AP Language and Composition Flashcards

7201328179	Allusion	Definition: An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. Example: "This place is like a Garden of Eden." - This is a biblical allusion to the "garden of God" in the Book of Genesis.	0
7201328180	Argumentation	Definition: The action or process of reasoning systematically in support of an idea, action, or theory. Example: "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."	1
7201328181	Diction	Definition: The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing. Example: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on"	2
7201328860	Exposition/Expository Writing	Definition: Type of composition intended to give information about an issue, subject, method, or idea. Example: The U.S. flag consists of thirteen alternating stripes of red and blue, representing the 13 original states. In the top left of the flag there is a field of blue with fifty stars, one for each state.	3
7201328861	Figurative language	Definition: Language that contains or uses figures of speech, especially metaphors. Example: The poorest man is the richest, and the rich are poor.	4
7201330740	Hyperbole	Definition: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. Example: The dog was as big as a whale.	5
7201330741	Imagery	Definition: Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste). Example: The white snow slowly fell to her cold skin.	6
7201331286	Irony	Definition: The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. Example: Nobody ever goes to that restaurant because it is always full.	7
7201331287	Metaphor	Definition: A comparison without using like or as. Example: You are a pig, always dirty.	8
7201331733	Oxymoron	Definition: A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase. Example: "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly."	9
7201331734	Paradox	Definition: A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. Example: Less is More	10
7201332240	Parallelism	Definition: Use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter. Example: Like father, like son	11
7201332241	Parody	Definition: A work which imitates another in a ridiculous manner Example: "Will you veddy much bring me a coke please?" - Indian accent Parody	12
7201332718	Personification	Definition: The giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea Example: The wind whispered through dry grass.	13
7201332719	Point of View/Perspective	Definition: Angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. Example: "I felt like I was getting drowned with shame and disgrace."	14
7201333743	Rhetoric	Definition: Technique of using language effectively and persuasively in spoken or written form Example: Upon approaching a cashier at the grocery store she asks, "Will you help starving children today by adding $3 to your grocery bill?"	15
7201333744	Simile	Definition: A comparison using "like" or "as" Example: You are as pretty as a flower.	16
7201334319	Style	Definition: The way a writer writes and it is the technique which an individual author uses in his writing Example: A drop fell on the apple tree, Another on the roof, And made the gables laugh, The breezes brought dejected lutes, And bathed them in the glee; And signed the fete away. (Summer Shower by Emily Dickinson)- descriptive style	17
7201334320	Analogy	Definition: A comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. Example: Life is like a race. The one who keeps running wins the race and the one who stops to catch a breath loses.	18
7201334721	Anecdote	Definition: A short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person Example: You know, when I was a kid, my dog was my best friend. My childhood was better because of him.	19
7201335213	Ethos	Definition: In rhetoric, ethos represents credibility or an ethical appeal which involves persuasion by the character involved. Example: "Doctors all over the world recommend this type of treatment."	20
7201335638	Logos	Definition: A statement, sentence or argument used to convince or persuade the targeted audience by employing reason or logic. Example: All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.	21
7201335639	Pathos	Definition: A method of convincing people with an argument drawn out through an emotional response Example: "Darkies work on de Mississippi Darkies work while de white folks play"	22
7201336699	Colloquialism	Definition: The use of informal words, phrases or even slang in a piece of writing. Example: wanna - want to	23
7201337456	Connotation	Definition: Refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly. Example: "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day"	24
7201338034	Logical Fallacy	Definition: An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. Example: Well Dr. Jones believes that the full moon makes people act crazy, and who are you to argue with Dr. Jones (appeal to authority).	25
7201338035	Sarcasm	Definition: Literary and rhetorical device that is meant to mock with often satirical or ironic remarks with a purpose to amuse and hurt someone or some section of society simultaneously Example: "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." (Mark Twain)	26
7201338612	Satire	Definition: Technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule. Example: "What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and isn't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?"	27
7201338977	Tone	Definition:Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character Example: Father: "We are going on a vacation." Son: "That's great!!!" - Cheerful Tone	28
7201338978	Allegory	Definition: A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions Example: "All animals are equal but a few are more equal than others."	29
7201339529	Anaphora	Definition: The deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect Example: "Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better and better."	30
7201339530	Thesis/Claim	Definition: A statement in a non-fiction or a fiction work that a writer intends to support and prove. Example: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen)	31
7201339890	Cliché	Definition: An expression that has been overused to the extent that it loses its original meaning or novelty. Example: They all lived happily ever after.	32
7209556899	Genre	Definition: Type of art, literature or music characterized by a specific form, content and style. Example: Poetry, Drama, Prose...	33
7209557605	Rhetorical question	Definition: A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected. Example: Are you stupid?	34
7209557606	Syntax	Definition: It is set of rules in a language. It dictates how words from different parts of speech are put together in order to convey a complete thought. Example: "What light from yonder window breaks?" instead of using a common expression "What light breaks from yonder window?" - Romeo and Juliet	35
7209557994	Alliteration	Definition: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words Example: "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes; A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life."- Shakespeare	36
7209558361	Consonance	Definition: Repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase Example: The ship has sailed to the far off shores.	37
7209558365	Denotation	Definition: Literal or dictionary meanings of a word in contrast to its connotative or associated meanings. Example: Dog - suggests shamelessness or an ugly face.	38
7209558727	Motif	Definition: An object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work. Example: Hamlet expresses his disgust for women in Scene 2 of Act I: "Frailty, thy name is woman"	39
7209558733	Antithesis	Definition: A rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect Example: Speech is silver, but silence is gold.	40
7209559150	Deduction	Definition: A method of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises. Example: t takes me an hour to get to the mall. If I leave at five o'clock I will reach the mall by six o'clock.	41
7209559379	Induction	Definition: A conclusion reached through reasoning. An inductive statement is derived using facts and instances which lead to the formation of a general opinion. Example: "This marble from the bag is black. That marble from the bag is black. A third marble from the bag is black. Therefore all the marbles in the bag black."	42
7209559885	Dialect	Definition: The language used by the people of a specific area, class, district or any other group of people. Example: Lula: I wants to know why you bringing' white chillun to ****** church. (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)	43
7209560560	Didactic	Definition: Frequently used for those literary texts which are overloaded with informative or realistic matter and are marked by the omission of graceful and pleasing details Example: "All animals are equal but a few are more equal than others."	44
7209560765	Inference	Definition: Where logical deductions are made based on premises assumed to be true. Example: "It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete."	45
7209561123	Elegy	Definition: Form of literature which can be defined as a poem or song in the form of elegiac couplets, written in honor of someone deceased. Example: "Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,/Compels me to disturb your season due:/For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,/Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer" -"Lycidas" by John Milton	46
7209561124	Jargon	Definition: Use of specific phrases and words by writers in a particular situation, profession or trade. Example: Getting on a soapbox	47
7209561414	Prose	Definition: Form of language that has no formal metrical structure. Example: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." 1984 - George Orwell	48