AP ENGLISH (Quiz I)

1. allegory:

a story in which the characters, settings, and events stand for something else

2. alliteration:

Ex: rough and ready or baby blue

the repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close to one another; alliteration occurs mostly at the beginning of words

3. allusion:

a reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or pop culture

4. connotation:

Ex: a restaurant might want to advertise “delicious cuisine” rather than “delicious cooking” – “cuisine” has connotations of elegance and sophistication

all the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests

5. contrast:

comparison showing differences

6. denotation:

the literal, dictionary definition of a word

7. diction:

Ex: simple/flowery (store/boutique) general/specific (sandwich/grilled shank on rye)

a writer’s or speaker’s choice of words; the diction a writer chooses determines his/her style

8. euphemism:

Ex: “bought the farm” for someone’s death

mild or vague expression substituted for a harsher or more direct one

9. hyperbole:

a figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. These often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often this produces irony at the same time.

10. imagery:

the sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, this term uses terms related to the five senses; we refer to visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory (taste), or olfactory imagery. On a broader and deeper level, however, one image can represent more than one thing.

11. impressionistic:

seeking to convey a brief impression or emotion without close realistic detail

12. inference:

to draw an understanding or conclusion from what was said or a particular event

13. irony:

a contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality; between what is said and what is really meant; between what is expected and what really happens, or between what appears to be true and what really is true.

verbal –

occurs when a writer says one thing but means another

situational -

occurs when what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected or appropriate

dramatic–

occurs when the audience or reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not

14. juxtaposition:

Ex: You are writing an album with this as the last word in the damn title silly lol

placing dissimilar items, descriptions, or ideas close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast

15. metaphor:

Ex: “You are at the end of your rope.” “My soul is an enchanted boat.”

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using the connective words like, as, than, or resembles

16. mood:

the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work

17. motif:

Hint: your album you are writing uses a lot of these, really well apparently…

a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work.

18. onomatopoeia:

Ex: clop, squish, snort, crack, murmur

figure of speech – natural sounds imitated in the sounds of words

19. oxymoron:

Ex: jumbo shrimp, bitter sweet, cruel kindness

19. figure of speech – combining two apparently dissimilar ideas to create a paradox

20. paradox:

Ex: “Fair is foul and foul is fair.”

figure of speech – a statement which appears to be self-contradictory but upon further examination contains a degree of truth

21. persona:

Ex: The narrator in “Arcadia Su!c!de Juxtaposition” is a what… created by you?

a character created as the speaker in an essay or the narrator of a story. The attitude and character of this term often differ from those of the author. This term may be created as a way of submitting certain values or perspectives to examination and criticism.

22. personification:

the assigning of human characteristics, form, or sensibilities to a nonliving thing

23. point of view:

the stance/vantage point from which an author presents the actions of the story. Types: first person, third person, omniscient, limited omniscient

24. prose:

all forms of written expression which do not have a regular rhythmic pattern

25. repetition:

Something your album does well, not to bore

the duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern. When this term is poorly done, it bores, but when it’s well done, it links and emphasizes ideas while allowing the reader the comfort of recognizing something familiar.

26. rhetorical question:

a structural device for initiating or continuing a discussion; a device for adding emphasis

27. simile:

an explicit comparison, normally using “like ,” “as ,” or “if .”

28. symbol:

Ex: a coat, in your album, represents amour

any person, place, thing, event that is intended to represent itself as well as an abstract concept

29. syntax:

the way words are arranged in a sentence, including punctuation, sentence length, and word order

30. theme:

the central idea or insight of a work of literature; the idea the author wishes to convey to his/her reader

31. thesis:

the central theme of an argumentative essay; sentence containing the main idea/purpose of an essay

32. tone:

the feeling associated with a writing; determined by the author’s attitude toward his/her topic and/or audience