terms tests

pedantic

an adjective that describes words, phrases, or a general tone that is overly scholarly, academic or bookish

point of view

this is the perspective from which something is told

polysyndeton

deliberately using many conjunctions to join items in a sentence to create an overwhelming effect. A passage from The Crossing that uses polysyndeton for effect is “He got the fire going and lifted the wolf from the sheet and took the sheet to the creek and crouched in the dark and washed the blood out of it and brought it back and he cut forked sticks from a mountain hackberry and drove them into the ground with a rock and hung the sheet on a trestle pole…” (opposite of asyndeton)

prose

one of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction in all its forms because they are written in ordinary language and most closely resemble everyday speech

satire

a work that targets human vices and follies, or social institutions and conventions, for reform or ridicule. Satire is seen as a style of writing and when done well, is is often humorous as well as insightful about the human condition

jargon

the specific words or phrases used in a trade, occupation, or field of study, such as sports jargon, medical jargon, police jargon, etc. These phrases can be confusing to outsiders.

metonymy [ mi

A Greek term meaning “changed label,” a metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. “The White House declared” rather than “The President declared” is one example.

modes of discourse/rhetorical modes

this term encompasses the four traditional categories of written text. Exposition (writing intended to inform), narration (writing that tells a story or relays events), description (writing that creates sensory images) and argumentation (writing that takes a stand on an issue and supports it with evidence and logical reasoning) are the four categories.

onomatopoeia

a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. “Buzz,” “hiss,” “hum,” ect. If you identify examples of onomatopoeia in the multiple choice passage, note the effect.

parody

a work that closely imitates the style or content or another work with the aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. Readers must fully understand the work being parodied for the newer work to be appreciated.

euphemism

from the Greek word for “good speech,” a euphemism is a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts. A euphemism may be used to adhere to standards of social or political correctness, or to add humor or ironic understatement. “Earthly remains” rather than “corpse” is an example of euphemism.

genre

the major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama, but there are also subdivisions of genre. On the AP Lang & Comp exam, expect the majority of the passages to be from the following genres: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, as well as political, scientific, and nature writing.

hyperbole

a figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. Hyperbole can have a comic or serious effect. Often hyperbole produces irony at the same time.

infer

to draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. When a multiple choice question asks for an inference to be drawn from the passage, the most direct, most reasonable inference is the safest answer choice. Note that if the answer choice is something that is directly stated in the passage, it is not inferred and is therefore, the incorrect answer.

invective

an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language.

connotation

the nonliteral, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. Connotations may involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes.

denotation

the strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color.

diction

related to style, diction refers to the writer’s particular word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. For the AP Lang exam, you should be able to describe an author’s diction and understand the ways in which diction can complement the writer's purpose. Diction, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary devices, and so on, creates a writer’s style.

didactic

from the Greek, “didactic” literally means “instructive.” Didactic works have the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially teaching moral or ethical principles.

epistrophe

Deliberately repeating ending clauses or phrases in sentences to create effect. For example, President Lyndon B. Johnson used epistrophe that urged people to come together for a common cause when he addressed Congress in 1965: “There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.” Anaphora is its opposite.

apostrophe

a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love, or an inanimate object. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. William Wordsworth addresses John Milton as he writes, “Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee,” and John Donne speaks directly to death when he writes “Death, be not proud.”

asyndeton

a deliberate choice to eliminate conjunctions that would normally join phrases or clauses. It creates speed and urgency. For example, “I came. I saw. I conquered.” has more force than “I came, I saw, and then I conquered.”

atmosphere

the emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author’s choice of objects that are described. Even such elements as description of weather can contribute to the atmosphere. Frequently the atmosphere foreshadows events.

clause

a grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. An independent/main clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent/subordinate clause cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause. “Because I practiced hard (dependent clause) my AP scores were high (independent clause).”

colloquialism

slang or informality in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable in formal writing, colloquialisms give language a conversational, familiar tone.

Ad hominem argument

from Latin meaning “to or against the person”; this is an argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason, to feeling rather than intellect because it involves attacking or praising the person making an argument, rather than discussing the argument itself. This practice is fallacious because the personal character of an individual is logically irrelevant to the truth or falseness of the argument itself.

allegory

using a character and/or story elements symbolically to represent a distraction in addition to the literal meaning. In some allegories for example, the author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction such as hope or freedom. (Pearl in The Scarlet Letter personified and symbolized adultery in addition to being a character. Mistress Hibbins symbolized sin.) The allegorical meaning usually deals with a moral truth or a generalization about human existence. Allegory is more commonly used in fiction than in nonfiction.

alliteration

the repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words. It can be practical to analyze alliteration as a technique when writing the rhetorical analysis essay because repetition caused by alliteration can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, and/or supply a musical sound or rhythm to a passage.

allusion

a direct or indirect reference to something that is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, work of art, place, etc. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, or mythical. A single work may use multiple layers of allusion.

ambiguity

the multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. Ambiguity can include a sense of uncertainty that a work presents.

analogy

a similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. An analogy can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with, or pointing out its similarity to, something more familiar. Analogies can make writing more vivid, imaginative and intellectually engaging.

anaphora

deliberately repeating beginning clauses or phrases in sentences to create effect. For example, Winston Churchill claimed, “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost shall be.” His repetition of “we shall” creates a rhetorical effect of solidarity and determination.

anecdote

a short, narrative account of an amusing, unusual, revealing, or interesting event. A good anecdote has a single, definite point and is used to clarify abstract points, to humanize individuals so readers can relate to them, or to create a memorable image in a reader’s mind.

antecedent

the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. The antecedent of a pronoun will be a noun. The MC section of the AP Lang exam will occasionally ask for the antecedent of a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences.

aphorism

a terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth or moral principle. (If the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered to be a proverb.) An aphorism can be a memorable summation of an author’s point.

subordinate clause

like all clauses, this group of words contains both a subject and a verb, but unlike the independent clause, the subordinate clause cannot stand alone because it does not express a complete thought.

symploce

a combination of anaphora and epistrophe, symploce occurs when words or phrases are repeated at both the beginning and at the ending of clauses or verses. At a prayer service in 1995 President Clinton used symploce when he said, “Where there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. Where there is violence, let us stand up and talk against it. 

syntax

he arrangement or order or grammatical elements in a sentence; when analyzing syntax consider such elements as the length or brevity of sentences, unusual sentence constructions, the sentence patterns used, and the kind of sentences the author uses, and then determine how the choices work well for the author’s purpose

parallelism

grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. Parallelism works as an organizing force to attract the reader’s attention, add emphasis and organization, or simply provide a pleasing musical rhythm. The many types of repetition we have learned this year help to create parallelism.

Cumulative

starts with a main, independent clause (the core idea) and then adds descriptive details through modifying phrases or clauses

Periodic sentence

delays the main idea (independent clause) until the end, starting with subordinate clauses or phrases to build suspense, emphasis, or dramatic effect, making the final point more impactful.

Inverted Sentence

reverse the typical subject-verb order (Subject-Verb-Object) to place the verb before the subject for emphasis, formality, or dramatic effect

imperative.

gives a direct command, request, instruction, or advice, telling someone to do something

Complex sentence.

combines one independent clause (a complete thought) with at least one dependent clause