AP Language and Composition Vocabulary Review

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions in AP Language and Composition.

aesthetic effect

The pleasure, sense of beauty, emotion, or lack of such that readers, speakers, or listeners derive from texts.

allegory

The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction.

allusion

A direct or indirect reference to something presumed commonly known.

analogy

A similarity or comparison between two different things.

anaphora

A device of repetition where the same expression is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines or sentences.

antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

aphorism

A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or moral principle.

appeal

One of the three strategies for persuading audiences: logos, pathos, and ethos.

apostrophe

A figure of speech that addresses an absent or imaginary person.

asyndeton

A syntactical structure where conjunctions are omitted in a series.

bias

Any belief, ideology, value, or prejudice that inhibits impartial judgment.

chiasmus

A figure of speech where the order of terms in one clause is reversed in the second.

cliché

An old, tired expression that writers should avoid.

colloquial/colloquialism

The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing.

complex sentence

A sentence with one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

compound sentence

A sentence with two or more independent clauses.

conceit

A fanciful expression, usually an extended metaphor, making a surprising analogy.

connotation

The non-literal, associative meaning of a word.

deductive reasoning

Reasoning that begins with a general principle to conclude a specific instance.

denotation

The strict, literal dictionary definition of a word.

didactic

Literally means teaching; works aimed at instructing others.

engage

to pique and maintain interest of the reader throughout the reading of a text

evidence

The idea (facts, statistics) that support an argument

“Whats wrong with Animals Right?”

flow

When ideas are presented in a fluent, seamless, logical, and/or meaningful without distraction or interruption that impede the reader understanding the main point or argument.