AP Lang Vocab

Allegory

Allegory

A narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrates multiple levels of meaning and significance. Often a universal symbol or personified abstraction.

Alliteration

The sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually in closely proximate stressed syllables.

Allusion

A literary, historical, religious, or mythological reference in a literary work.

Anaphora

The regular repetition of the same words or phrases at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas.

Aphorism

A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief.

Appeals to…authority, emotion, logic

Rhetorical arguments in which the speaker claims to be an authority or expert in a field, or attempts to play upon the emotions, or appeals to the use of reason.

Apostrophe

An address or invocation to something inanimate.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words.

Asyndeton

Syntactical structure in which the conjunctions are omitted in a series, usually producing more rapid prose.

Attitude

The sense expressed by the tone of voice or the mood of a piece of writing; the author’s feelings toward his or her subject, characters, events, or theme. It might even be his or her feelings for the reader.

Begging the question

An argumentative ploy where the arguer sidesteps the question or the conflict, evades or ignores the real question.

Canon

That which has been accepted as authentic.

Chiasmus

A figure of speech and generally a syntactical structure wherein the order of the terms in the first half of a parallel clause is reversed in the second.

Colloquial

A term identifying the diction of the common, ordinary folks, especially in a specific region or area.

Conceit

A comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem.

Connotation

The implied, suggested, or underlying meaning of a word or phrase.

Consonance

The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in intervening vowels.

Critique

An assessment or analysis of something, such as a passage of writing, for determining what it is, what its limitations are, and how it conforms to the standard of the genre.

Deductive reasoning

The method of argument in which specific statements and conclusions are drawn from general principles: movement from the general to the specific.

Dialect

The language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group.

Diction

The specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect.

Didactic

Writing or speech that has an instructive purpose or lesson; often associated with a dry, pompous presentation.

Elegy

A poem or prose that laments, or meditates upon the death of a person.

Epistrophe

In rhetoric, the repetition of a phrase at the end of successive sentences.

Epitaph

Writing in praise of a dead person, most often inscribed upon a headstone.

Ethos

In rhetoric, the appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator.

Eulogy

A speech or written passage in praise of a person; an oration in honor of a deceased person.

Euphemism

An indirect, kinder, or less harsh or hurtful way of expressing unpleasant information.

Exposition

The interpretation or analysis of a text. Also, the opening section of a narrative or dramatic structure in which characters, setting, theme, and conflict can be revealed.

Extended metaphor

A series of comparisons within a piece of writing. If they are consistently one concept, this is also known as a conceit.

Figurative language

Language with levels of meaning expressed through figures of speech such as personification, metaphor, litote, etc.

Flashback

An earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narration.

Genre

A type or class of literature, such as epic, narrative, poetry, biography, history.

Homily

A sermon, but more contemporary uses include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual life.

Hyperbole

Overstatement characterized by exaggerated language, usually to make a point or draw attention.

Imagery

Any sensory detail or evocation in a work to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object. Involves any or all of the five senses.

Inductive reasoning

The method of reasoning or argument in which general statements and conclusions are drawn from specific principles: movement from the specific to the general.

Inference

A conclusion or proposition arrived at by considering facts, observations, or some other specific data. Looking at the clues, learning the facts.

Irony

The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The intended meaning is often the opposite of what is stated, often suggesting light sarcasm.

Isocolon

Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only and grammatical structure, but also in length.

Jargon

Specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group.

Juxtaposition

The location of one thing adjacent to another to create an effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose.

Litote

A figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement.

Loose sentence

A long sentence that starts with its main clause, which is followed by several dependent clauses and modifying phrases.

Metaphor

One thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or an analogy. An implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another, without the use of like or as.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name or designate something.

Mode of Discourse

The way in which information is presented in written or spoken form. Narration, description, process analysis, and cause and effect are all types of this.

Mood

A feeling or ambience resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator’s attitude and point of view. It is a “feeling” that establishes the atmosphere in a work of literature or other discourse.

Narrative

A mode of discourse that tells a story of some sort and it is based on sequences of connected events, usually presented in a straightforward, chronological framework.

Onomatopoeia

A word capturing or approximating the sound of what is described. The purpose of these words is to make a passage more effective for the reader or listener.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements.

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory but may probably be true.

Parallel Structure

The use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts. In prose, recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that their ideas are equal in importance.

Pathos

That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow. In argument or persuasion it tends to be the evocation of pity.

Periodic Sentence

A long sentence in which the main clause is not completed until the end.

Personification

Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by endowing it with human features or qualities.

Point of View

The relation in which narrator/author stands to a subject of discourse. Requires the reader to establish the historical perspective of what is being said.

Prose

The ordinary form of written language without metrical structure in contrast to verse and poetry.

Realism

Attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail.

Rebuttal

An argument technique wherein opposing arguments are anticipated and countered.

Rhetoric

The art of using words to persuade in writing or speaking.

Rhetorical Question

A question that is asked simply for the sake of stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered.

Sarcasm

A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually critical. Can be light, and gently poke fun at something, or it can be harsh and mean.

Satire

A literary work that holds up human feelings to ridicule and censure.

Simile

A direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, using the words like or as.

Style

The manner in which a writer combines and arranges words, shapes ideas, and utilizes syntax and structure.

Symbolism

Use of a person, place, thing, event, or pattern that figuratively represents or “stands for” something else.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part signifies a whole.

Syntax

The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. Basically, sentence structure.

Theme

The central or dominant idea or focus of a work. The statement a passage makes about its subject.

Tone

The attitude the narrator/author has toward the subject and theme. Based on particular stylistic devices employed by the author.

Voice

The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of the words of the story; the speaker’s or narrator’s particular “take” on an idea based on a particular passage and how all the elements of the style of the piece come together to express his/her feelings.

Zeugma

A grammatically correct construction in which a word, usually a verb or adjective, is applied to two or more nouns without being repeated.