AP Language & Literature Terms Flashcards

5595555739	Allegory	A story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself.	0
5595555740	Alliteration	The repetition of initial consonant sounds.	1
5595555741	Allusion	A reference to another work or famous figure.	2
5595555743	Ambiguity	The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.	3
5595555745	Analogy	A comparison, usually involving two or more symbolic parts, employed to clarify an action or a relationship.	4
5595555747	Anaphora	A sub-type of parallelism, when the exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences.	5
5595555749	Antecedent	The word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to.	6
5595555754	Antithesis	An opposition or contrast of ideas. Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by means of grammatical structure.	7
5595555756	Aphorism	A short and usually witty saying.	8
5595555757	Apostrophe	A figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something that is nonhuman.	9
5595555766	Atmosphere	The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene	10
5595555767	Argumentative Appeals	Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. Ethos is the credibility of the author. Logos is the logic used by the author. Pathos is strategy of emotion to help readers accept their claim.	11
5595555773	Cacophony	(n) harsh-sounding mixture of words, voices, or sounds	12
5595555774	Caricature	A portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality.	13
5595555776	Catharsis	Drawn from Aristotle's writings on tragedy. Refers to the "cleansing" of emotion an audience member experiences during a play	14
5609044100	Clause	A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.	15
5595555782	Colloquial/Colloquialism	The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing, but give a work a conversational, familiar tone. Include local or regional dialect	16
5595555784	Conceit (Controlling Image)	A startling or unusual metaphor, or a metaphor developed and expanded upon several lines.	17
5595555786	Connotation	Everything other than the literal meaning that a word suggests or implies.	18
5595555790	Denotation	The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color.	19
5595555791	Diction	The words an author chooses to use.	20
5595555792	Didactic	literally means "teaching." These words have the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles.	21
5609165437	Digression	The use of material unrelated to the subject of the work.	22
5609176577	Denouement	The final stage in the plot structure in which the problems is solved.	23
5609180531	Deus Ex Machina	An otherwise incomprehensible solution to a problem; from "out of the blue."	24
5595555802	Epiphany	A moment of sudden revelation or insight.	25
5595555804	Epistrophe	ending of a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words.	26
5595555805	Epitaph	Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place.	27
5595555808	Euphemism	Are a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept.	28
5595555810	Extended Metaphor	A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work.	29
5595555812	Farce	Extremely broad humor; in earlier times, a funny play or a comedy.	30
5595555814	Figurative Language	Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.	31
5595555815	Figure of Speech	A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things.	32
5595555818	Foil	A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast.	33
5595555819	Foreshadowing	A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.	34
5609214191	Generic Conventions	This term describes traditions for each genre.	35
5595555821	Genre	A sub-category of literature. The major category into which a literary work fits in.	36
5595555825	Homily	This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.	37
5595555827	Hyperbole	Exaggeration or deliberate overstatement.	38
5595555826	Hubris	The excessive pride or ambition that leads to the main character's downfall.	39
5595555828	Idiom	An expression that cannot be understood if taken literally.	40
5595555829	Imagery	The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions; related to the five senses: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory.	41
5609040771	Imperative	The mood of a verb that gives a command/order.	42
5595555833	Inference/infer	To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. If it is directly stated, then it is not this.	43
5595555835	Invective	An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. (For example, in Henry IV, Part hill of flesh.")	44
5595555837	Irony/ironic	The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, or the difference between what appears to be and what is actually true. there are three major types: (1) verbal - when the words literally state the opposite of the writer's (or speaker's) meaning (2) situational - when events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen (3) dramatic - when facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work.	45
5595555838	Jargon	A pattern of speech and vocabulary associated with a particular group of people. Computer analysis have their own vocabulary, as do doctors, plumbers, etc.	46
5595555839	Juxtaposition	Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts.	47
5595555843	Litotes	A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite. Examples: "Not a bad idea."	48
5595555845	Loose Sentence	A sentence that is complete before its end: Jack loved Barbara despite her irritating snorting laugh.	49
5608841723	Lyrical	Songlike, rhythmic structure.	50
5595555846	Macabre	Grisly, gruesome; horrible, distressing; having death as a subject.	51
5595555851	Melodrama	A form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain mean and rotten, and the heroine oh-so-pure.	52
5595555852	Metaphor	A comparison or analogy that states one thing IS another.	53
5595555853	Metonymy	One word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as crown for royalty).	54
5595555855	Mood	The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work.	55
5595555856	Motif	A principal idea, feature, theme, or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design.	56
5595555857	Narrative	The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events.	57
5595555863	Onomatopoeia	Words that sound like what they mean.	58
5595555865	Oxymoron	A phrase composed of opposites; a contradiction.	59
5595555866	Parable	A story that instructs.	60
5595555867	Paradox	A situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, does not.	61
5595555868	Parallelism	Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect.	62
5595555871	Parody	A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule.	63
5608797555	Pastoral	A rural or natural setting.	64
5595555874	Pedantic	An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish (language that might be described as "show-offy"; using big words for the sake of using big words).	65
5595555876	Periodic Sentence	A sentence that is not grammatically complete until it has reached it s final phrase: Despite Barbara's irritation at Jack, she loved him.	66
5595555877	Persona	The narrator in a non first-person novel.	67
5595555878	Personification	When an inanimate object takes on human shape.	68
5595555880	Plaint	A poem or speech expressing sorrow.	69
5595555881	Point of View	The perspective from which the action of a novel is presented.	70
5595555883	Precis	A brief synopsis.	71
5595555884	Prelude	An introductory poem to a longer work of verse.	72
5595555886	Protagonist	The main character of a novel or play.	73
5595555887	Pun	The usually humorous use of a word in such a way to suggest two or more meanings.	74
5608730404	Prose	One of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its terms.	75
5595555889	Repetition	The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern.	76
5595555890	Rhetoric	From the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively.	77
5608679126	Rhetorical Modes	This flexible term describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing. The four most common are: purpose of exposition (writing), the purpose of argumentation, purpose of description, and the purpose of narration.	78
5595555892	Rhetorical Question	A question that suggests an answer.	79
5595555895	Sarcasm	From the Greek meaning "to tear flesh," sarcasm involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something.	80
5595555896	Satire	A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule.	81
5608659016	Semantics	The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.	82
5608634443	Setting	The background of the story: the physical location of a play, novel, or story; involves time and place.	83
5595555901	Simile	A figure of speech when what is unknown is compared to something that is known using "like," "as," or "than".	84
5595555903	Soliloquy	A speech spoken by a character alone on stage, meant to convey the impression that the audience is listening to the character's thoughts.	85
5608583904	Style	The consideration has two purposes: an evaluation of the sum of the choices the author makes (diction, syntax, figurative language, etc...) and classification of authors to a group and comparison of an to similar authors.	86
5608550111	Subordinate Clause	Like all clauses, this word group contains both a subject and a verb, but unlike the Independent Clause, the subordinate clause cannot stand alone; it does not express a complete thought. Also called a dependent clause.	87
5595555911	Syllogism	A deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises (the first one called "major" and the second called "minor") that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion.	88
5595555912	Symbolism	A device in literature where an object represents an idea.	89
5595555913	Synecdoche	A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part. Examples: To refer to a boat as a "sail"; to refer to a car as "wheels".	90
5595555914	Synesthesia	When one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another. Example: The sight of red ants makes you itchy.	91
5595555915	Syntax	The ordering and structuring of words.	92
5595555919	Theme	The main idea of the overall work; the central idea.	93
5595555920	Thesis	The main position of an argument. The writer's statement of purpose.	94
5608401544	Tone	Similar to mood, tone describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both. Some words describing tone are playful, serious, sarcastic, humorous, formal, businesslike.	95
5608402695	Transition	A word or phrase that links to different ideas. Used especially, although not exclusively, in expository and argumentative writing, effectively signal a shift from one idea to another.	96
5595555925	Understatement	The ironic minimizing of fact; the opposite of hyperbole.	97
5595555929	Wit	In modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. Usually uses terse language that makes a pointed statement.	98