AP Language and Composition Terms Flashcards

4816095514	Alliteration	The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables.	0
4816095515	Allusion	An indirect reference, often to another text or an historic event.	1
4816095516	Ambiguity	quality of being intentionally unclear. Events or situations that are ambiguous can be interpreted in more than one way	2
4816095517	Analogy	An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.	3
4816095518	Analysis	the process of examining the components of a literary work	4
4816095519	Anaphora	The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses.	5
4816095520	Anecdote	A short account of an interesting event.	6
4816095521	Annotation	Explanatory or critical notes added to a text.	7
4816095522	Antecedent	The noun to which a later pronoun refers.	8
4816095523	Antithesis	Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas.	9
4816095524	Aphorism	A short, astute statement of a general truth.	10
4816095525	Archaic diction	The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.	11
4816095526	Argument	A statement put forth and supported by evidence.	12
4816095527	Aristotelian triangle	A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle).	13
4816095528	Assertion	An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.	14
4816095529	Assonance	the repeated use of a vowel sound	15
4816095530	Assumption	A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.	16
4816095531	Asyndeton	leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses.	17
4816095532	Attitude	The speaker's position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.	18
4816095533	Audience	One's listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.	19
4816095534	Authority	A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.	20
4816095535	Bias	prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue	21
4816095536	Chiasmus	the opposite of parallel construction; inverting the second of the two phrases that would otherwise be in parallel form.	22
4816095537	Cite	Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source.	23
4816095538	Claim	An assertion, usually supported by evidence.	24
4816095539	Close reading	A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language, sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text.	25
4816095540	Colloquialism	An informal or conversational use of language.	26
4816095541	Common ground	Shared beliefs, values, or positions.	27
4816095542	Concession	A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.	28
4816095543	Connotation	That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word's literal meaning (see denotation).	29
4816095544	Consonance	the same consonant sound in words with different vowel sounds.	30
4816095545	Context	Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.	31
4816095546	Counterargument	A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.	32
4816095547	Credible	worthy of belief; trustworthy	33
4816095548	Deduction	Reasoning from general to specific.	34
4816095549	Denotation	The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.	35
4816095550	Diction	Word choice.	36
4816095551	Epigram	A brief witty statement.	37
4816095552	Ethos	A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos).	38
4816095553	Euphemism	substitution of an inoffensive word or phrase for another that would be harsh, offensive, or embarrassing. A euphemism makes something sound better than it is but is usually more wordy than the original.	39
4816095554	Explication of text	Explanation of a text's meaning through an analysis of all of its constituent parts, including the literary devices used; also called close reading.	40
4816095555	Figurative language	The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.	41
4816095556	Figure of speech	An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.	42
4816095557	Flashback	interruption of a narrative by the introduction of an earlier event or by an image of a past experience.	43
4816095558	Foreshadowing	hints at what is to come. It is sometimes noticeable only in hindsight, but usually it is enough to set the reader wondering.	44
4816095559	Genre	the category into which a piece of writing can be classified—poetry, prose, drama. Each genre has its own conventions and standards.	45
4816095560	Hyperbole	Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.	46
4816095561	Imagery	Vivid use of language that evokes a reader's senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).	47
4816095562	Induction	Reasoning from specific to general	48
4816095563	Inversion	A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject.	49
4816095564	Irony	A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.	50
4816095565	Juxtaposition	Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.	51
4816095566	Logos	A Greek term that means "word"; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos) .	52
4816095567	Metaphor	A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.	53
4816095568	Metonymy	Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole.	54
4816095569	Modifier	a word, phrase, or clause that qualifies or describes another word, phrase, or clause	55
4816095570	Mood	feeling or atmosphere a writer creates for a reader	56
4816095571	Motif	a recurring subject, theme, or idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work	57
4816095572	Narration	Retelling an event or series of events.	58
4816095573	Occasion	An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing.	59
4816095574	Onomatopoeia	words that imitate sounds	60
4816095575	Oxymoron	A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.	61
4816095576	Paradox	A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.	62
4816095577	Parallelism	The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.	63
4816095578	Parody	A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.	64
4816095579	Pathos	A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).	65
4816095580	Persona	The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.	66
4816095581	Personification	Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.	67
4816095582	Point of view	perspective of the speaker or narrator in a literary work	68
4816095583	Polysyndeton	The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.	69
4816095584	Premise	major, minor, Two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise. [Major premise: All mammals are warm-blooded. Minor premise: All horses are mammals. Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded (see syllogism).]	70
4816095585	Propaganda	A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.	71
4816095586	Purpose	One's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.	72
4816095587	Refute	To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.	73
4816095588	Repetition	a word or phrase used more than once to emphasize an idea	74
4816095589	Rhetoric	The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the "available means of persuasion."	75
4816095590	Rhetorical modes	Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.	76
4816095591	Rhetorical question	A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.	77
4816095592	Rhetorical triangle	A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian triangle).	78
4816095593	Satire	An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.	79
4816095594	Scheme	A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect.	80
4816095595	Sentence patterns	The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.	81
4816095596	Sentence variety	Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.	82
4816095597	Simile	A figure of speech that uses "like" or "as" to compare two things.	83
4816095598	Source	A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information.	84
4816095599	Speaker	A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.	85
4816095600	Stream of consciousness	a form of writing which replicates the way the human mind works. Ideas are presented in random order; thoughts are often unfinished.	86
4816095601	Structure	the particular way in which parts of a written work are combined	87
4816095602	Style	The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.	88
4816095603	Subject	In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.	89
4816095604	Syllogism	A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).	90
4816095605	Symbol	a concrete object, scene, or action which has deeper significance because it is associated with something else, often an important idea or theme in the work	91
4816095606	Synecdoche	a figure of speech where one part represents the entire object or vice versa	92
4816095607	Syntax	Sentence structure.	93
4816095608	Synthesize	Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.	94
4816095609	Tone	The speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience.	95
4816095610	Trope	Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech.	96
4816095611	Understatement	Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.	97
4816095612	Voice	In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.	98
4816095613	Zeugma	A construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs—often in different, sometimes incongruent ways—two or more words in a sentence.	99