AP Language and Composition Glossary

Flashcards for literary and rhetorical terms

Active Voice

The subject of the sentence performs the action, creating a direct style of writing.

Passive Voice

The subject of the sentence receives the action, often resulting in lifeless writing.

Allusion

An indirect reference to a commonly known literary text or historical event.

Alter-Ego

A character used by the author to express their own thoughts directly to the audience.

Anecdote

A brief recounting of a relevant episode, often used to develop a point or inject humor.

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Classicism

Art or literature with a realistic view of people, sticking to traditional themes and structures.

Comic Relief

A humorous scene inserted into a serious story to lighten the mood.

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style, affecting the meaning and tone.

Colloquial

Ordinary or familiar conversation; a common type of saying.

Connotation

The associations suggested by a word; implied meaning rather than literal meaning.

Denotation

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.

Jargon

The diction used by a group that practices a similar profession or activity.

Vernacular

Language or dialect of a particular country, region, or group; plain everyday speech.

Didactic

Fiction, nonfiction, or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral.

Adage

A folk saying with a lesson.

Allegory

A story where characters and events represent qualities or concepts to reveal an abstraction or truth.

Aphorism

A terse statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle.

Ellipsis

Deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose for effect.

Euphemism

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for unpleasant words or concepts.

Figurative Language

Writing that is not meant to be taken literally.

Analogy

A comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration.

Idiom

A common expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally.

Metaphor

An implied comparison, not using 'like' or 'as'.

Metonymy

Replacing an actual word or idea with a related word or concept.

Synecdoche

A kind of metonymy where a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa.

Simile

Using 'like' or 'as' to make a direct comparison between two very different things.

Synesthesia

A description involving a 'crossing of the senses'.

Personification

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.

Foreshadowing

When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits (e.g., prose, poetry, drama).

Gothic

Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear, and/or death.

Imagery

Words that create a picture in the reader's mind, usually involving the five senses.

Invective

A long, emotionally violent attack using strong, abusive language.

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

Verbal Irony

Saying something and meaning the opposite or something different; sarcasm if bitter.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience knows something that a character doesn't.

Situational Irony

Irony found in the plot of a story, where things turn out in a funny or unexpected way.

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for comparison.

Mood

The atmosphere created by the literature through word choice and syntax.

Motif

A recurring idea in a piece of literature.

Oxymoron

Contradictory terms grouped together to suggest a paradox.

Pacing

The speed or tempo of an author’s writing.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

Parallelism

Sentence construction placing equal grammatical constructions near each other, for emphasis or organization.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of sentences for coherence.

Chiasmus

Words used twice in succession, but in reverse order the second time.

Antithesis

Two opposite ideas with parallel structure.

Zuegma

A word governs or modifies multiple words, but its meaning changes for each.

Parenthetical Idea

An idea set off from the rest of the sentence using parentheses.

Parody

Exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes.

Persona

The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.

Poetic Device

A technique used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words.

Alliteration

Repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.

Assonance

Repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Consonance

Repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.

Internal Rhyme

A rhyme within a single line of poetry.

Slant Rhyme

Words that create a rhyme but are merely similar, not exact.

End Rhyme

When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of a poem’s end rhymes.

Meter

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

Free Verse

Poetry that doesn’t have much meter or rhyme.

Iambic Pentameter

Poetry in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem in iambic pentameter, usually divided into three quatrains and a couplet.

Polysyndeton

A list of items separated by conjunctions for effect.

Pun

A humorous use of a word with two or more meanings.

Rhetoric

The art of effective communication.

Rhetorical Question

A question not asked for information but for effect.

Romanticism

Literature characterized by an idealistic view and emphasis on nature; doesn't rely on traditional themes.

Sarcasm

A bitter comment that is ironically worded.

Satire

A work revealing a critical attitude toward life to a humorous effect.

Sentence

A group of words with a subject and verb that expresses a complete thought.

Appositive

A word or group of words beside a noun that supplements its meaning.

Clause

A grammatical unit with a subject and a verb.

Balanced Sentence

Sentence with parallel elements set off against each other.

Compound Sentence

Contains two or more independent clauses but no dependent clauses.

Complex Sentence

Contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Cumulative Sentence

Independent clause followed by subordinate elements.

Periodic Sentence

Main idea is completed at the end of the sentence, after subordinate elements.

Simple Sentence

Contains only one independent clause.

Declarative Sentence

States an idea.

Imperative Sentence

Issues a command.

Interrogative Sentence

A sentence incorporating interrogative pronouns (what, which, who, whom, whose).

Style

The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes.

Symbol

Anything that represents or stands for something else.

Syntax

Grammatical arrangement of words.

Theme

The central idea or message of a work.

Thesis

The sentence(s) that expresses the author's opinion, purpose, or meaning.

Tone

A writer's attitude toward the subject matter.

Understatement

Ironic minimizing of fact.

Litotes

Understatement generated by denying the opposite of the statement.

Argument

Piece of reasoning with premises and a conclusion.

Premise

Statement offered as reasons to support a conclusion.

Conclusion

The end result of the argument; the main point being made.

Ethos

Persuading by convincing the audience of the author's credibility.

Pathos

Persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions.

Logos

Persuading by the use of reasoning and valid arguments.

Concession

Accepting at least part of an opposing viewpoint.