Ap Language and Composition Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Devices

Active Voice

The subject of the sentence performs the action. This is a more direct and preferred style of writing in most cases.

Ad hominem

Latin for 'against the man'. Personally attacking your opponents instead of their arguments. It is an argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason, feeling rather than intellect.

Adage

A folk saying with a lesson.

Allegory

A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.

Allusion

An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text, although it can be other things commonly known, such as plays, songs, historical events) with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.

Alter-ego

A character that is used by the author to speak the author's own thoughts; when an author speaks directly to the audience through a character.

Analogy

A comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row.

Anecdote

A brief recounting of a relevant episode. Anecdotes are often inserted into fictional or non fictional texts as a way of developing a point or injecting humor.

Antecedent

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

Antithesis

Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.

Aphorism

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

Appeal to authority

The claim that because somebody famous supports an idea, the idea must be right. This fallacy is often used in advertising.

Appeal to emotion

An attempt to replace a logical argument with an appeal to the audience's emotions. Common emotional appeals are an appeal to sympathy, an appeal to revenge, an appeal to patriotism.

Appeal to the bandwagon

The claim, as evidence for an idea, that many people believe it, or used to believe it, or do it. In the 1800's there was a widespread belief that bloodletting cured sickness.

Appositive

A word or group of words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning. "Bob, the lumber yard worker, spoke with Judy, an accountant from the city."

Argument

A piece of reasoning with one or more premises and a conclusion.

Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle

The relationships, in any piece of writing, between the writer, the audience, and the subject.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

Bad analogy

Claiming that two situations are highly similar, when they aren't.

Balanced sentence

A sentence in which two parallel elements are set off against each other like equal weights on a scale. Both parts are parallel grammatically. "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." Also called parallelism.

Chiasmus

When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed.

Classicism

Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world; sticks to traditional themes and structures.

Clause

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent, or subordinate clause cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause.

Cliche thinking

Using as evidence a well-known saying, as if it is proven, or as if it has no exceptions.

Colloquial

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation. A 'colloquialism' is a common or familiar type of saying, similar to an adage or an aphorism.

Comic relief

When a humorous scene is inserted into a serious story, in order to lighten the mood somewhat.

Complex sentence

Contains only one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Compound sentence

Contains at least two independent clauses but no dependent clauses.

Conceit

A particularly elaborate extended metaphor.

Concession

Accepting part or all of an opposing viewpoint to strengthen one's own argument.

Conclusion

The end result of the argument - the main point being made.

Conditional Statement

An if-then statement consisting of an antecedent and a consequent.

Connotation

Rather than the dictionary definition (denotation), the associations suggested by a word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.

Consonance

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.

Contradiction

Occurs when two mutually exclusive propositions are asserted.

Counterexample

An example that opposes a generalization, thus falsifying it.

Cumulative sentence

(also called a loose sentence) When the writer begins with an independent clause, then adds subordinate elements. "He doubted whether he could ever again appear before an audience, his confidence broken, his limbs shaking, his collar wet with perspiration."

Declarative sentence

States an idea. It does not give a command or request, nor does it ask a question. "The ball is round."

Deductive Argument

An argument where the premises guarantee the truth of the conclusion.

Denotation

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style. Different types of words have significant effects on meaning.

Didactic

A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience knows something that the character doesn't.

Ellipsis

The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author.

End rhyme

When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.

Ethos

An appeal to credibility, convincing the audience of the author's authority.

Euphemism

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

Extended Metaphor

When the metaphor is continued later in the written work.

Fallacy

An attractive but unreliable piece of reasoning.

False cause

Assuming that because two things happened, the first one caused the second one. (Sequence is not causation.)

Figurative Language

Writing that is not meant to be taken literally.

Foreshadowing

When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.

Free verse

Poetry that doesn't have much meter or rhyme.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits.

Gothic

Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.

Hasty generalization

A generalization based on too little or unrepresentative data.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration.

Iambic pentameter

Poetry that is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

Idiom

A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.

Imagery

Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind.

Imperative sentence

Issues a command. "Kick the ball."

Inductive argument

An argument in which it is thought that the premises provide reasons supporting the probable truth of the conclusion.

Internal rhyme

When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within a single line.

Interrogative sentence

Sentences incorporating interrogative pronouns (what, which, who, whom, and whose). "To whom did you kick the ball?"

Invective

A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

Jargon

The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

Litotes

A particular form of understatement, generated by denying the opposite of the statement which otherwise would be used.

Logos

An appeal to logic, persuading through reasoning and valid arguments.

Metaphor

Making an implied comparison, not using 'like,' 'as,' or other such words.

Meter

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

Metonymy

Replacing an actual word or idea with a related word or concept.

Mood

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction).

Motif

A recurring idea in a piece of literature.

Non Sequitur

A conclusion that does not follow from its premises; an invalid argument.

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word which imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.

Oxymoron

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox.

Pacing

The speed or tempo of an author's writing.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

Parallelism

Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns.

Parenthetical Idea

Parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence.

Parody

An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes.

Pathos

An appeal to emotions, persuading by affecting the reader's feelings.

Periodic sentence

When the main idea is not completed until the end of the sentence. The writer begins with subordinate elements and postpones the main clause. "His confidence broken, his limbs shaking, his collar wet with perspiration, he doubted whether he could ever again appear before an audience."

Persona

The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.

Personification

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.

Poetic device

A device used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words, sentences or lines.

Polysyndeton

When a writer creates a list of items which are all separated by conjunctions.

Premise

Statements offered as reasons to support a conclusion.

Pun

When a word that has two or more meanings is used in a humorous way.

Rhetoric

The art of effective communication.

Rhetorical Question

Question not asked for information but for effect.

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of a poem's end rhymes.

Romanticism

Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature.

Sarcasm

A generally bitter comment that is ironically or satirically worded.

Satire

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect.

Sentence

A sentence is group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.