AP Language and Composition Terms Flashcards

4152669111	Ad hominem argument	Literally, "to the man." The appealing to personal considerations rather than logic or reason; personal attacks rather than logical ones.	0
4152671036	Allegory	A work with two levels of meaning, a literal one and a symbolic one.	1
4152672035	Alliteration	The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.	2
4152673897	Allusion	An indirect reference to a person, place, event, or literary work with which the author believes the reader will be familiar.	3
4152675275	Ambiguity	A technique in which a word, phrase, or event has more than one meaning or can be interpreted in more than one way.	4
4152676574	Analogy	A point-by-point comparison between two things for the purpose of clarifying the less familiar of the two subjects.	5
4152679125	Anaphora	A repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive lines, clauses, or sentences.	6
4152681436	Anecdote	A brief story that focuses on a single episode or event in a person's life and that is used to illustrate a particular point.	7
4152683085	Antecedent	The word, phrase, or clause that a pronoun refers to.	8
4152684360	Aphorism	A brief statement, usually one sentence long, that expresses a general principle or truth about life.	9
4152686276	Apostrophe	A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary preson or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.	10
4152687956	Assonance	The repetition of vowel sounds within words.	11
4152809342	Atmosphere	The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, establish partly by the setting and party by the author's choice of objects that are described.	12
4152810801	Clause	A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.	13
4152813304	Colloquial/Colloquialism	The use of slang or informalities in speech in writing.	14
4152815325	Conceit	A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.	15
4152816690	Concession	In an argument, conceding that the opposing side has some validity	16
4152818047	Connotation	The emotional response evoked by a word, in contrast to its denotation, which is its literal meaning.	17
4152822863	Denotation	Literally, the dictionary definition of a word.	18
4152825509	Diction	A writer's or speaker's choice of words.	19
4152829227	Didactic	Literally means "teaching." Has the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles.	20
4152830513	Elegy	A poem written in tribute to a person, usually someone who has died recently.	21
4152831971	Euphemism	From the Greek for "good speech," more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.	22
4152833064	Extended Metaphor	Compares two things at some length and in various ways.	23
4152835330	Figurative Language	Language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of words.	24
4152838510	Figures of Speech	A device used to produce figurative language.	25
4152839890	Generic Conventions	This term describes traditions for each genre.	26
4152841458	Genre	Refers to the distinct types into which literary works can be grouped.	27
4152843311	Homily	This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.	28
4152844774	Hyperbole	A figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or for humorous effect.	29
4152846799	Imagery	The descriptive words and phrases that a writer uses to re-create sensory experiences.	30
4152848427	Inference/Infer	To draw reasonable conclusions from the information presented.	31
4152849533	Invective	An emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language.	32
4152851257	Irony/Ironic	Refers to a contrast between appearance and reality.	33
4152852994	Kinesthetic Imagery	Re-creates the tension felt through muscles, tendons, or joints in the body.	34
4152856704	Loose sentence	A type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses.	35
4152862982	Metaphor	A figure of speech that compares two things that have something in common without using "like" or "as".	36
4152866964	Metonomy	A term from the Greek meaning "changed label" or "substitute name," a figure of speech which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it.	37
4152868694	Mood	The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader.	38
4152872878	Narrative	Any type of writing that is primarily concerned with relating an event or a series of events.	39
4152875997	Onomatopoeia	A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words.	40
4152877303	Oxymoron	A special kind of concise paradox that brings together two contradictory terms.	41
4152878817	Paradox	A statement that seems to contradict itself but may nevertheless suggest an important truth.	42
4152879970	Parallelism	It refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity.	43
4152881205	Parody	Writing that imitates either the style or the subject matter of a literary work for the purpose of criticism, humorous effect, or flattering tribute.	44
4164215465	Pedantic	An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish.	45
4164216277	Periodic Sentence	A sentence that presents its central meaning in the main clause at the end.	46
4164218586	Personification	A figure of speech in which an object, animal, or idea is given human characteristics.	47
4164219178	Point of View	Point of view refers to the narrative perspective from which events in a story or novel are told.	48
4164219968	Predicate Adjectives	A type of subject complement—an adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb.	49
4164220792	Predicate Nominative	A type of subject complement—a noun, group of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject.	50
4164221686	Primary Sources	Materials written or created by people who were present at events.	51
4164222588	Prose	Generally refers to all forms of written or spoken expression that are not in verse.	52
4164223879	Repetition	A technique in which a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for emphasis or unity.	53
4164224594	Rhetoric	From the Greek for "orator," this term describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently and persuasively.	54
4164226714	Rhetorical Modes	This flexible term describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing.	55
4164228063	Rhetorical question	A question that is not meant to be answered but the answer may be obvious.	56
4164229139	Sarcasm	A type of verbal irony, refers to a critical remark expressed in a statement in which literal meaning is the opposite of actual meaning.	57
4164229771	Satire	A literary technique in which foolish ideas or customs are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society.	58
4164230651	Simile	A figure of speech that compares two things that have something in common, using a word such as like or as.	59
4164233396	Stream of Consciousness	A technique that was developed by modernist writers to present the flow of a character's seemingly unconnected thoughts, responses, and sensations.	60
4164234604	Subject complement	The word (with any accompanying phrases) or clause that follows a linking verb.	61
4164235677	Syllogism	From the Greek for "reckoning together," this is a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises.	62
4164236738	Symbol/Symbolism	Generally, anything that represents or stands for something else.	63
4164237366	Syntax	The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses and sentences.	64
4164238162	Theme	An underlying message that a writer wants the reader to understand.	65
4164238837	Thesis	In expository writing, this is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition.	66
4164240570	Tone	A writer's attitude toward his or her subject.	67
4164241634	Transition	A word or phrase that links different ideas.	68
4164243189	Understatement	A technique of creating emphasis by saying less than is actually or literally true.	69
4164244115	Voice	This refers to a writer's unique use of language that allows a reader to "hear" a human personality in his or her writing.	70
4164244830	Wit	In modern usage, this is intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights.	71