AP Language Terms
Terms : Hide Images
| 6167101810 | allusion | a brief, indirect reference to a person, place, event, or literary work. Ex: "flying too close to the sun" is an allusion to Icarus' tragic mistake | 0 | |
| 6167101811 | apostrophe | a dramatic speech to a dead, absent, or inanimate character or object | 1 | |
| 6167101812 | antagonist | the person, force, or environment that opposes the main character | 2 | |
| 6167101813 | dynamic character | a character who undergoes important change over the course of the narrative | 3 | |
| 6167101814 | flat character | a character who is limited to a single trait | 4 | |
| 6167101815 | hero | main character | 5 | |
| 6167101816 | protagonist | main character | 6 | |
| 6167101817 | round character | a complex, realistic character, who has varied, sometimes contradictory traits | 7 | |
| 6167101818 | static character | a character who undergoes little or no change over the course of the narrative | 8 | |
| 6167101819 | cliché | a phrase or idea that is overused to a point near meaninglessness | 9 | |
| 6167101820 | conflict | a struggle between opposing forces, usually the protagonist and antagonist | 10 | |
| 6167101821 | external conflict | a struggle between the protagonist and outside forces | 11 | |
| 6167101822 | internal conflict | a struggle within the protagonist EX: alcoholism, depression, hubris | 12 | |
| 6167101823 | dialogue | a conversation between two or more persons. | 13 | |
| 6167101824 | drama | narrative told in dialogue or pantomime, usually before an audience | 14 | |
| 6167101825 | fable | a tale that uses animal characters to teach a moral lesson | 15 | |
| 6167101826 | foil | a minor character who highlights a quality of the main character by contrast. EX: a lazy brother makes the main character appear industrious | 16 | |
| 6167101827 | foreshadowing | a literary device by which the writer suggests future narrative events Ex: a character's repeated references to burning or flames may indicate a climactic fire | 17 | |
| 6167101828 | genre | a type or subcategory within a field of artistic endeavor. EX: in literature: crime fiction, science fiction, mystery | 18 | |
| 6167101829 | Gothic | literary style that combines elements of horror and romance. EX: Shelley's Frankenstein | 19 | |
| 6167101830 | hyperbole | obvious and intentional exaggeration for effect | 20 | |
| 6167101831 | auditory image | an image perceived via the auditory sense. EX: the roar of the crowd | 21 | |
| 6167101832 | gustatory image | an image perceived via one's sense of taste. EX: sweetened coffee | 22 | |
| 6167101833 | kinetic image | a visual image that evokes a sense of movement. EX: a speeding car, a falling leaf | 23 | |
| 6167101834 | olfactory image | an image perceived via one's sense of smell. EX: rotten eggs | 24 | |
| 6167101835 | tactile image | an image perceived via one's sense of touch. EX: "skin like sand paper" | 25 | |
| 6167101836 | visual image | the most common of all images, one perceived via one's sense of sight. EX: a blue sky or a shaggy dog | 26 | |
| 6167101837 | dramatic irony | a narrative situation which is fully understood by the audience but not by all of the characters | 27 | |
| 6167101838 | verbal irony | expressing meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect | 28 | |
| 6167101839 | situational irony | when the least likely thing to happen, happens. EX: the firehouse burns down | 29 | |
| 6167101840 | figurative language | language whose meanings extend beyond the literal. EX: metaphor, personification, irony | 30 | |
| 6167101841 | connotation | the associated or secondary meanings of a word or expression | 31 | |
| 6167101842 | denotation | literal meaning; dictionary definition | 32 | |
| 6167101843 | diction | word choice in speaking or writing | 33 | |
| 6167101844 | syntax | ways in which words are combined to form phrases, sentences, and ideas; word order | 34 | |
| 6167101845 | expository writing | writing that is used to explain, describe, or inform; the text is organized around one topic and developed according to a logical pattern | 35 | |
| 6167101846 | narrative | the presentation of a series of events; may be real or fictional | 36 | |
| 6167101847 | persuasive writing | mode of discourse in which the writer attempts to convince the reader of a given point of view | 37 | |
| 6167101848 | myth | a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people, or explaining some natural phenomenon; typically concerns a hero, and supernatural beings or events | 38 | |
| 6167101849 | mood | narrative element that evokes an emotional setting in the narrative; mood intends to affect the reader emotionally and psychologically | 39 | |
| 6167101850 | oral tradition | a community's cultural and historical traditions, passed by word of mouth from one generation to another | 40 | |
| 6167101851 | parable | a short allegorical story designed to illustrate a truth, religious principle, or moral lesson | 41 | |
| 6167101852 | paradox | a statement that contradicts itself and still seems true | 42 | |
| 6167101853 | parody | an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect | 43 | |
| 6167101854 | plot | the events that make up a story | 44 | |
| 6167101855 | exposition | the revelation, in a narrative, of background information about events, settings, characters | 45 | |
| 6167101856 | setting | the time, place, and weather in which a story takes place | 46 | |
| 6167101857 | crisis | the point at which the central conflict in a story becomes clear; "it's on!" | 47 | |
| 6167101858 | rising action | a related series of incidents in a literary plot that build tension toward the climax | 48 | |
| 6167101859 | climax | the point of highest tension in a narrative | 49 | |
| 6167101860 | resolution | the point at which the climactic question is resolved | 50 | |
| 6167101861 | flashback | an interruption of the chronological sequence of a film or literary work to depict an earlier event | 51 | |
| 6167101862 | frame story | an outer, initial AND concluding narrative that is sometimes wrapped around the main/inner narrative, thereby "framing" it, providing context, and unifying both narratives thematically. EX: Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Wizard of Oz | 52 | |
| 6167101863 | non-linear plot | a plot type that diverges from traditional chronology | 53 | |
| 6167101864 | subplot | a secondary, subordinate plot in a story, play, or other narrative | 54 | |
| 6167101865 | poetry | a specialized, but varied form of literature that relies on figurative language, emotion, and the aesthetics of sound | 55 | |
| 6167101866 | metaphor | A figure of speech that makes a direct comparison (X=Y) between two dissimilar things based on a shared quality. EX: "Love is a rose," where love is both beautiful and thorny | 56 | |
| 6167101867 | metonymy | a figure of speech that replaces a thing with something else with which it is closely associated EX: "The pen is mightier than the sword," where the pen is written argument, and the sword is military force. | 57 | |
| 6167101868 | personification | a figure of speech in which a non-human being or inanimate object is given human qualities | 58 | |
| 6167101869 | prose poem | a poem whose structure rejects traditional poetic forms like stanzas and lines, favoring traditional prose forms, like sentences and paragraphs | 59 | |
| 6167101870 | simile | comparison between two dissimilar things using "like" or "as" | 60 | |
| 6167101871 | point of view | the perspective from which a story is told; the eyes/ears through which the reader experiences the story | 61 | |
| 6167101872 | narrator | the voice of the narrative; the one who tells the story | 62 | |
| 6167101873 | 1st person | a narrative point of view in which the story is narrated by a character in the story EX: "Call me Ishmael..." | 63 | |
| 6167101874 | 2nd person | a narrative point of view in which the protagonist is referred to by the pronoun "you," as if the reader were a character | 64 | |
| 6167101875 | 3rd person | a narrative point of view in which the story is told by an outsider; characters are referred to by the pronouns "they," "he," and "she." | 65 | |
| 6167101876 | limited point of view | the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character | 66 | |
| 6167101877 | omniscient narrator | the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters | 67 | |
| 6167101878 | prose | written language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure. | 68 | |
| 6167101879 | pun | a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word, or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings. | 69 | |
| 6167101880 | rite of passage | a tradition that marks an important transition in a person's life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, or death; in a coming of age story, the character experiences a rite of passage | 70 | |
| 6167101881 | initiation | a story that puts the protagonist through an experience of maturation, or transition from one stage of life to another | 71 | |
| 6167101882 | coming of age | refers to both the life process and literary genre in which an individual/character matures | 72 | |
| 6167101883 | romantic | characterized by an idealized view of reality. EX: chivalry, heroism | 73 | |
| 6167101884 | satire | a dramatic or narrative technique that employs humor, irony, exaggeration, and/or ridicule to expose foolishness and corruption in an individual, group, or society | 74 | |
| 6167101885 | stream of consciousness | narration that tries to recreate the flow of thoughts in a character's mind. Typically characterized by loose structure, run-on sentences, and random thoughts. EX: James Joyce's novels | 75 | |
| 6167101886 | style | the sum of all the choices an artist or writer makes | 76 | |
| 6167101887 | suspense | the anticipation, excitement, or tension created by uncertainty in a narrative about the outcome of the rising action | 77 | |
| 6167101888 | symbol | a literary device in which an object, place, or event contains layers of meaning beyond the obvious, in the context of the narrative. EX: Gatsby's green light, Janie Starks' horizon. | 78 | |
| 6167101889 | conventional symbol | a symbol that has an understood or widely accepted interpretation. EX: water symbolizes cleansing, new beginnings, and freedom of movement | 79 | |
| 6167101890 | personal symbol | a symbol whose significance is unique to an individual. EX: conventionally, a ring is a symbol of commitment, but to Martha, a widow, it is a symbol of loss | 80 | |
| 6167101891 | theme | the main idea or underlying meaning of a literary or artistic work | 81 | |
| 6167101892 | tone | the author's attitudes toward the subject or audience, as implied in a literary work | 82 | |
| 6167101893 | willing suspension of disbelief | the agreement on the part of the reader or audience to ignore the unbelievable elements of a story for the sake of enjoyment | 83 | |
| 6167101894 | imagery | Literary tool used to create a fully realized description of a setting person or thing by appealing to the senses | 84 | |
| 6167101895 | synecdoche | a figure of speech by which a part represents a whole, or vice versa. EX: "Set sail!" or "Cleveland won the game." | 85 | |
| 6167101896 | analogy | a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification EX: Tom Buchanan is like the guy who soils the pool, then jumps out and says. "Who soiled the pool?" | 86 | |
| 6167101897 | audience | the people the writer is intending to communicate with, or convince EX: The audience for Donald Trump's most recent tweet was clearly the news media. | 87 | |
| 6167101898 | context | the circumstances that form the setting for an event or statement, including the audience, the historical period, previous remarks by the opposition ... all of which must be known for the statement to be fully understood | 88 | |
| 6167101899 | counterargument | the argument AGAINST the stated argument, often included so it can be refuted | 89 | |
| 6167101900 | ethos | appeal to the audience's desire for a credible and trustworthy source, by establishing one's expertise, fairness, and good character | 90 | |
| 6167101901 | logos | an appeal to the audience's sense of reason/logic through use of facts, analogies and careful argument | 91 | |
| 6167101902 | pathos | an emotional appeal; an effort to reach one's audience by appealing to their anger, sadness, fear | 92 | |
| 6167101903 | juxtaposition | the side-by-side placement of an unlikely pair for effect EX: In the novel 1984, the main character is named Winston Smith, juxtaposing the most common English last name with the first name of a beloved, heroic British figure (Churchill), suggesting that this "regular guy" might also be a hero | 93 | |
| 6167101904 | synthesis | the combination of multiple sources or ideas in a coherent way to make a unified argument | 94 | |
| 6167101905 | litotes | a type of understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite EX: A man wins the lottery and says, "Well, buying that ticket wasn't a waste of time." | 95 | |
| 6167101906 | polysyndeton | a stylistic device in which several coordinating conjunctions are used in succession in order to achieve an artistic effect EX: "They all stood by him: his mother and his brother and his auntie and the neighbor with the daisies and, yes, and even his dog." | 96 | |
| 6167101907 | assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds, usually in verse, for effect | 97 | |
| 6167101908 | consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds NOT at the beginning of words, usually in verse, for effect | 98 | |
| 6167101909 | alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds in 2 or more successive words, usually at the beginning of the words | 99 | |
| 6167101910 | elegy (adj: elegiac) | a song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation, especially for someone dead | 100 | |
| 6167101911 | periodic sentence | A sentence that saves the main clause or predicate until the end, for emphasis. EX: "Without regard for his mother's broken heart, his lover's tragic longing, or his cat's mournful eyes at the window, he left." | 101 | |
| 6191149600 | loose sentence | Roughly the opposite of a periodic sentence, a loose sentence BEGINS with the main clause, which is then followed by multiple qualifying clauses or phrases | 102 | |
| 6167101912 | declarative sentence | the most common sentence type, written as a simple statement, typically simple subject followed by a simple predicate. EX. "Her shoes were brown." "We arrived late to school." | 103 | |
| 6167101913 | interrogative sentence | a sentence that "interrogates," or asks a question. EX: "Are you coming to dinner?" "What the heck were you thinking?" | 104 | |
| 6167101914 | exclamatory sentence | a sentence -- including a subject and a verb, of course -- that expresses a strong opinion or emotion, typically ending in an exclamation point. EX: "This sucks!" | 105 | |
| 6167101915 | epigram | a brief, clever, usually satirical saying. EX: "I can resist everything but temptation." - Oscar Wilde (syn: maxim, adage, aphorism, witticism) | 106 | |
| 6167101916 | platitude | a trite, hollow statement, generally directed at quelling social or emotional unrest. Platitudes usually address a difficult topic with a shallow, unifying wisdom. EX: "Rome wasn't built in a day." "Let cooler heads prevail." | 107 | |
| 6167101917 | periphrasis/circumlocution | wordiness; using too many words when just a few would do; beating around the bush | 108 | |
| 6167101918 | onomatopoeia | a word that sounds like its meaning EX: hiss, purr, boom | 109 | |
| 6167101919 | motif | a recurrent theme in a literary work EX: car accidents, or truth vs. lies, in The Great Gatsby | 110 | |
| 6167101920 | euphemism | the substitution of a less offensive expression for one that might be offensive or unpleasant. EX: "sanitary engineer" for "garbage man;" "make love" for "have sex" | 111 | |
| 6167101921 | epithet | an adjective or descriptive phrase expressing a quality or characteristic of the person mentioned. EX: "He was so lazy, we added the epithet "Lazy" to Lazy Bob's name." | 112 | |
| 6167101922 | epilogue | A final section or chapter of a novel, used to tie up loose ends and, often, to reveal what became of the characters. EX: in a documentary, the final image on which text is displayed: "The body of James Donahue was never found ... States Attorney Schmidt never brought charges against anyone for the crime ..." | 113 | |
| 6167101923 | deus ex machina | Latin for "God from a machine." An improbable contrivance in a story. An artificial, or improbable, character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot. EX: the rescue of Frodo and Sam by the eagles in LOTR | 114 | |
| 6167101924 | Bildungsroman | German for "education novel," a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood (AKA coming of age) EX: Dickens' Great Expectations, Twain's Huckleberry Finn | 115 | |
| 6190974239 | rhythm | the strong, regular, repeated sound of stressed or unstressed syllables (in verse) or punctuated phrases/clauses (in rhetorical text) | 116 | |
| 6190984674 | antithesis | the use of contrasted meaning within parallel structure for rhetorical emphasis EX: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." | 117 | |
| 6191000168 | anecdote | a short, interesting story told or written to draw attention, for humorous effect, or to prove a point | 118 | |
| 6191005741 | appositive | a noun or noun phrase that defines or explains another noun, which it follows EX: "... my brother, the only man I ever loved, ..." | 119 | |
| 6191011423 | ambiguity | language, the structure or content of which makes its meaning unclear, allowing multiple interpretations. Ambiguity may occur by mistake because of poor communication, or may be purposeful, for effect (AKA "equivocation") | 120 | |
| 6191016301 | anaphora | a device in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more successive clauses or sentences, for emphasis EX: In the Declaration of Independence, the repetition of "He has..." at the beginning of each of George III's transgressions against the colonies | 121 | |
| 6191021293 | oxymoron | a two-word contradiction EX: "plastic glass," "living dead" | 122 | |
| 6191023135 | rhetoric | the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially through the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques | 123 | |
| 6191029718 | invective | speech or writing that attacks, insults, or denounces a person, topic, or institution, often with strong language (syn: harangue, polemic) | 124 | |
| 6191054742 | homily | literally, a sermon, but more informally, a homily may be any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice | 125 | |
| 6192620623 | authorial intrusion | a literary device wherein the author steps through the curtain of text and speaks directly to the reader | 126 | |
| 6192731380 | catharsis | Greek for "cleansing." An emotional release through which a character achieves moral or spiritual renewal EX: the cathartic deaths of Romeo & Juliet finally bring peace between the Montagues & Capulets | 127 | |
| 6194521587 | hubris | the extreme pride/arrogance that ultimately brings about a character's downfall EX: Odysseus, Oedipus, Darcy in "Pride & Prejudice" | 128 | |
| 6192765490 | digression | a temporary departure from the main subject in speech or writing | 129 | |
| 6192814549 | non sequitur | a logical fallacy in which the conclusion of an argument is both false and irrelevant EX: 1. If I am Japanese, then I am Asian. 2. I am not Japanese. 3. Therefore, I am not Asian. (Also, "non sequitur" can refer to a digression in a conversation or statement | 130 | |
| 6192814550 | syllogism | a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true EX: all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore, all dogs have four legs | 131 | |
| 6194428232 | archetype | a universally recognized symbol; a typical character, action or image that represents universal patterns of human nature. An archetype, also known as universal symbol, may be a character, a theme, a symbol, or a setting. EX: a stormy night, a wise old man, a road | 132 | |
| 6194462309 | allegory | The device of using character or story elements symbolically to represent ideas. A character may personify hope, for example, or freedom, or fear. EX: George Orwell's Animal Farm | 133 | |
| 6194626151 | verisimilitude | the quality of believability in a narrative or work of art; the accuracy with which it imitates real life | 134 | |
| 6194639943 | red herring | a clue (usually in detective or suspense novels) intended to mislead readers or characters, leading them to false conclusions. In an argument, a red herring is an irrelevant topic introduced to divert the attention of listeners or readers from the original issue. | 135 | |
| 6194687737 | idiom | an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its elements EX: "kick the bucket," "blood is thicker than water" | 136 | |
| 9789654750 | anadiplosis | a rhetorical device in which a writer or speaker uses a word near the end of the clause and then repeats that word to begin the next clause. EX: ""The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor!" | 137 | |
| 9789726396 | antimetabole | a literary term or device that involves repeating a phrase, exactly, in reverse order. EX: "You like Alabama; Alabama likes you." or "Fair is foul and foul is fair." | 138 | |
| 9789817076 | anastrophe | a form of literary device wherein the order of the noun and the adjective in the sentence is exchanged. EX: "Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. . . . This one a long time have I watched. . . . Never his mind on where he was." | 139 | |
| 9790947557 | chiasmus | Like antimetabole, but less restrictive. A device in which a phrase is repeated, in reverse, but only approximately. EX: I'd love to be marry you, but you wouldn't love to be married to me. | 140 | |
| 9802735615 | zeugma | a device in which a single word is used to modify two words, usually in different senses. EX: Last week. I lost my dog and my mind OR She broke his window and his heart. | 141 | |
| 9804663492 | epistrophe | the repetition of one or more words at the end of a phrase, clause or verse. (opposite of anaphora) Our family was lost, the village was lost, and the nation was lost. | 142 | |
| 9805627896 | deductive reasoning | AKA: the scientific method. A theory, or hypothetical conclusion is proposed, then observations are made of data, or evidence, to determine if the theory is correct. Deductive reasoning moves from the general: the theory, to the specific: the observations. Make conclusions, THEN study data. | 143 | |
| 9805763022 | inductive reasoning | Specific observations are made of events, trends, or social processes, and then broader generalizations and theories are based on those observed cases. Study data, THEN make conclusions. | 144 | |
| 9805921947 | circular reasoning | a logical fallacy that attempts to make an argument by assuming that what you are trying to prove is already true. EX: You should save your money, because money is important. OR, I deserve a later curfew, so you should let me stay until midnight! | 145 | |
| 9806012326 | false equivalence | a logical fallacy that claims a similarity between two things that are not equivalent. (Moral equivalence is included. ) EX: comparing a politician who lies to his wife about an infidelity to a politician who lies to his constituents about stealing money from them | 146 |
