ap lang terms
Terms
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- Parallelism
- The repetition of the same type of grammatical unit, such as a phrase or clause.
- Appeal
- The way in which a writer is trying to affect his reader. (For example, emotional or factual)
- Simile
- The use of "like" or "as" to compare two different ideas or things.
- Diction
- The writer's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression.
- Synecdoche
- When a concrete, complex entity is represented by a single part. (For example, "All hands on deck.")
- Style
- The distinctive characteristics of an author's writing.
- Parenthesis
- A type of interruption of a sentence before it has been completed in order to insert some word, phrase, or clause that launches a new idea.
- Oxymoron
- A paradox created by linking together two apparently contradictory words in a single phrase or clause. (For example, "cruel kindness")
- Syntax
- The study of the rules that govern the structure of sentences
- Allegory
- An extended comparison; a set of abstract ideas personified through human characters and specific events in which they engage.
- Audience
- The specific group to which a written piece is directed.
- Fable
- Short allegorical stories that point out a lesson or moral.
- Apposition
- The placement of a word or phrase immediately following another word or phrase to add more detailed information about about the idea suggested
- Euphemism
- A form of understatement used when a more graphic or direct reference might be offensive.
- Paradox
- The expression of an apparent contradiction, where opposing ideas are on some level true.
- Assumptions
- Those things that a writer assumes about his or her audience.
- Double entendre
- A pun that suggests two meanings, one of which is risque or highly suggestive in a sexual sense.
- Evidence
- Those facts within a written work which support the writer's point.
- Hyperbole
- To overstate or exaggerate an idea to its furthest extreme.
- Onomatopoeia
- A play on the sound of words.
- Pun
- Using one word to suggest two different meanings, both of which may seem appropriate in the context of a sentence or paragraph, even though the meanings they suggest may be very different or even opposite.
- Metonymy
- When abstract and complex processes are referred to by means of a single concrete part typically associated with the more complex processes. (For example, "The pen is mightier than the sword.")
- Imagery
- Any literary reference to the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste) enabling the reader to "feel" the described item.
- Purpose
- What a writer is trying to accomplish by his or her written work.
- Thesis
- A one-sentence statement or summary of the basic arguable point of the essay.
- Exclamation
- When the writer stops a sentence midway and addresses an individual who may or may not be present.
- Epithet
- The use of a single-word adjective linked to a person or thing to describe a specific quality associated with it; the adjective will always set the noun apart distinguishing it from from the noun itself. (For example, championship soccer team)
- Antithesis
- A specific use of parallelism in which grammatical forms or parts of speech are repeated in a sentence and are used to express opposing or contrary meanings.
- Metaphor
- An implied comparison not using the words "like" or "as."
- Personification
- A specific kind of implicit comparison where the inanimate object is characterized by some quality normally associated with human behavior.
- Understatement
- To play down the magnitude of an idea.
- Tone
- The author's attitude toward the subject matter of his or her written work.
- Ellipsis
- The omission of a word or phrase that is implied by the context.
- Analogy
- An implicit comparison that sets up a proportional relationship between two sets of ideas, with each set consisting of at least two different qualities or elements, so that the different qualities of each set of ideas can be compared or equated to each other.
- Rhetoric
- Using language effectively to please or persuade.