AP LIT: Vocab

Diction

Diction

Author’s choice of words

Bombast

Overly pompous language

Colloquial

Informal, region-specific language

Cliché

Overly used phrase

Didactic

Preachy and instructional language

Formal

Elevated speech free of slang

Slang

Informal language thats time specific

Syntax

Order of words in a sentence

Parallel structure

Repetition of sentence structure for emphasis

Rhetorical question

Question that doesnt need an answer

Juxtaposition

Two very different things placed close together for emphasis

Inverted

Swapping the subject and verb

Declarative

Statement

Interrogative

Asks a question

Imperative

Command

Exclamatory

Shows emotion, ends in exclamation point

Repetition

Words are repeated for emphasis

Scheme

Literary device that deals with syntax, letters, and sounds

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Ellipsis

Omit info using …

Parenthesis

Adding in info using ()

Trope

Literary devices dealing with anything other than the literal

Metaphor

Comparison that doesnt use like or as

Simile

Comparison that does use like or as

Synecdoche

When the part represents the whole, vice versa

Metonomy

Replace a noun with a closely related object

Personification

Giving nonhuman things human characteristics

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration