ALL AP LANG TERMS

Allegory

Character or story symbolically represents an abstract idea

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more words

Allusion

Reference to something commonly known

Ambiguity

Multiple meanings, intentional or unintentional; unclear

Analogy

A direct, extended comparison

Anecdote

Short narrative detailing an specific event or episode

Antecedent

Word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun

Aphorism

Terse statement proving a general truth

Atmosphere

Emotional mood created by a literary work

Clause

Grammatical unit with a subject and verb

Colloquial

Use of slang or informalities in speech or writing

Coherence

Composition is arranged in a clear and intelligible way

Connotation

Non-literal meaning of a word

Denotation

Literal meaning of a word

Diction

Refers to the writer’s word choices

Didactic

Tone with the primary goal of teaching

Euphemism

More agreeable or less offensive substitute

Exposition

Introductory material, meant to explain something

Extended Metaphor

Indirect comparison drawn out over course of a text

Figurative Language

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning

Figure of Speech

Device used to produce figurative language

Generic Conventions

Describes traditions that are true to literary categories

Genre

Category into which literary work fits

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Imagery

Sensory details used to describe, arouse emotion, show abstractions

Inference

To draw a reasonable conclusion from information

Invective

Emotionally violent, verbal attack with abusive language

Irony

Contrast between what is said and what is meant/true

Loose sentence

The main idea comes first followed by dependent units

Metaphor

Comparison of unlike things to suggest similarity

Mood

Verbal units of speaker’s attitude; emotional aura

Narrative

Telling of a story or account of an event

Onomatopoeia

Natural sounds imitated in sounds of words

Oxymoron

Contradictory terms put together

Paradox

Self-contradictory statement of truth

Parallelism

Repetition of grammatical structure

Parody

Imitation for comic effect or ridicule

Pedantic

Tone is overly academic, bookish

Periodic Sentence

Meaning comes in a main clause at the end

Personification

When an author endows non-human with human qualities

Point of view

Perspective from which a story is told

Predicate Adjective

Describes the subject, follows a linking verb

Predicate Nominative

A noun that follows a linking verb to rename the subject

Prose

In fiction and nonfiction, length of line determined by printer

Repetition

Duplication of language used for emphasis

Rhetorical modes

The ways we can effectively communicate through language (narration, description, exposition, argumentation)

Sarcasm

Bitter language, often ironic, meant to hurt or ridicule

Satire

Work that targets human vices to criticize

Semantics

Study of the meaning of words

Style

Evaluation of the sum of choices an author makes

Subject Complement

Category for both predicate nominative and predicate adjective

Subordinate Clause

Subject and verb pairing that cannot stand alone

Symbol

Anything that represents itself or strands for something else

Rhetoric

Principals of governing the art of writing

Syntax

The way an author chooses to group words into phrases, clauses and sentences; similar to diction

Theme

Central message

Thesis

Sentence stating purpose

Tone

Author’s attitude

Transition

Word or phrase linking different ideas

Asyndeton

Removing needed conjunctions

Ex) We looked for bread, milk, eggs

Polysyndeton

Adding unnecessary conjunctions

Ex) We looked for bread and milk and eggs

Understatement

Ironic minimizing of a fact

Undertone

A tone that is hidden or lies beneath the over tone of author

Unreliable narrator

Untrustworthy or naive teller of a story

Wit

Intellectually amusing language

Chiasmus

When two or more parallel phrases are inverted

Ex) “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”

Hypophora

Raising and then answering a question

Juxtaposition

Placing dissimilar topics side by side

Anthropomorphism

Direct application of human traits to non-human things, literally

Anaphora

Repetition of word or phrase at the start of successive clauses

Ex) “I have a dream..I have a dream”

Litotes

Deliberate use of double negative

Ex) You’re not wrong

Anachronism

When something is placed in the wrong time period

Rhetorical Appeals

Ethos (ethics), pathos (emotions), logos (logic)