AP English Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
This is the set of AP English Language & Composition terms that I had to know for the semester and final exams. It was comprehensive when I took the class at Katy High School in 2009-2010.
Leave a comment if it was helpful, and good luck!
Terms : Hide Images
| 4841847666 | Abstract Language | describes ideas and qualities, rather than observable or specific things | 0 | |
| 4841847667 | Ad Hominem | attack on one's opponent, rather than the opponent's argument | 1 | |
| 4841847668 | Allegory | symbolic story that has a second meaning beneath the surface one | 2 | |
| 4841847669 | Alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds in words | 3 | |
| 4841847670 | Allusion | indirect reference to famous events or characters from history, literature, or mythology | 4 | |
| 4841847671 | Ambiguity | event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way; intentional vagueness | 5 | |
| 4841847672 | Anachronism | placement of an event, person, thing out of its proper place in time | 6 | |
| 4841847673 | Anaphora | repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row | 7 | |
| 4841847674 | Antithesis | juxtaposition of two contrasting ideas | 8 | |
| 4841847675 | Ethos | appeals to the audience's sense of morals or principles | 9 | |
| 4841847676 | Logos | appeals to the audience's sense of logic and reasoning | 10 | |
| 4841847677 | Pathos | appeals to the audience's emotions | 11 | |
| 4841847678 | Apostrophe | address to the dead as though they were living; to the inanimate as if animate; to the absent as if present | 12 | |
| 4841847679 | Argumentation | exploring a problem by examining all sides of it; persuasion through reason | 13 | |
| 4841847680 | Archetype | stereotype of literature | 14 | |
| 4841847681 | Assonance | repetition of similar vowel sounds | 15 | |
| 4841847682 | Assumption | when details are not stated but must be inferred by the reader | 16 | |
| 4841847683 | Asyndeton | series of words separated by commas without conjunctions | 17 | |
| 4841847684 | Balance | construction in which both halves of the sentence have the same length and importance | 18 | |
| 4841847685 | Catharsis | cleansing release of unhealthy emotions | 19 | |
| 4841847686 | Causal Relationship | one thing results from another | 20 | |
| 4841847687 | Chiasmus | arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern XY-YX | 21 | |
| 4841847688 | Cliche | expression so often used its freshness and originality have worn off | 22 | |
| 4841847689 | Comic Relief | humor in the serious action of a tragedy; enriches the quality of the work | 23 | |
| 4841847690 | Concrete Language | describes specific, observable things rather than ideas or qualities | 24 | |
| 4841847691 | Connotation | emotions associated with a word | 25 | |
| 4841847692 | Consonance | repetition of consonant sounds; not limited to the first letter of words | 26 | |
| 4841847693 | Conventional | following traditional techniques of writing | 27 | |
| 4841847694 | Cumulative | sentence that begins with the main idea and expands on that idea with a series of details | 28 | |
| 4841847695 | Denotation | dictionary definition of a word | 29 | |
| 4841847696 | Formal Diction | used in serious books and lofty discourse | 30 | |
| 4841847697 | Informal Diction | found in relaxed but polite and cultivated conversation | 31 | |
| 4841847698 | Colloquial Diction | everyday usage that may contain terms accepted in a group but not universally acceptable | 32 | |
| 4841847699 | Slang | newly coined words that are not yet a part of formal usage | 33 | |
| 4841847700 | Didactic | literature designed to teach or instruct | 34 | |
| 4841847701 | Digression | temporary departure from the main subject in speaking or writing | 35 | |
| 4841847702 | Elegy | formal poem lamenting the death of a particular person | 36 | |
| 4841847703 | Elliptical | deliberate omission of words implied by context | 37 | |
| 4841847704 | Empathy | reader understands closely what the character is feeling | 38 | |
| 4841847705 | Enthymeme | syllogism (logical argument) in which the major premise is unstated but meant to be understood | 39 | |
| 4841847706 | Epithet | adjective used to point out a characteristic of a person or thing | 40 | |
| 4841847707 | Euphemism | mild word used to substitute an unpleasant or offensive word | 41 | |
| 4841847708 | Foreshadowing | method used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come | 42 | |
| 4841847709 | Figurative Language | words that are inaccurate literally, but describe by calling to mind sensations or responses that the thing described evokes | 43 | |
| 4841847710 | Freight Train | sentence consisting of three or more short independent clauses joined by conjunctions | 44 | |
| 4841847711 | Generalization | basing a claim upon an isolated example or asserting that a claim is true rather than probable | 45 | |
| 4841847712 | Genre | major category into which a literary work fits | 46 | |
| 4841847713 | Grotesque | bizarre, incongruous, ugly, unnatural, or abnormal | 47 | |
| 4841847714 | Hyperbole | overstatement or exaggeration of facts | 48 | |
| 4841847715 | Idiom | use of words or grammatical construction peculiar to a given language, or an expression that cannot be translated literally into a second language | 49 | |
| 4841847716 | Imagery | use of language to represent sense experience | 50 | |
| 4841847717 | Auditory Imagery | use of language to represent an experience pertaining to sound | 51 | |
| 4841847718 | Gustatory Imagery | use of language to represent an experience pertaining to taste | 52 | |
| 4841847719 | Kinesthetic Imagery | use of language to represent an experience pertaining to the movement of muscles, tendons, or joints | 53 | |
| 4841847720 | Olfactory Imagery | use of language to represent an experience pertaining to smell | 54 | |
| 4841847721 | Tactile Imagery | use of language to represent an experience pertaining to touch | 55 | |
| 4841847722 | Visual Imagery | use of language to represent an experience pertaining to sight | 56 | |
| 4841847723 | Inversion | word order that places a modifier or verb before the subject | 57 | |
| 4841847724 | Situational Irony | contrast between what is normally expected and what actually occurs | 58 | |
| 4841847725 | Dramatic Irony | reader or audience knows more about the events of a story than the character in the story | 59 | |
| 4841847726 | Verbal Irony | what is said is the opposite of what is meant | 60 | |
| 4841847727 | Juxtaposition | placement of two things side by side for the purposes of examination | 61 | |
| 4841847728 | Litote | understatement that purposefully represents something as much less significant as it is, achieving an ironic effect | 62 | |
| 4841847729 | Loose Sentence | main clause comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units | 63 | |
| 4841847730 | Metaphor | comparison without using "like" or "as" | 64 | |
| 4841847731 | Metonymy | designation of one thing with something closely associated with it | 65 | |
| 4841847732 | Mood | atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work | 66 | |
| 4841847733 | Motif | frequently recurring character, incident, or concept in a work of literature | 67 | |
| 4841847734 | Negative-Positive | sentence that begins by stating what is not true and then ending by stating what is true | 68 | |
| 4841847735 | Onomatopoeia | word whose sound suggests its meaning | 69 | |
| 4841847736 | Oxymoron | paradox that combines terms normally seen as opposites | 70 | |
| 4841847737 | Parallelism | similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses | 71 | |
| 4841847738 | Paradox | statement that appears contradictory yet expresses a truth when viewed from another angle | 72 | |
| 4841847739 | Parody | comic imitation of another work often for ridicule | 73 | |
| 4841847740 | Pedantic | scholarly, academic writing that borders on lecturing | 74 | |
| 4841847741 | Parenthesis | insertion of some verbal unit in a position that interrupts the normal flow of the sentence | 75 | |
| 4841847742 | Periodic Sentence | main clause comes last, preceded by dependent grammatical units | 76 | |
| 4841847743 | Polysyndeton | sentence that uses "and" or another conjunction (with no commas) to separate items in a series; X and Y and Z | 77 | |
| 4841847744 | Personification | attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract concepts | 78 | |
| 4841847745 | Pun | play on words that utilizes a word's multiple meanings | 79 | |
| 4841847746 | Realism | faithful representation of reality to make a story more believable | 80 | |
| 4841847747 | Red Herring | when an author raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away from the real issue | 81 | |
| 4841847748 | Rhetoric | art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse | 82 | |
| 4841847749 | Rhetorical Criticism | analyses the techniques employed in a literary work to impose the author's view on the reader | 83 | |
| 4841847750 | Sarcasm | verbal irony that uses insincere praise to express bitter and caustic disapproval | 84 | |
| 4841847751 | Satire | used to arouse laughter at targets such as people or groups to expose human folly | 85 | |
| 4841847752 | Simile | comparison using "like" or "as" | 86 | |
| 4841847753 | Stream of Consciousness | writing technique that uses frequent illogical and incoherent digressions to reproduce the raw flow of consciousness | 87 | |
| 4841847754 | Structure | organization or arrangement of various elements in a work | 88 | |
| 4841847755 | Narrative Structure | chronological organization used to convey a story | 89 | |
| 4841847756 | Dramatic Structure | organization used in plays that consists of a series of scenes, each of which is presented in vivid detail | 90 | |
| 4841847757 | Discursive Structure | organization used in an argument or essay | 91 | |
| 4841847758 | Style | arrangement of words in a manner that expresses the author's individuality and his or her intent | 92 | |
| 4841847759 | Rhetorical Question | question used to emphasize a point; no answer is expected | 93 | |
| 4841847760 | Syllepsis | grammatical construction in which one word relates to two words in very different ways | 94 | |
| 4841847761 | Syllogism | format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, minor premise, and conclusion | 95 | |
| 4841847762 | Symbol | character, object, or event in literature that represents something larger than itself | 96 | |
| 4841847763 | Synecdoche | figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole | 97 | |
| 4841847764 | Synesthesia | one sensory experience is described in terms of another sensory experience | 98 | |
| 4841847765 | Syntax | manner in which words are joined to make phrases, clauses, and sentences | 99 | |
| 4841847766 | Theme | main idea that the author expresses in a literary work | 100 | |
| 4841847767 | Thesis | claim or proposition that a writer must strive to prove effectively and thoroughly | 101 | |
| 4841847768 | Tone | attitude of the speaker of a work of literature expresses to the reader through language | 102 | |
| 4841847769 | Voice | total "sound" or "feel" of a writer's style that is present behind characters, narrators, and personae of literature | 103 | |
| 4841847770 | Wit | intellectual humor that suggests the speaker's verbal power in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks | 104 | |
| 4841847771 | Zeugma | writer uses one word to govern several successive words or clauses | 105 |
