Figures of speech that should be known for AP Language. Digitally recreated from the Cliff's Notes AP Language Study Cards.
Terms : Hide Images
| 2725627505 | wit | Intellectual form of humor. Basically any kind of verbal cleverness. | 0 | |
| 2725634723 | diacope | Repetition broken up by one or more intervening words. | 1 | |
| 2725635206 | dysphemism | substitution of a more offensive word for one considered less offensive. | 2 | |
| 2725635637 | figurative language | modification of literal language in order to achieve an intended effect. They are used to connote meaning. | 3 | |
| 2725636367 | hypotaxis | arrangement of phrases or clauses in a dependant or subordinate relationship. Example: In the phrase "Healthy indigenous trees" indigenous modifies trees and healthy modifies indigenous trees. | 4 | |
| 2725638616 | symploce | combining of anaphora and antistrophe: That is the repetition of both the beginning and ending of successive phrases or clauses. For example, Bill Clinton said "When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it. | 5 | |
| 2725642642 | synaesthesia | expressing one sensory sensation in terms of another; for example, using "red hot" describe something combines the senses of sight and touch. | 6 | |
| 2725644259 | Apostrophe | direct address to an inanimate, missing or dead person or object. For example, the speaker of Donne's "Holy Sonnet 10" begins by talking to death: "Death be not proud." | 7 | |
| 2725645003 | Aporia | showing or pretending to show doubt about an issue | 8 | |
| 2725645256 | antistrophe | Also known as epistrophe, the repetition of the same word or clause at the end of successive phrases or clauses. For example, FDR stated "In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded Manchukuo- without warning. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia - without warning. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria - without warning." | 9 | |
| 2725647367 | antanaclasis | Same word used in two different senses; it is a type of pun. Ben Franklin said "We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately." | 10 | |
| 2725648244 | anastrophe | also known as hyperbaton, the rhetorical figure (or scheme) of reversing order to make a point. For example, "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put." | 11 | |
| 2725661406 | anaphora | repetition of words, phrase and/or clauses at the beginning of successive lines or sentences. Charles Dickens used this in the first line of A Tale of Two Cities. | 12 | |
| 2725663923 | anadiplosis | repetition of words from the end of one line or clause to begin the next line or clause. Condoleezza Rice's phrase "American's al-Qaida policy wasn't working because our Afghanistan policy wasn't working. And our Afghanistan policy wasn't working because our Pakistan policy wasn't working." | 13 | |
| 2725667013 | oxymoron | pairing of two opposites to create a compressed, emphatic paradox. Many people consider the pairing of "government organization" and "postal service" to be examples of oxymora. | 14 | |
| 2725669562 | implied metaphor | less direct metaphor in which the tenor is implied rather than explicitly stated. For example, "shut your trap" uses implied metaphor, in which the mouth of the listener is not mentioned. | 15 | |
| 2725670522 | analogy | the use of something more familiar to explain something new and/or complex. The point of comparison is used to demonstrate the similarities between the two entities. | 16 | |
| 2725672132 | allusion | indirect reference to something. Allusions typically refer to a literary text, a work of art, the Bible, history, events, or people. | 17 | |
| 2725672556 | amplification | rhetorical figure involving the dramatic order of words that often emphasize some sort of progression or expansion. for example, "It's a bird; it's a plane; it's SUPERMAN!" | 18 | |
| 2725679152 | alliteration | repetition of the initial sound. Traditionally, referred only to the initial consonant sounds, but modern critics tend to consider the repetition of initial vowel sounds as alliterative as well. | 19 | |
| 2725681273 | accumulation | figure of speech in which a writer or speaker gathers scattered points and lists them together. | 20 | |
| 2725682314 | assonance | repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, often in stressed syllables, followed by different consonant sounds. the vowel sounds in "sweet dreams". | 21 | |
| 2725685976 | consonance | repetition of consonant sounds, following different vowel sounds. For example, "Pitter-patter" and "stroke of luck". | 22 | |
| 2725687898 | catachresis | an extreme, far-fetched or mixed metaphor. For example, "He stepped up to the plate and grabbed the bull by it's horns." It is also the substitution of an inexact word for the correct one. For example, the word "parricide" literally means the killing of one's father, but for lack of proper terms, it is also used to refer to killing of one's mother or brother. | 23 | |
| 2725694553 | chiasmus | achieving contrast through reverse parallelism. For example: "They fall successive and successive rise." | 24 | |
| 2725722120 | commoratio | repetition of a point several times in different words. "He's losing his mind; he's off his rocker; he's crazy as a loon." | 25 | |
| 2725723349 | brachylogy | abbreviated expression or brevity of diction. The omission of the word "good" from the phrase "good morning, makes it just "morning". | 26 | |
| 2725724341 | metonymy | specific type of metaphor replacing the name of something with something closely related to it. Using the term "sweat equity" to refer to manual labor - rather than money - used to add value to one's home, for example. | 27 | |
| 2725725800 | meiosis | form of understatement usually achieved by referring to something in terms of less importance than it actually deserves. For example, Mercutio refers to his fatal wound as a "scratch." | 28 | |
| 2725726349 | isocolon | succession of phrase of approximately equal length and corresponding structure. The phrase "no ifs, and or buts" i an example. | 29 | |
| 2725732121 | hypophora | using rhetorical questions to disarm or discredit one's opponent in an adversarial manner. Sometimes the question is both asked and answered. | 30 | |
| 2725732947 | ellipsis | One of three types of narrative anachronism. Refers to a narrative that contains a gap in its chronology. It is left to the reader's imagination to determine what happened during the missing portion of the narrative. | 31 | |
| 2725735812 | synecdoche | a specific type of metaphor, the use of a part to represent the whole or vice versa. For example, "ten heads of cattle" refers to 10 complete animals not use ten heads. "The Law" can refer to a particular law officer, not the entire system of justice. | 32 | |
| 2725736792 | rhetorical figures | also known as schemes, these are change in standard word order or patterns. Usually associated with syntax and are one of the two major divisions of figures of speech, the other being tropes. Major types are anaphora, antithesis, chiasmus, parallelism, syllepsis and zeugma. | 33 | |
| 2725738434 | conceit | elaborate, extended metaphor or simile. | 34 | |
| 2725738720 | malapropism | confused, usually comic, misuse of a word or words. | 35 | |
| 2725739775 | paradox | a statement that initially seems contradictory and nonsensical but upon further examination, makes sense. Example: "We must fight for peace." | 36 | |
| 2725740237 | irony | contrast between appearance and reality. Types include cosmic, dramatic, situational and verbal. | 37 | |
| 2725740585 | situational irony | difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. An example: being robbed by your accountant. | 38 | |
| 2725749083 | verbal irony | contrast between what is said and what is intended. Typically, the writer or speaker means to opposite of what is said. | 39 | |
| 2725749631 | dramatic irony | contrast between what the reader (or audience) knows and what a character knows. | 40 | |
| 2725750301 | litotes | form of understatement, typically achieved by negating an affirmation. | 41 | |
| 2725750879 | hyperbole | an over-exaggeration used to make a point. The sentence "I almost coughed up a lung" is an example. | 42 | |
| 2725752513 | personification | the giving of human characteristics to something non human. For example, "love is blind" gives a feeling a human character characteristic. In contrast, the aquatic animals in Finding Nemo all behave as if they are human, which is demonstrative of anthropomorphism rather than personification. | 43 | |
| 2725753865 | accismus | a form of irony, where one pretends to lack interest in something that is actually desired. | 44 | |
| 2725794464 | simile | a figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two things essentially unalike. The comparison is made by using the word "like," "as," or "than." | 45 | |
| 2725796376 | metaphor | compares two objects referring to one thing as it if were another. For example: "Eric is a fish in the pool" rather than "Eric swims like a fish", which is a simile. | 46 | |
| 2725798636 | onomatopoeia | the creation and use of words that sound like what they mean. In English, the words "bow-wow" and "quack" are examples as they sound like the noises that dogs and ducks make, respectively, and their definitions are the same. | 47 | |
| 2725799649 | trope | along with schemes, are one of two major divisions of figures of speech. These twist or turn the meaning of a word. The principle ones are irony, metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile and synecdoche. | 48 | |
| 2725801021 | figures of speech | literary devices used to connote meaning beyond the dictionary definition. They are divided into rhetorical figures (or schemes) and tropes. | 49 | |
| 2725802523 | What does homeoteleuton refer to? | refers to a series of words with the same or similar endings. For example, the "ing" ending in Shakespeare's "My mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, or maid howling, our cat writing her hands." | 50 | |
| 2725803966 | antithesis | The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases. For example, "Not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more." | 51 |
