AP English Figurative Language Flashcards
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| 7292542546 | Allegory | a story or image that contains an implicit hidden or spiritual meaning. | 0 | |
| 7292542547 | Alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more words | 1 | |
| 7292543617 | Allusion | A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art | 2 | |
| 7292545360 | Ambiguity | uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language; can be interpreted to have more than one meaning | 3 | |
| 7292545361 | Analogy | a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification. | 4 | |
| 7292547003 | Anaphora | repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines | 5 | |
| 7292548889 | Anastrophe | the inversion of the usual order of words or clauses | 6 | |
| 7292548890 | Anecdote | a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person | 7 | |
| 7292550556 | Antagonist | A character or force in conflict with the main character | 8 | |
| 7292552068 | Antimetabolite | The identical or near repetition of words in one phrase or clause in reverse order in the next phrase or clause. A chemical that inhibits the use of metabolite | 9 | |
| 7314351226 | Antithesis | a person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else | 10 | |
| 7314353079 | Antihero | a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes. | 11 | |
| 7314353080 | Anthropomorphism | a technique in which a writer ascribes human traits, ambitions, emotions or entire behavior to animals, non-human beings, natural phenomena or objects. | 12 | |
| 7314354910 | Aphorism | A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life | 13 | |
| 7314354911 | Apostrophe | An address to a dead or absent person, or personification as if he or she were present. | 14 | |
| 7314356257 | Apposition | When a noun or word is followed by another noun or phrase that renames or identifies it | 15 | |
| 7314356258 | Assonance | Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity | 16 | |
| 7314358884 | Asyndeton | a stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases and in the sentence | 17 | |
| 7314364446 | Balance | Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length and importance | 18 | |
| 7428527112 | Characterization | the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character | 19 | |
| 7428529731 | indirect characterization | when the author reveals the character to the reader by describing their looks and dress, by letting the reader hear what the character says, and revealing there private thoughts and feelings. | 20 | |
| 7428532200 | direct characterization | the author tells us directly what the character is like; sneaky, generous, mean to pets... | 21 | |
| 7428532201 | static character | is one who does not change much in the course of a story. | 22 | |
| 7428535060 | dynamic character | is one who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action | 23 | |
| 7428535061 | flat character | has only one or two personality traits. They are one dimensional, like a piece of cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase | 24 | |
| 7428537938 | round character | Has more dimensions to their personalities-they are complex, just as people are | 25 | |
| 7428537939 | chiasmus | In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reserved. Coleridge: flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike. In prose this is called antimetabole | 26 | |
| 7428540460 | cliché | is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech that has become lifeless because of overuse. Avoid cliche like the plague | 27 | |
| 7428544087 | colloquialism | a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations. Example: he's out of his head if he thinks I'm gunna go for such a stupid idea. | 28 | |
| 7730001768 | Comedy | in genreal, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters | 29 | |
| 7730010204 | Conceit | an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an extended metaphor | 30 | |
| 7730028261 | Confessional poetry | a twentieth century term used to describe poetry that uses intimate material from the poet's life | 31 | |
| 7730039890 | Conflict | the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story | 32 | |
| 7730046938 | External Conflict | conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person and whole society | 33 | |
| 7730061554 | Internal Conflict | a conflict can be internal, involving opposite forces within a person's mind. | 34 | |
| 7730070699 | Connotation | the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition. | 35 | |
| 7730083560 | Couplet | two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry | 36 | |
| 7730088005 | Dialect | a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area. | 37 | |
| 7730105154 | Diction | the authors word choice | 38 | |
| 7880309108 | Didactic | form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking | 39 | |
| 7880312063 | Elegy | a poem, of mourning, usually about someone who has died. A great praise or commendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who has died | 40 | |
| 7880312064 | Epanalepsis | device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of the line, clause or sentence. Voltaire: "common sense is not so common." | 41 | |
| 7880315750 | Epic | a long narrative poem, written in heightened language, which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the value of a practicular society. | 42 | |
| 7880315751 | Epigraph | a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of literary work suggestive of the theme | 43 | |
| 7880319730 | Epistrophe | device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more line, clauses or sentences (it is the opposite of anaphora) | 44 | |
| 7880319731 | Epithet | an adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently used to emphasize a characteristic quality. "father of our country" and "the great Emancipator" are examples. A Homeric one is a compound adjective used with a person or thing: "swift-footed achilles"; "rosy-fingered dawn." | 45 | |
| 7880324193 | Essay | a short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject | 46 | |
| 7880326603 | Persuasion | relies more on emotional appeals than on facts | 47 | |
| 7880326604 | Argument | form of persuasion that appeals to reason instead of emotion to convince an audience to think or act in a certain way | 48 | |
| 7880330687 | Casual Relationship | form of argumentation in which the writer claimed that one thing results from a another, often used as part of a logical argument | 49 | |
| 7880330688 | Description | a form of discourse that used language to create a mood or emotion | 50 | |
| 7880333492 | Exposition | one of the four major forms of discourse, in which something is explained or "set forth" | 51 | |
| 7880333493 | Narrative | the form of discourse that tells about a series of events | 52 | |
| 8155079647 | Explication | act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language. | 53 | |
| 8155093398 | Fable | a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life | 54 | |
| 8155103471 | Farce | a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations | 55 | |
| 8155118671 | Figurative Language | Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, butt are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms | 56 | |
| 8155134885 | Flashback | a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequences of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time | 57 | |
| 8155146232 | Foil | A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting a hero | 58 | |
| 8155165544 | Foreshadowing | the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot | 59 | |
| 8155176593 | Free verse | poetry that does not conform to a regular metaphor or rhyme scheme | 60 | |
| 8155181694 | Hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. "if i told you once, Ive told you a million times | 61 | |
| 8155203812 | Hypotactic | Sentence marked by the use of connecting words between clause or sentences, explicitly showing the logical or other relationships between them. (Use of such syntactic subordination of just one clause to another is know as hypotaxis). I am tired because it is hot. | 62 | |
| 8155243853 | Imagery | the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience. | 63 | |
| 8238953744 | Inversion | the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase | 64 | |
| 8238959830 | Irony | a discrepancy between appearances and reality. | 65 | |
| 8239037923 | verbal irony | occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else | 66 | |
| 8239048170 | situational Irony | takes place when there is as discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen | 67 | |
| 8239063808 | dramatic irony | is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true , but the audience or reader knows better | 68 | |
| 8239079379 | Juxtaposition | poetic and rhetorical devices in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. | 69 | |
| 8239097833 | Litotes | is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through the negation of a negative form: | 70 | |
| 8239110084 | Local color | a term applied to fiction or poetry which tends to place special emphasis on a particular setting, including its customs, clothing, dialect and landscape. | 71 | |
| 8239128034 | Loose sentence | One in which the main clauses comes first, followed by further dependent grammatical unites | 72 | |
| 8560851956 | Lyric Poem | a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker. A ballad tells a story | 73 | |
| 8560860887 | Metaphor | a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without using the use of specific words of comparison as like, as, than or resembles | 74 | |
| 8560872011 | Implied Metaphor | does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison "i like to see it lap the miles" is an implied metaphor in which the verb lap implies a comparison between "it" and some animal that "laps" up water. | 75 | |
| 8560883756 | Extended metaphor | is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it | 76 | |
| 8560892503 | Dead Metaphor | is a metaphor rear has been used so often that the comparisio is not longer vivid "the head of the house" , the "seat of the government" | 77 | |
| 8560902709 | Mixed Metaphor | is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. :the president is a lame duck who is running out of gas" | 78 | |
| 8560913549 | Metonymy | a figure of speech in which a person, place or thing is referred to buy something closely associated with it. "we requested from the crown support four our petition." | 79 | |
| 8560923524 | Mood | an atmosphere created by the writers diction and the details selected | 80 | |
| 8560927842 | Motif | a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work, unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme. Kurt Vonnegut used "so it goes" throughout Slaughterhouse five to remind the reader of the senselessness of death | 81 | |
| 8560947786 | Motivation | the reason for a characters behaviors | 82 | |
| 8560952842 | Onomatopoeia | the use of words whose sounds echo their senses "pop" "zap" | 83 | |
| 8560956660 | Oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase "jump shrimp" "pretty ugly" Bitter- sweet" | 84 | |
| 8560974593 | Parable | a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a good life | 85 | |
| 8560979472 | Paradox | a statement that appears self-contradictory, but reveals a kind of truth | 86 | |
| 8560984634 | Koan | is a paradox used in zen Buddhism to gain intuitive knowledge "what is the sound of ones hand clapping?" | 87 | |
| 8560996533 | Parallele structure (parallelism) | the repetition of words or phrases that have similar grammatical structures. | 88 | |
| 8863111965 | Paratactic Sentence | simply juxtaposes clauses or sentences. I am tired: it is hot. | 89 | |
| 8863111966 | Parody | A work which imitates another in a ridiculous manner | 90 | |
| 8863115466 | Periodic | Describes something that occurs or repeats at regular intervals | 91 | |
| 8863115467 | Personification | A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes | 92 | |
| 8863116205 | Plot | Sequence of events in a story | 93 | |
| 8863148327 | Exposition | Background information presented in a literary work. | 94 | |
| 8863148328 | Rising Action | the series of conflicts or struggles that build a story toward a climax. | 95 | |
| 8863151370 | Climax | the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex. Turning point | 96 | |
| 8863151371 | Resolution | End of the story where loose ends are tied up | 97 | |
| 8863152089 | Point of View | The perspective from which a story is told | 98 | |
| 8863178468 | First Person Point of view | a character in the story is actually telling the story himself/herself | 99 | |
| 8863178469 | Third Person Point of View | someone on the outside is looking in and telling the story as he/she see it unfold. | 100 | |
| 8863181419 | Omniscient Point of View | The narrator is an all-knowing outsider who can enter the minds of one or all of the characters. | 101 | |
| 8863184633 | Objective Point of View | the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events from the outside | 102 |
