| 5358724926 | Purpose | Knowing these terms will help you. | | 0 |
| 5358729212 | Allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction to the literal meaning. In some allegories, for example, an author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction lie hope or freedom. The allegorical meaning usually deals with moral truth or generalization about human existence. | | 1 |
| 5358746913 | Alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonants in tow or more neighboring words ( as in "she sells sea shell"). Although the term is not used frequently in the multiple-choice section, you can loof for alliteration in any essay passage. The repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage. | | 2 |
| 5358766741 | Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. There are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion. EX: "Plan ahead it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." | | 3 |
| 5358791635 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. | | 4 |
| 5358801323 | Analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. An analogy can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pinting out its similarity to something more familiar. Analogies can also make writing more vivid, imaginative, or intellectually engaging. EX: "He that voluntarily continues ignorance is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces, as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks." | | 5 |
| 5358827430 | Anaphor | One of the devices of repetition, in which the same expression word or words is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences.
EX: They are masters who instruct us without rod or ferule, without angry words, without clothes or money". | | 6 |
| 5358844240 | Anecdote | A short narrative detailing particulars of an interesting episode or event. The term most frequently refers to an incident in the life of a person. | | 7 |
| 5358854823 | Antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by an pronoun. The AP Language exam occasiounally asks for the antecedent of a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences. | | 8 |
| 5358870399 | Antithesis | Figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed, usually though parallel structure; a contrasting of opposing idesas in adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences. Antithesis creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas. | | 9 |
| 5358883651 | Aphorism | | | 10 |
| 5384904366 | Apostrophe | A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back:
Ex: William Wordsworth addresses John MIlton as he writes, "Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: /England hath nee of thee." | | 11 |
| 5384916987 | Asyndeton | Consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases , or clauses. This can give the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account. Asyndetic lists can be more emphatic than if a final conjunction were used.
Ex: On his return he received medals, honors , treasures, titles, fame. | | 12 |
| 5384930170 | Chiasmus | Chiasmus is a figure of speech in which two successive phrases or clauses are parallel in syntax, but reverse the order of the analogous words.
Ex: "The land was ours before we were the land's"
" Pleasure is a sin, and sometimes sin is a pleasure" | | 13 |
| 5384940988 | Clause | A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb An independent, or main, clause expresses a complete thought and can sand alone as a sentence. A dependent, or subordinate clause cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause. The point that you want to consider is the question of what or why the author subordination in your own writing. | | 14 |
| 5384950610 | Colloquial/colloquialism | The use of slang or informallities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing, colloquialisms gibe a work a conversational, familiar tone. Colloquial expressions in writing include local or regional dialects. | | 15 |
| 5384954185 | Coherence | A principle demanding that the parts of any composition be arranged so that the meaning of the whole may be immediately clear and intelligible. Words, phrases , clauses within the sentence; and sentences, paragraphs, and chapters in larger pieces of writing are the unit that by their progressive and logical arrangement, make for coherence | | 16 |
| 5384962648 | Conceit | A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or suprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects. A conceit displays intellectual cleverness as a result of the unusual comparison being made. | | 17 |
| 5384969115 | Connotation | The nonliteral, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. Connotations may involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes. | | 18 |
| 5384973441 | Test 2 | "Denotation" and "imaginary" | | 19 |
| 5384975444 | Denotation | The stict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion attitude or color. | | 20 |
| 5384976752 | Diacope | Repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or phrase: Word/phrase X,..., word/phrase X.
Ex: We will do it, I tell you; we will do it. | | 21 |
| 5384982092 | Diction | Related to style, diction refers to the writer's word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. For the AP exam, you should be able to describe an author's diction (for example, formal or informal, ornate or plain) and understand the ways in which diction can complements the author's purpose. Diction, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary device, etc, creates an author's style | | 22 |
| 5384994273 | Didactic | From the Greek, didactic literally means "teching." Didactic works have the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles. | | 23 |
| 5385001336 | Enumeratio | Figure of amplification in which a subject is divided into constituent parts or details, an may include a listing of causes, effect, problems, solutions, conditions, and consequences; the listing or detailing of the parts of something.
Ex. I love her eyes, her hair, her nose, her cheeks, her lips. | | 24 |
| 5385006715 | Expletive | Figure of emphasis in which a single word or short phrase, usually interrupting normal speech, is used to lend emphasis to the words on either side of the expletive.
Ex: in fact, of course, to be sure, indeed, I suppose, I hope, you know, you see, clearly in any event, in effect, certainly, remarkably. | | 25 |
| 5385013637 | Euphemism | From the Greek for "good speech," euphemisms are more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept. The euphemism may be sued to adhere to standards of social or political correctness or to add humor or ironic understatement.
Ex: Saying "earthly remains: rather than "corpse" is an example of euphemism. | | 26 |
| 5385036060 | Exposition | In essays, one of the four chief types of composition, the others being argumentation, description, and narration. The purpose of exposition is to explain something. In drama, the exposition is the intoductory material, which creates the tone, gives the setting, and introduces the characters and conflict. | | 27 |
| 5385041649 | Extended Metaphor | A metaphor developed at great length, occuring frequently in or throughout the work. | | 28 |
| 5385044679 | Figurative language | Writing Or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. | | 29 |
| 5385093407 | Figure of speech | A device used to produce figurate language. Many compare dissimilar things. Figures of speech include apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement. | | 30 |
| 5385098914 | Generic conventions | This term describes traditions for each genre. These conventions help to defile eache genre; for example, they differentiate an essay and jounalistic writing or an autobiography and political writing. On the AP Language exam, try to distinguish the unique features of a writer's work from those dictated by convention. | | 31 |
| 5385104774 | Genre | The major category into which literary work fits. | | 32 |
| 5385109755 | Homily | This term literally means "sermon" but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice. | | 33 |
| 5385111897 | Hyperbole | A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, hyperbole produces irony.
Ex: "so firts of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" | | 34 |
| 5385117694 | Hypophora | Figure of reasoning in which one or more questions is/are asked and then answered, often at length, by one and the same speaker; raising and responding to one's own questions(s). A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph and the use that paragraph to answer it. You can use hypophora to raise questions which you think the reader obviously has on his/her mind and would like to see formulated and answered.
Ex: "when the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America do? It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth." | | 35 |
| 5385128288 | Imagery
NOTE: imaginary might be imagery. | The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. ON a physical level, imaginary uses terms related to the five senses; we refer to visual auditory, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory imaginary. On a broader and deeper level, however, one image can represent more than one thing. For example, a rose may present visual imagery while also representing the color in a woman's cheeks and/or symbolizing some degree of perfection (It is the highest flower on the Great Chain of Being). An author may use complex imagery while simultaneously employing other figures of speech, especially metaphor and simile. In addition, this term can apply to the total of all the images in a work. On The AP Exam, pay attention to how an author creates imagery and to the effect of this imagery. | | 36 |
| 5434048265 | Test #4 Parody to Sarcasm | | | 37 |
| 5434050519 | Parody | | | 38 |
