characters does not. | |
| 268521148 | Situational Irony | when what happens is the opposite of what was expected to happen. | |
| 268521149 | Verbal Irony | when a character says one thing but means the opposite. | |
| 268521150 | Idiom | *"kicked the bucket"- a colloquial expression *"raining cats and dogs" *Mary Crowe's contribution: "Jumped the broomstick" | |
| 268521151 | Invective | a verbal attack. *(Tom vs. Gatsby in the hotel; Pardoner vs. Host at end of Pardoner's tale) | |
| 268521152 | Jargon | specialized terms and expressions that a particular group of kind of people use, and only they would know. *(legal, medical, technological ______) | |
| 268521153 | Juxtaposition | the positioning of opposing settings (or sometimes ideas) to more concretely distinguish the differences. *(Kabul and America) *(fast-paced technology vs. the serenity of nothingness) | |
| 268521154 | Litotes | extreme understatement in which "no or not" is used to emphasize a large idea. *This is no small problem. (Global economy) *That pit bull isn't the friendliest dog in the world. *(Looking at roadkill = That's not disgusting at all...) | |
| 268521155 | Logical Fallacy | incorrect reasoning (or some weakness in an argument) that results in a misconception. This is an overall term that can be broken down into more specific areas of failed reasoning (bandwagon, appeals, hasty generalization) *People judge all Muslims as being terrorists because of a few extremists. *"All minivan drivers are bad female drivers" | |
| 268521156 | Malapropism | the mistaken substitution of one word for a similar sounding word *(the doctor wrote me a subscription; G.W. Bush said "weapons of mass production"... the dangers of "erotic" rather than erratic driving) | |
| 268521157 | Extended Metaphor | (can be analogy) = extended direct comparison | |
| 268521158 | Conceit | compares two things that seem dissimilar *(different than analogy which compares two likenesses) *(Macbeth's "out, out, brief candle" speech) | |
| 268521159 | Metonymy | - a name substitution... (= kenning) *government = the White House *ocean = whale road *Macbeth/ Thane of Cawdor *sun = heaven's candle | |
| 268521160 | Mood | atmosphere/ feeling of a work *(can be joyous, mournful, foreboding, etc.) | |
| 268521161 | Motif | a recurring object, image, even a word that contributes to theme *color white; the green light (Gatsby) *Macbeth= sleeplessness, fair and foul, a spot (of blood) | |
| 268521162 | Non Sequitur | an inference that does not follow logically from the premises (literally "does not follow") *"I am failing math; therefore, I will fail in life." *"John Brown grew up in poverty; thus, he will make a compassionate politician." | |
| 268521163 | Oxymoron | a term with contradictory words, as in "jumbo shrimp" and a "civil war" "bittersweet" "mercy killing" "pretty ugly" *Vs. antithesis (concepts) vs. foil (people) *vs. juxtaposition (setting, scenery) | |
| 268521164 | Panegyric | a public speech or written composition devoted to the prolonged, effusive praise of some person or group *(Conaghan's class wrote a panegyric dedicated to Bronia in which her remarkable nature was explored) *We will deliver a _________ about Mrs. Munninghoff this spring | |
| 268521165 | Paradox | two concepts that are seemingly contradictory, but are actually somehow connected and prove a point *FAIR IS FOUL AND FOUL IS FAIR *We have larger houses but less family members living together; we have more forms of communication but less real connections | |
| 268521166 | Parallelism | (sentence structure)- the repetition of similar sentence lengths or even the repetition of similar phrases and clauses; repetition of similar analogies, etc. | |
| 268521167 | Parody | when a character OR an author's style is represented in a humorous light; purpose is to entertain but also to point out faults (think Tina Fey/Sarah Palin imitation) | |
| 268521168 | (appeal to) Pathos | appeal to one's emotions with the intent to persuade him (ethos= ethics, logos = logic) *commercials featuring tortured animals - Humane Society | |
| 268521169 | Periodic Sentence | a complex sentence (dependent, independent clause) where the dependent clause contributes to the suspense of finding out what the independent clause will reveal. *(ie.: Just before the murderer wielded his gun, right before his shaking hand pulled the trigger, the self-defense guy appeared and saved the day) | |
| 268521170 | Persona | one's public or social self (Are celebrities' personas misleading or accurate!?) | |
| 268521171 | Polemic | a thorough written attack *(vs. invective or diatribe, which are verbal attacks) | |
| 268521172 | Polysyndeton | the deliberate addition of conjunctions to a sentence. The effect= stresses importance of each phrase; slows the pace of the sentence *After I failed the Midd test, I did not care and I did not lose sleep but I did fail the class and drop out of school. | |
| 268521173 | Pun | a clever and often humorous play on homophones (sole/soul; brake/break, etc) *(how is this different from malapropism?) | |
| 268521174 | Red Herring | a device of distraction; a random idea presented to turn attention away from real issue *(picture someone throwing a fish randomly!) | |
| 268521175 | Rhetoric | the art of using words to produce an intended effect. | |
| 268521176 | Rhetorical Shift | occurs when mood shifts *(from joyful to somber; from indifferent to impassioned; from melancholy to extreme sadness) | |
| 268521177 | Sarcasm | a satirical and/or ironic utterance designed to offend or ridicule | |
| 268521178 | Satire | usually referred to as an entire genre; entails the use of wit, irony, and sarcasm to ridicule or expose human folly (SNL; The Onion). DOESN'T HAVE TO BE FUNNY. -may be bitter or gentle; the attack may be direct or indirect *A Modest Proposal = gentle, indirect *Huck Finn = gentle, indirect -persuasive devices often used to fuel it think MagnaSoles article): (these are logical fallacies) bandwagon (everyone's doing it); testimonials; slippery slope (if X is happening, Y will definitely result); glittering generalities (it's perfect!); appeals to ethos (ethics), logos (logic), and/or pathos (emotion)... | |
| 268521179 | Solecism | nonstandard grammatical usage; a violation of grammatical rules usually for stylistic purposes (I wish I knew how to quit you! ; I ain't goin' nowhere) (synonym = colloquial language) | |
| 268521180 | Soliloquy | one speaker all alone (vs. monologue= one speaker, but listener (characters) are present) | |
| 268521181 | Style (an author's style) | an evaluation of the sum of authorial choice of diction, syntax, figurative language, etc. Style feeds the author's purpose + reveals his voice; also reflects / defines his historical period or literary movement. Some style labels: explicit (Stephen King; Jodi Picoult) simplistic succinct, laconic (of few words) pedantic (arrogantly intelligent) rambling (Bird by Bird) ornate (Victorian lit., Scarlet Letter) bombastic (arrogant) *usually satirical commonplace, mundane (think textbook!) | |
| 268521182 | Syllogism | deductive reasoning (usually consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. For example, All humans are mortal; I am a human; therefore, I am mortal.) **some characters may use syllogism to arrive at an epiphany or catharsis | |
| 268521183 | Synesthesia | describing one sensation in terms of another (a sweet sound; a loud color) (autistic individuals experience life through ___________ ... "Born on a Blue Day" | |
| 268521184 | Synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part the crown for "king" the deck hands for sailors "wheels" for cars CMart is "the brain" *note that this is slightly different than metonymy... _________ ONLY deals with part to represent whole | |
| 268521185 | Syntax | the patterns of the formation of a passage/paragraph. | |
| 268521186 | Tone | the "voice" in which a passage/novel/character's words is/are communicated toward his subject as revealed through his diction | |
| 268521187 | Understatement v. Litotes | Understatement (vs. litotes- will use the word NOT) *Understatement: Finals are a little challenging. *Litotes: Finals are NOT easy. | |
| 268521188 | Belligerent | aggressive, angry | |
| 268521189 | Contemptuous | patronizing, demeaning *(Catherine de Bourgh) | |
| 268521190 | Coquettish | flirtatious, a bit promiscuous | |
| 268521191 | Didactic | instructional; possibly unoriginal *think of a professor reading a whole chapter of biology | |
| 268521192 | Elegiac | mournful | |
| 268521193 | Flippant | shallow + rude ... haughty | |
| 268521194 | Histrionic | theatrical, overly dramatic | |
| 268521195 | Impartial | without opinion | |
| 268521196 | Indignant | resentfully angry | |
| 268521197 | Irreverent | critical + satirical (Catherine de B) | |
| 268521198 | Jocular | joyous | |
| 268521199 | Macabre | gruesome, graphic- Poe's writing | |
| 268521200 | Mock-Serious | pretending to be serious | |
| 268521201 | Moralistic | communicating/instructing values | |
| 268521202 | Sarcastic | usually marked by irony; communicating ridicule | |
| 268521203 | Pedantic | arrogantly intelligent | |
| 268521204 | Sardonic | acerbic; bitterly scornful | |
| 268521205 | Solemn | grave, somber | |
| 268521206 | Witty | intelligently keen or funny | |
| 268521207 | Understatement | often used to fuel satire (different than litotes) | |
| 268521208 | Wit | keenness and quickness of perception; the ability to make lively, clever remarks in a sharp, amusing way | |
| 276332887 | Chiasmus | a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in "He went to the country, to the town went she." |
