Ap English 1 Vocab

allusion

A brief reference to a famous person or event in history- including a famous song, book, poem, or quote from a piece of literature

forshadowing

an author gives a hint of what is to come later in the story

foil characters

characters with opposite personality traits used to highlight qualities of the other character

stock characters

typical characters that we see in common stories and movies

direct characterization

author describes personality verbatim

indirect characterization

reader must infer on personality

epiphany

a sudden realization or awareness that allows someone to see things in a new light

satire

a technique used by writers to expose and criticize a flaw in society/humanity through the use of humor, irony, or exaggeration

mood

a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions, often referred to as the ‘‘atmosphere”

tone

an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience conveyed through the choice of words

theme

the author’s message to the reader or underlying meaning of a literary work

symbol

a word or phrase that represents something else

motif

reoccurring objects or ideas that appear throughout the entire text; image, sound, action, or other figure that has a symbolic significance that contributes toward the development of a theme

imagery

description by appealing to a sense of sight, smell, touch, or sound

diction

style of speaking or writing, determined by the choice of words of a speaker or writer

denotation

denotation/literal definition of a word

connotation

all the meanings that are implied that are association with the word

simile

using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to directly compare two things

metaphor

develops an implicit comparison without the use of ‘like’ or ‘as’ by substituting one word for another word or phrase

synecdoche

a type of metaphor in which a part is substituted for the whole

personifictaion

a thing, idea, or animal is given human attributes

apostrophe

talking directly to something that is not alive

hyperbole

exaggeration

alliteration

repetition of consonant sounds at beginning of several wordso

oxymoron

two opposite words back to back

paradox

a statement that appears to be self-contradictory but may contain a truth o

pun

a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply different meanings; used for serious or comic effecte

euphimism

a polite, indirect expression which replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite or suggest something unplesent

irony

a difference between appearance and reality

verbal irony

when something is said, but the opposite is meant

situational irony

when an outcome is contrary to what is expected

dramatic irony

the audience knows something that the characters do not

first person point of view

“i/me/my’ occurs when the narrator is a character in the story and tells the story from his or her perspective

third person omniscient

occurs when the narrator tells the story using third-person pronouns (he, she, they) to refer to the characters

historical milieu/setting

time in place but also historical context of the novel

in medias res

starting a novel in the middle of the action

flashback

an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the workline

linear plot

events in a story are portrayed in the order that they occurred

nonlinear plot

events in a story are not portrayed in the order that they occurred; may include flashbacks or an in medias res beginning

climax

the point in a narrative at which the conflict or tension hits the highest point

rising action

all the actions in the plot of a story leading up to the climax

falling action

all of the actions in the plot of a story following the climax and leading to the resolution of the story

syntax

sentence structure

ellipsis

omit part of a quote

anaphora

the deliberate repetition of the first part of a sentence

antithesis

two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect

juxtaposition

when two unassociated ideas are placed directly next to one another

polysyndeton

repetition of conjunctions in close succession of rhetorical effect

asydeton

the omission of conjunctions

paralellism

the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in their construction, sound, or meter