AP Language List: Terms

Alliteration

The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or syllables.

Allusion

An indirect reference, often to another text or an historic event.

Analogy

An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.

Anaphora

The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

Anecdote

A short account of an interesting event.

Antecedent

The noun to which a later pronoun refers.

Antithesis

Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas.

Aphorism

A short, astute statement of a general truth.

Archaic diction

The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.

Asyndeton

Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses.

Attitude

The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.

Audience

One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.

Authority

A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.

Bias

Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.

Colloquial/ism

An informal or conversational use of language.

Common ground

Shared beliefs, values, or positions.

Complex sentence

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

Concession

A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.

Connotation

That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning (see denotation).

Coordination

Grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction such as and, or but.

Context

The factors around the text at its inception, including the time, place, history, etc.

Counterargument

A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.

Declarative sentence

A sentence that makes a statement.

Deduction

Reasoning from general to specific.

Denotation

The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.

Diction

Word choice.

Epigram

A brief witty statement.

Ethos

A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos).

Exigence

The moment or event that motivates the speaker to write or speak about an issue, topic, or situation.

Figurative language

The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.

Figure of speech

An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.

Imagery

Vivid use of language that evokes a reader��s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).

Imperative sentence

A sentence that requests or commands.

Induction

Reasoning from specific to general.

Inversion

A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject.

Irony

A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.

Logos

A Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos).

Metaphor

A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.

Metonymy

Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.

Parallelism

The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.

Parody

A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.

Pathos

A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).

Persona

The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.

Personification

Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.

Polysyndeton

The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.

Premise

Major, minor Two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of a syllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise.

Propaganda

A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.

Purpose

One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.

Refute

To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.

Rhetoric

The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available means of persuasion.”

Rhetorical modes

Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.

Rhetorical question

A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.

Rhetorical triangle

 A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience.

Satire

Satire: An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.

Scheme

A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect

Sentence patterns

The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

Simile

A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.

Simple sentence

A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause.

Speaker

A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.

Straw man

A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position; misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent’s position.

Style

The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.

Subordinate clause

 Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause.

Subordination

The dependence of one syntactic element on another in a sentence.

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).

Syntax

Sentence structure.

Synthesize

Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.

Thesis

The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.

Thesis statement:

A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.

Tone

The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.

Topic sentence

A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph’s idea and often unites it with the work’s thesis.

Trope

Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech.

Understatement

Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.

Voice

 In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.

Zeugma

A construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs—often in different, sometimes incongruent ways—two or more words in a sentence.