AP Lang Non-Tested Vocab

Annotation

The taking of notes directly on a text.

Antimetabole

Repetition of words in reverse order.

○ [A]sk not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country. -- John F. Kennedy

Antithesis

Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

○ [W]e shall… support any friend, oppose any foe… -- John F. Kennedy

Archaic Diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words.

○… beliefs for which our forebears fought… -- John F. Kennedy

Assertion

A statement that presents a claim or thesis.

Asyndeton

Omission of conjunction between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

○ [W]e shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. -- John F. Kennedy

Closed Thesis

A closed thesis is a statement of the main idea of the argument that also previews the major points the writer intends to make.

○ The three dimensional characters, exciting pot, and complex themes of the Harry Potter series make them not only legendary children’s books but enduring literary classic

Complex Sentence

A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

○ If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. -- John F. Kennedy

Cumulative Sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.

○ But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course — both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war. — John F. Kenned

Imperative sentence

Sentence used to command or enjoin. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. — John F. Kennedy

Inversion

Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the Subject-Verb-Object order).

○ United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do. — John F. Kennedy

Metonymy

Figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it or emblematic of it.

○ The pen is mightier than the sword.

Modifier

An adjective, adverb, phrase, or clause that modifies a noun, pronoun, or verb. The purpose of a modifier is usually to describe, focus, or qualify.

○ Sprawling and dull in class, he comes alive in the halls and in the cafeteria. — David Denb

Nominalization

The process of changing a verb into a noun.

○ Discuss becomes discussion. Depend becomes dependence.

Occasion

The time and place a speech is given or a piece is written.

○ In the case of Gehrig’s speech, the occasion is Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. More specifically, his moment came at home plate between games of a doubleheader.

Open thesis

An open thesis is one that does not list all of the points the writer intends to cover in an essay.

○ The popularity of the Harry Potter series demonstrates that simplicity trumps complexity when it comes to the taste of readers, both young and old.

Periodic sentence

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.

○ To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support . . . — John F. Kenned

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of multiple conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

○ I paid for my plane ticket, and the taxes, and the fees, and the charge for the checked bag, and five dollars for a bottle of water.

Propaganda

The spread of ideas and information to further a cause. In its negative sense, propaganda is the use of rumors, lies, disinformation, and scare tactics in order to damage or promote a cause.

Scheme

Artful syntax; a deviation from the normal order of words. Common schemes include parallelism, juxtaposition, antithesis, and antimetabole.

Speaker

The person or group who creates a text. This might be a politician who delivers a speech, a commentator who writes an article, an artist who draws a political cartoon, or even a company that commissions an advertisement.

○ In his Farewell Address, the speaker is not just Lou Gehrig, but baseball hero and ALS victim Lou Gehrig, a common man who is modest and thankful for the opportunities he’s had.

Stance

A speaker’s attitude toward the audience (differing from tone, the speaker’s attitude toward the subject).

Subject

The topic of a text. What the text is about.

○ Lou Gehrig’s subject in his speech is his illness, but it is also an expression of his gratitude for all of the lucky breaks that preceded his diagnosis.

Symbol

Generally, something that represents or stands for something else. In this class, we look at ARCHETYPAL

SYMBOLS. One system classifies symbols into three categories:

○ Natural symbols—objects from nature to represent ideas commonly associated with them (dawn symbolizing a new beginning, a tree meaning knowledge).

○ Conventional symbols—invested meaning by a group (religious symbols such as the cross or Star of David; national symbols such as the eagle or flag; group symbols such as the scales of justice for lawyers).

○ Literary symbols—found in a variety of works and are generally recognized. Objects that stand for abstract ideas.

Synecdoche

Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.

○ In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. — John F. Kennedy

Synthesize

Combining two or more ideas in order to create something more complex in support of a new idea.

Text

While this term generally means the written word, in the humanities it has come to mean any cultural product that can be “read”— meaning not just consumed and comprehended, but investigated. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, political cartoons, fine art, photography, performances, fashion, cultural trends, and much more.

Trope

Artful diction; from the Greek word for “turning,” a figure of speech such as metaphor, simile, hyperbole, metonymy, or synecdoche.

Wit

In rhetoric, the use of laughter, humor, irony, and satire in the confirmation or refutation of an argument.

Zeugma

Use of two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous, meanings. 

• When you open a book, you open your mind. Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden . . . — John F. Kennedy