AP lit quiz #2

DIALECT

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area.

CONCEIT

An elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different. Often an extended metaphor.

FABLE

A very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about how to succeed in life.

FLASHBACK

A scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

SITUATIONAL IRONY

takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.

CHIASMUS

In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed. Coleridge: “Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike.” In prose this is called anti

FORESHADOWING

The use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot.

COLLOQUIALISM

A word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations. Often regional. Example: “I’m not a Yooper; I’m from St. Germain.”

EXTERNAL CONFLICT

can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person and a whole society.

INTERNAL CONFLICT

involving opposing forces within a person’s mind.

COMEDY

In general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by the main character or characters.

DRAMATIC IRONY

is so called because it is often used on stage. A character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better.

IRONY

A discrepancy between appearances and reality.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms.

IMAGERY

The use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person , a thing, a place, or an experience.

CLICHE

is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. Avoid clichés like the plague. (That cliché is intended.)

DICTION

A speaker or writer’s choice of words.

HYPERBOLE

A figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. “If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times….”

VERBAL IRONY

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.

CONFLICT

The struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story.

INVERSION

The reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

CONNOTATION

The associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.

FOIL

A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.

FARCE

A type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are involved in silly, far-fetched situations.