AP Language Literary Terms Flashcards

4698463431	Ad Hominem	An argument directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.	0
4698465002	Adage, Aphorism, Maxim	Proverb/short statement	1
4698465429	Allegory	Representation of an abstract meaning through concrete forms.	2
4698469360	Anachronism	Something out of place in time.	3
4698469709	Anaphora	The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.	4
4698478524	Antecedent	Something that came before something else that may have influenced it.	5
4698481137	Anthropomorphism	the attribution of human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects.	6
4698481755	Antithesis	Opposite	7
4698482396	Apostrophe	A passage in a speech addressed to a person who is absent/dead.	8
4698483488	Appeal to Ignorance	The assumption that a statement must be true if it can't be proven false.	9
4698484827	Archetype	A very typical example of a certain person or thing that seems to represent universal patterns such as human nature.	10
4698485903	Argument from Authority	Believing that something is true because it was stated by someone of a higher status.	11
4698487740	Assonance	The repetition of a sound/vowel.	12
4698488189	Asyndeton	The absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.	13
4698489413	Bandwagon	Propaganda technique encouraging the viewer to like something or someone because everyone else does.	14
4698493357	Begging the Question	A claim is assumed to be true without evidence other than the claim itself.	15
4698495759	Bombast	High-flown language.	16
4698497205	Chiasmus	A literary figure where words are repeated in reverse order.	17
4698498443	Consonance	Agreement between opinions or actions.	18
4698500157	Cosmic Irony	The idea that fate toys with human hopes.	19
4698502967	Denotation	Literal meaning of a word.	20
4698505584	Didactic	Containing a political or moral message to which aesthetic considerations are depended.	21
4698512305	Dramatic Irony	Irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.	22
4698513388	Elegy	A sad poem to express sorrow for someone who has died.	23
4698514721	Epigram	A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement.	24
4698515808	Epistrophe	The repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences.	25
4698516386	Epithet	A nickname or label.	26
4698520375	Ethos	The spirit/character of a community, culture, or era.	27
4698521736	Euphemism	The use of a nice word instead of an offensive one.	28
4698522705	Hamartia	A fatal flaw that leads to the downfall of a hero.	29
4698524915	Hasty Generalization	Reaching a conclusion based on insufficient evidence.	30
4698525605	Hubris	Excessive pride or self-confidence.	31
4698528003	Hyperbole	Exaggerated statements	32
4698529889	Litotes	A figure of speech that is used as an understatement with double negatives; positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite expressions.	33
4698530246	Logos	An appeal to logic.	34
4698531295	Malaprop	The mistaken use of word in place of a similar sounding one.	35
4698532771	Metonymy	Substituting a word for another word closely associated with it.	36
4698533831	Motif	A recurring element throughout the narrative and serves as a symbolic significance in the story.	37
4698535409	Non Sequitur	A statement that is not connected in a logical way to anything said before it.	38
4698536549	Oxymoron	A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.	39
4698537090	Paradox	A statement that is self-contradictory.	40
4698537588	Parallelism	The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in the construction, sound, meaning or meter.	41
4698538380	Pathos	Appeal to emotion.	42
4698539092	Periodic Sentence	A sentence that has the main clause or predicate at the end.	43
4698546425	Red Herring	A clue that is meant to be misleading.	44
4698546783	Rhetoric	The art of using language effectively and persuasively.	45
4698547516	Rhetorical Question	A question that is not meant to be answered.	46
4698547988	Satire	A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies.	47
4698549943	Situational Irony	An outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected.	48
4698550531	Slippery Slope	An idea or action which leads to something undesirable	49
4698551502	Straw Man	A sham argument set up to attack an opponent.	50
4698553794	Stream of Consciousness	A person's reaction to events.	51
4698554343	Syllogism	Deductive reasoning	52
4698555324	Synecdoche	Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.	53
4698555903	Syntax	The arrangement of words/phrases to create well formed sentences.	54
4698556697	Understatement	Minimization of something.	55
4698557214	Verbal Irony	Saying something that contrasts with what you mean.	56
4698558428	Zeugma	Figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses.	57