AP Lang Summer Vocab

Abstract Language

Language describing ideas and qualities

Allegory

A narrative in which character, action, and setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of a story. The underlying meaning usually has a moral, social, religious, or political significance.

Allusion

A brief reference to a person, event, or work of art, real or fictitious.

Analogy

A comparison to a directly parallel case; the process of drawing a comparison between two things based on a partial similarity of like features.

Anaphora

the same expression is repeated at the beginning of 2 or more consecutive lines.

Anecdote

A short, interesting story used to support a point.

Antecedent

The word to which a pronoun refers.

Antithesis

A contrast in language to bring out a contrast in ideas. 

Aphorism

A concise statement of principle, truth, or opinion. Often found in fields like law, politics, and art

Bias

A subjective opinion or predisposition.

Call to action

Writing that urges readers to take action or promote change.

Claim of Definition

claims arguing for what something means (or doesn’t mean).

Claim of Policy

claims advocating courses of action that should or should not be undertaken.

Claim of Value

Claims involving opinions, attitudes, and subjective evaluations.

Cliche

 A timeworn expression that through overuse has lost its power to evoke concrete images.

Colloquialism

words characteristic to informal, slang-ish, or familiar conversation.

Concrete Language

Language describing specific, observable things.

Connotation

The emotional implications of a word.

Denotation

The specific, exact meaning of a word.

Diction

choice of words in a work and an important element of style.

Ethos

Appealing to shared values of the audience.

Euphemism

Substituting a mild or indirect expression for a harsh one.

Generalization

When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts that a claim is certain rather than probable.

Idiom

An expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.

Irony

The discrepancy between appearance and reality: verbal, situational, dramatic.

Juxtaposition

Placing two ideas side by side or close together, to compare/contrast

Logos

Appealing to logical reasoning and sound evidence.

Mood

 The overall atmosphere of a work and the mood is how that atmosphere makes a reader feel

Motif

Recurrent images, words, objects, phrases or actions that unify a work.

Oxymoron

A self contradictory combination of words.

Paradox

a phrase or statement that while seeming contradictory or absurd may actually be well founded or true. Used to attract attention or to secure emphasis.

Parallelism

when the arrangement of parts of a sentence is similarly phrased or constructed 

Parody

Exaggerated imitation of a serious work (for humor).

Pathos

Evoking and manipulating emotions.

Persona

The character the speaker portrays.

Refutation

Addressing relevant, opposing arguments.

Repetition

A thing repeated for rhetorical or literary effect.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked for effect, not an answer.

Satire

Writing genre critiquing through humor or sarcasm.

Sentence Types

Declarative (makes a statement), Interrogative (asks a question), Imperative (gives a command), Exclamatory (makes an interjection).

Syntax

how a sentence is constructed; the phrasing and grammar of a sentence.

Thesis

The central claim and overall purpose of a work.

Tone

The writer's chosen voice and attitude.

Qualifier

A statement indicating the strength of an argument.

Imagery

visually descriptive language

Hyperbole

exaggerated phrases not meant to be taken literally

Simile

comparison through a figure of speech using ‘like’ or ‘as’