AP English Terms Flashcards

14971850775	active voice	the subject of the sentence performs the action	0
14971854126	allusion	a reference to another work of literature, person, or event	1
14971860756	alter-ego	one's other self	2
14971881406	anecdote	short account of event	3
14971909743	antecedent	the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.	4
14971917758	classicism	art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world; sticks to traditional themes and structures.	5
14971998315	comic relief	a humorous scene or speech intended to lighten the mood	6
14972003107	diction	the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.	7
14972011010	colloquial	characteristic of ordinary conversation rather than formal speech or writing	8
14972068263	connotation	the implied or associative meaning of a word	9
14972075996	denotation	the literal meaning of a word	10
14972079944	jargon	special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.	11
14972092932	vernacular	the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region.	12
14972098901	didactic	intended to teach	13
14972146036	adage	folk saying with a lesson	14
14972153351	allegory	a story, fictional or nonfictional, in which characters, things and events represent qualities or concepts	15
14972206043	aphorism	a concise statement of a truth or principle	16
14972262661	ellipsis	the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context	17
14972318693	euphemism	a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept	18
14972344304	figurative language	writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally	19
14972348243	analogy	a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way	20
14972356977	hyperbole	exaggeration	21
14972356978	idiom	a common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.	22
14972365236	metaphor	comparison not using like or as	23
14972374051	metonymy	the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant	24
14972390495	synecdoche	a kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa.	25
14972414759	simile	comparing two things using like or as	26
14972427280	synesthesia	describing one kind of sensation in terms of another	27
14972437305	personification	the giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea	28
14972443874	foreshadowing	the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot	29
14972448329	genre	a major category or type of literature	30
14972462065	gothic	writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.	31
14972479207	imagery	description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)	32
14972490304	invective	abusive language	33
14972496657	irony	when the opposite of what you expect to happen does	34
14972548165	verbal irony	irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.	35
14972553772	dramatic irony	when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't	36
14972580995	situational irony	irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.	37
14972607047	juxtaposition	placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast	38
14972612222	mood	feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader	39
14972620938	motif	A recurring theme, subject or idea in literary work	40
14972633348	oxymoron	conjoining contradictory terms (as in 'deafening silence')	41
14972639940	pacing	the movement of a literary piece from one point or one section to another	42
14972651162	paradox	a contradiction or dilemma	43
14972666412	parallelism	phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other	44
14972713935	anaphora	the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses	45
14972722014	chiasmus	same words used twice in succession	46
14972730521	antithesis	two opposite or contrasting word with parallel structure	47
14972759097	zuegma (syllepsis)	when a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies. "The butler killed the lights, and then the mistress." "I quickly dressed myself and the salad."	48
14972788271	parenthetical idea	parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence.	49
14972806008	parody	a work which imitates another in a ridiculous manner	50
14972811087	persona	the fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.	51
14972833830	polysyndeton	the deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.	52
14972848030	pun	a humorous play on words	53
14972887475	rhetoric	the art of effective communication	54
14972922873	aristotle's rhetorical triangle	the relationships between the writer, the audience, and the subject	55
14972937628	rhetorical question	a question asked merely for effect with no answer expected.	56
14972946646	romanticism	literature characterized by an idealistic view of people and the world	57
14972971424	sarcasm	harsh, cutting language or tone intended to ridicule	58
14972981080	satire	a work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. It doesn't simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). It targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals.	59
14973001585	style	choices that a writer makes in diction, tone, and syntax	60
14973018947	symbol	anything that stands for or represents something else	61
14973034640	syntax/sentence variety	grammatical arrangement of words, grouping of words	62
14973038618	theme	the central idea of a work	63
14973051440	thesis	focus statement of a work	64
14973063589	tone	the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.	65
14973070048	understatement	the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.	66
14973078428	litotes	a form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite	67