AP Language Summer Vocabulary Flashcards

10399066777	ad hominem	In an argument, this is an attack on the person rather than on the opponent's ideas. It comes from the Latin meaning "against the man."	0
10399066778	adjective	a word that modifies (describes) a noun or pronoun	1
10399066779	adverb	a word that describes a verb/action	2
10399066780	allegory	a story in which everything is a symbol	3
10399066781	alliteration	tongue twister; close words starting with same letter	4
10399066782	allusion	a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize	5
10399066783	ambiguity	a vagueness of meaning; a conscious lack of clarity meant to evoke multiple meanings and interpretation	6
10399066784	analogy	drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect	7
10399066785	anaphora	repetition of a word or phrase as the beginning of successive clauses	8
10399066786	antecedent	the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers	9
10399066787	antithesis	the presentation of two contrasting ideas. The ideas are balanced by phrase, clause, or paragraphs. "To be or not to be . . ." "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times . . ." "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country . . ."	10
10399066788	aphorism	A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.	11
10399066789	apostrophe	a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction	12
10399066790	appeal to authority	Appeals to an authority to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action	13
10399066791	appeal to ignorance	Assumption that whatever cannot be proven false must be true (or vice versa). "No one can prove that the Loch Ness monster doesn't exist, so therefore, it does exist."	14
10399066792	assonance	close words have the same vowel sounds. E.g. "black cat" or "frozen snow"	15
10399066793	asyndeton	a list without conjunctions example: "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe" (JFK's inaugural address)	16
10399066794	chiasmus (kee-as-mus)	a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed ("susan walked in, and out rushed mary.")	17
10399066795	circular argument	a logical fallacy in which the writer or speaker assumes the statement under examination to be true (begging the question); E.g. Freedom of speech is important because people should be able to speak freely.	18
10399066796	claim	An arguable statement, which may be a claim of fact, value, or policy.	19
10399066797	clause	(grammar) an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence	20
10399066798	climax	the point of highest interest, the conflict must be resolved one way or another or a character begins to take action to end the conflict	21
10399066799	colloquial	informal spoken language or conversation	22
10399066800	concession or lending credence	a reluctant acknowledgment or yielding	23
10399066801	confirmation	The main part of a text in which logical arguments in support of a position are elaborated.	24
10399066802	conjunction	The part of speech (or word class) that serves to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Example: FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so	25
10399066803	connotation	the implied or associative meaning of a word; emotional meaning behind a word. E.g. Red signifies passion.	26
10399066804	deduction	Reasoning from general to specific	27
10399066805	denotation	dictionary meaning of a word; E.g. Red is a color in the light spectrum.	28
10399066806	dialect	the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people (how people talk depending on where they are)	29
10399066807	diction	word choice	30
10399066808	didactic	instructive, designed to teach	31
10399066809	ethos	The appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator	32
10399066810	eulogy	a formal speech praising a person who has died	33
10399066811	euphemism	a mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term E.g. He "passed away" --instead of died.	34
10399066812	extended metaphor	The comparison between two things is continued beyond the first point of comparison. This extends and deepens a description.	35
10399066813	fallacy	a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning (failed argument)	36
10399066814	false dilemma	A fallacy of oversimplification that offers a limited number of options (usually two) when in fact more options are available. (same as either/or fallacy or black/white fallacy or false dichotomy)	37
10399066815	figurative language/ figures of speech	writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally	38
10399066816	flashback	a scene or event from the past that appears in a narrative out of chronological order, to fill in information or explain something in the present	39
10399066817	hasty generalization fallacy	Drawing a conclusion based on a small sample size, rather than looking at statistics that are much more in line with the typical or average situation.	40
10399066818	hyperbole	exaggeration	41
10399066819	imagery	descriptions that appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell	42
10399066820	induction	reasoning from detailed facts to general principles	43
10399066821	invective	(n.) a strong denunciation or condemnation; abusive language; (adj.) abusive, vituperative	44
10399066822	irony	(unexpected twist) a use of words in which the intended meaning is very different from the literal sense; an incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs, esp. one that suggests a lesson about human folly	45
10399066823	jargon	specialized technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject. E.g. Teachers say "facilitating instruction" and "text dependent questions"	46
10399066824	litotes	an understatement used to underscore a greater point; E.g. July 4th is not a dull day. ... like a double negative	47
10399066825	loose sentence	a complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows	48
10399066826	metaphor	comparison	49
10399066827	metonymy	substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it ("The pen [writing] is mightier than the sword [war/fighting].")	50
10399066828	mode of discourse	The way in which information is presented in a text. The four traditional modes are narration, description, exposition, and argument.	51
10399066829	mood	atmosphere; feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage	52
10399066830	narrative	story	53
10399066831	noun	person, place, thing, or idea	54
10399066832	onomatopoeia	a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. Simple examples include such words as buzz, hiss, hum.	55
10399066833	oxymoron	conjoining contradictory terms (as in 'deafening silence')	56
10399066834	paradox	a statement that seems contradictory or absurd but that expresses a truth	57
10399066835	parallelism	similarity in structure and syntax in a series of related words, phrases, clauses, sentences, or paragraphs that develops balance. E.g. The boy went swimmING, bikING, and sailING this summer.	58
10399066836	parody	a work which imitates another in a ridiculous manner	59
10399066837	pathos	A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow	60
10399066838	periodic sentence	A sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end. The independent clause is preceded by a phrase or clause that cannot stand alone. The effect is to add emphasis and structural variety.	61
10399066839	personification	A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes	62
10399066840	point of view	the perspective from which a story is told	63
10399066841	predicate	one of the two main constituents of a sentence	64
10399066842	pronoun	a word that takes the place of a noun; E.g. he, she, it, they, them, I, you	65
10399066843	prose	writing that is not poetry	66
10399066844	refutation/ counterargument/ rebuttal	The part of an argument wherein a speaker or writer anticipates and counters opposing points of view.	67
10399066845	rhetoric	study of persuasion	68
10399066846	rhetorical question	figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer	69
10399066847	sarcasm	from the Greek meaning "to tear flesh," ___ involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. It may use irony as a device.	70
10399066848	satire	form of literature in which irony, sarcasm, and ridicule are employed to attack human vice and folly	71
10399066849	simile	comparing two things using like or as	72
10399066850	style	a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period	73
10399066851	subject	the noun or subject pronoun that the sentence is about	74
10399066852	syllogism	a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion. A=B, B=C, so A=C. "All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal."	75
10399066853	subordination/ subordinate clauses	Words, phrases, and clauses that make one element of a sentence dependent on (or subordinate to) another. Contrast with coordination.	76
10399066854	symbol	anything that stands for or represents something else	77
10399066855	synecdoche	A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).	78
10399066856	syntax	the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences	79
10399066857	thesis	the statement in the first paragraph that will be proved throughout the passage	80
10399066858	tone	author's attitude	81
10399066859	transition	a word or phrase that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph. (first, next, another...)	82
10399066860	understatement	a figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants	83
10399066861	verb	The part of speech (or word class) that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being.	84
10399066862	voice	active voice: the subject does the action; e.g. Joe threw the ball. passive voice: something is done to the subject. e.g. The ball was thrown to Bill.	85
10399066863	zeugma	a literary term for using one word to modify two other words, in two different ways. An example of a zeugma is, "She broke his car and his heart."	86
10399066864	independent clause	a clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence	87
10399066865	dependent clause	a clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb	88
10399066866	clause	(grammar) an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence	89
10399066867	complex sentence	a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause	90
10399066868	compound sentence	a sentence composed of at least two independent clauses	91
10399066869	anaphora	repetition of a word or phrase as the beginning of successive clauses	92
10399066870	epistrophe	repetition of the ends of two or more successive sentences, verses, etc.	93
10399066871	apostrophe	a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person, or some abstraction	94
10399066872	appositive or apposition	Figure of balance that is usually set aside by commas, used for elaboration of a bigger term into more specifics. "And so I ask you tonight, the people of Massachusetts, to think this through with me." "Mexico City, the largest city in the world, has many interesting archaeological sites."	95
10399066873	oxymoron	conjoining contradictory terms (as in 'deafening silence')	96
10399066874	anecdote	short account of an incident (especially a biographical one)	97
10399066875	cliche	a worn-out idea or overused expression. E.g. "finding your way"	98
10399066876	juxtaposition	placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast	99