AP Key Terminology

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AP English Language and Composition key terminology

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Epistrophe: In rhetoric, the repetition of a phrase at the end of successive sentences.
Diction: The specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect. On the AP exam you must relate how a writers _______, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary devices, etc., all come together to become the author's style.
Parallel structure: The use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts, for example," Jane enjoys reading, writing, and skiing." In prose, parallel, recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that their ideas are equal in importance. A Tale of Two Cities opens with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."
Convention: An accepted manner, model, or tradition. For instance, Aristotle's _________ of tragedy.
Oxymoron: A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements.
Exposition: The interpretation or analysis of a text.
Colloquial: A term identifying the diction of the common, ordinary folks, especially in a specific region or area. For instance, most people expect Southerners to the use the ___________ expression "y'all" to engage the attention of a group of people.
Consonance: The repetition of two or more consonants with a change of interveing vowels, such as pitter-patter, splish-splash, and click-clack.
Voice: The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of words of the story; the speaker's or narrator's particular "take" on and idea based on a particular passage and how all the elements of the style of the piece come together to express his or her feelings.
Dramatic irony: In drama and fiction, facts or situations are known to the reader or audience, but not to the characters.
Allegory: A narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance. Often ________ is the universal symbol or personfied abstraction, such as Cupid portrated as a chubby angel with a bow and arrows.
Homily: A sermon, but more contemporary uses include any serious talk, speech or lecture involving moral or spiritual life. John Donne was known for his ______.
Personification: Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by endowing it with human features or qualities.
Verbal irony: What the author/narrator says is actually the opposite of what is meant.
Hyperbole: Overstatement characterized by exaggerated language, usually to make a point or draw attention. If in a state of exhaustion you say "I'm really beat", that is _______.
Mode of Discourse: The way in which information is presented in written or spoken form. The Greek believed there were only four _____________: narration, description, exposition (cause and effect, process analysis, comparison/contrast) and argumentation. Contemporary thought often includes other modes, such as personal observation and and narrative reflection.
Attitude: The sense expressed by the tone of voice or the mood of a piece of writing; the author's feelings toward his or her subject, characters, events, or theme. It might even be his or her feelings for the reader. AP English Exam essay prompts often require students to respond to some aspect of the _______ of the writer, speaker, or narrator.
Synechdoche: A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole, such as "50 masts" representing 50 ships or "100 head of steer had to be moved from the grazing land"
Ad hominem argument: From the Latin meaning "to or against the man," this is an argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason, to feeling rather than intellect.
Assonance: The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words. The alliteration example also demonstrates ________:"She sells sea shells by the sea shore"
Ethos: In rhetoric, the appeal of text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator. (Who is this person saying what, and what makes this person able to say so?)
Inductive reasoning: The method of reasoning or argument in which general statements and conclusions are drawn from specific principals: movement from the specific to the general. In other words, a general supposition is made after investigating specific instances, a common logic used in scientific study.
Apostrophe: An address or invocation to something inanimate-- such as when the slave Frederick Douglass exclaims as he looks upon the ships at Chesapeake Bay: "I would pour out of my soul's complaint, in my rude way, with an ________ to the moving multiple of ships."
Mood: The feeling or ambience resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator's attitude and point of view. It is a "feeling" that establishes the atmosphere in a work of literature or other discourse.
Syntax: The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. _______ is sentence structure and how it influences the way the reader receives a particular piece of writing. It is important in establishing the tone of a piece and the attitude of the author/narrator.
Appeals to...authority, emotion, or logic: Rhetorical arguments in which the speaker claims to be an authority or expert in a field, or attempts to play upon the emotions, or appeals to the use of reason. Classicly trained rhetoricians identify these appeals with their Greek names: ethos is authority, logos is logic, and pathos is emotion.
Sarcasm: A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually critical. _______ can be light, and gently poke fun at something. or it can be harsh, caustic, and mean.
Realism: Attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail. Mark Twain is an author of this school. Thoureau, with his romantic outlook toward nature is not.
Epitaph: Writing in praise of dead person, most often inscribed on a headstone
Dialect: The language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group. For example, Minnesotans say "you betcha" when they agree with you. Although _______ is most often found in fiction, sometimes it is evident in speeches from a different era or from a different culture.
Point of View: The relation in which a narrator/author stands to a subject of discourse. ____________ in nonfiction requires the reader to establish the historical perspective of what is being said.
Deductive reasoning (deductive): The method of argument in which specific statements and conclusions are drawn from general principals; the movement from the general to the specific, in contrast to Inductive reasoning (induction)
Onomatopoeia: A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes. The word "buzz" is a good example.
Alliteration: The sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually in closely proximate stressed syllables. For instance, "She sells sea shells by the sea shore."
Style: The manner in which a writer combines and arranges words, shapes, ideas, and utilizes syntax and structure. It is the distinctive manner of expression that represents the author's typical writing ____. When two passages on the same topic are presented, you must pay attention to both of their _____.
Genre: A type or class of literature, such as epic, narrative, poetry, biography, history.
Allusion: A literary, historical, religious, or mythological reference. For example, one might contrast the life and tribulations of Frederick Douglass to the trials of Job.
Imagery: Broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation of work, more narrowly, the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object. Basically, ________ involves any or all of the five senses. A writer generally uses _______ in conjunction with other figures of speech, such as metaphors or similies.
Rhetoric: The art of using words to persuade in writing or speaking. All types of writing may seek to persuade and rhetoricians study these genres for their persuasive qualities.
Jargon: Specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group.
Pathos: That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow. In argument or persuasion it tends to be the evocation of pity from the reader/listener. Think of it as the "poor, starving children" approach to convincing you.
Critique: An assessment or analysis of something, such as a passage of writing, for the purpose of determining what it is, what its limitations are, and how it conforms to the standard of the genre.
Situational Irony: When events end up the opposite of what is expected.
Conceit: A comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out of within a piece of literature, in particular an extented metaphor within a poem. However, _______ can also be used in non fiction and prose. For instnace, Richard Selzer's passage "The Knife" compares the preperation and actions of surgery and conducting a religious service or sacred ritual.
Extended metaphor: A series of comparisons within a piece of writing. If they are consistently one concept, this is also known as conceit.
Satire: A literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure. Jonathan Swift and George Orwell were masters of _____.
Claim: In argumentation, an assertion of something as a fact.
Analogy: A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. An ________ can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with, or pointing out its similarity to, something more familiar.
Inference: A conclusion or proposition arrived at by considering facts, observations, or some other specific data.
Begging the question: An argumentative ploy where the arguer sidesteps the question or the conflict, evades or ignores the real question.
Simile: A direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, usually using the words "like" or "as" to draw the connection.
Flashback (also known as retrospection): An earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narration.
Figurative language/Figure of speech: ________ (in contrast to literal) language has levels of meaning expressed through _____________ such as personification, metaphor, hyperbole, irony, oxymoron, litote, and others.
Tone: The attitude the narrator/writer takes toward a subject and theme; the tenor of a piece of writing based on particular stylistic devices employed by the writer. _____ reflects the narrator/ author's attitude.
Antithesis: The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas. For example, Alexander the Pope reminds us that "The err is human, to forgive divine"
Didactic: (From the Greek, meaning "good teaching") Writing or speech is _______ when it has an instructive prupose or a lesson. It is often associated with a dry, pompous presentation, regardless of its innate value to the reader/listener. Some of Aesop's fables are _______ in that they maintain an underlying moral or social message.
Eulogy: A speech or written passage in praise of a person; an oration in honor of a deceased person. Elegy laments; _____ praises.
Ambiguity: The mutiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.
Anaphora: The regular repetition of the same words or phrases at the beginning of succesive phrases of clauses. The following is an example: "To raise a happy, healthful, and hopeful child, it takes a family; it takes teachers; it takes clergy; it takes business people; it takes community leaders; it takesthsoe who protect our health and safety; it takes all of us." (Hillary Clinton)
Juxtaposition: The location of one thing adjacent to or _______ with another to create an effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose.
Prose: The ordinary form of written language without metrical structure in contrast to verse and poetry.
Zeugma: A grammatically correct construction in which a word, usually a verb or adjective, is applied to two or more nouns without being repeated. Often used to comic effect (the thief took my wallet and the Fifth Avenue bus.")
Irony (ironic): The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The intended meaning is often the opposite of what is stated, often suggesting light sarcasm. The most famous classical ______ is Jonathan Swift in his "Modern Proposal." ______ is used for many reasons, often to create poignancy or humor.
Paradox: A statement that seems contradictory but may probably be true. A popular ______ from the 1960's was that war protestors would "fight for peace"
Periodic sentences: A long sentence in which that main clause is not completed until the end.
Metaphor: One thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy._________ is an implicit comparison of identification of one thing with another, without the use of a verbal signal such as "like" or "as".
Rhetorical question: A question that is asked simply for the sake of stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered.
Antecedent: The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. The AP English exam occasionally asks for the ___________ of a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences.
Connotation: The implied, suggested, or underlying meaning of a word or phrase.
Euphemism: An indirect, kinder, or less harsh or hurtful way to express unpleasant information. For instance, it is much nicer for a person who has just gotten a pink slip to hear that she has been made redundant, rather than she has hereby been terminated.
Symbolism: Use of a person, place, thing, event, or pattern that figuratively represents or "stands for" something else. Often the thing or idea represented is more abstract or general than the _______, which is concrete.
Chiasmus: A figure of speech and generally a syntactical structure wherein the order of the terms in the first half of a parallel clause is reversed in the second. For example "He thinks I am but a fool. A fool, perhaps I am."
Isocolon: Parallel structure in which parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure, but also in length. For example, the Biblical admonition, "Many are called, but few are chosen," is an _____.
Canon: That which has been accepted or authentic, such as in ______ law, or the "______ according to the Theories of Einstein."
Elegy: A poem or prose work that laments, or meditates upon the death of, a person or persons. Sometimes ______ will end with words of consolation. Many public _____ were presented in the aftermath of 9/11.
Litote: A figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement, for instance, the understated "not bad" as a comment about something especially well done. George Orwell wrote, "Last week I saw a woman flayed and you would hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse."
Theme: The central or dominant idea or focus of a work. The statement a passage makes about its subject.
Loose sentence: (A term from syntax) A long sentence that starts with its main clause, which is followed by several dependent clauses and modifying phrases; for example, "The child ran, frenzied, and ignoring all hazards, as if being chased by demons."
Asyndeton: A syntactical structure in which conjunctions are omitted in a series, usually producing more rapid prose. For example: "Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)," supposedly said by Julius Caesar.
Comparison and Contrast: A mode of discourse in which two or more things are compared, contrasted, or both.
Aphorism: A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate commonly held belief. For example, "Spare the rod and spoil the child" is an _______.

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Number of cards 81