AP Lang Task Cards

1 Cacophonous Language

1 Cacophonous Language

An example of this type of language: “...Power’s script, - wound, bobbin-bound, refined- / Is stopped to the slap of belts on booming spools, spurred / Into the bulging bouillon, harnessed jelly of the stars.”--Hart Crane

2 Euphonious Language

An example of this type of language: “The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.” --Alfred Lord Tennyson

3 Colloquial Language

An example of this type of language: “Once he locked me in and was gone three days. It was dreadful lonesome.”--Mark Twain

4 Assonance

An example of this sound device: “Old age should burn and rave at close of day; / Rage, rage, against the dying of the light...” --Dylan Thomas

5 Alliteration

An example of this sound device:“Let us go forth to lead the land we love.” --John F. Kennedy

6 Consonance

An example of this sound device: “Let the boy try along this bayonet blade / How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood...” --Wilfred Owen

7 Denotative Diction

An example of this type of diction: “The wine was good. I drank much of it." --Ernest Hemingway

8 Connotative Diction

An example of this type of diction: “All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances...” --William Shakespeare

9 Asyndeton

An example of this syntactic feature aside from parallelism: “We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” --John F. Kennedy

10 Anaphora

An example of this syntactic feature: “Cannon to the right of them, / Cannon to the left of them, / Cannon in front of them...” --Alfred Lord Tennyson

11 Inversion

An example of this syntactic feature: "Yet certain am I of the spot." --Emily Dickinson

12 Parallelism

An example of this syntactic feature: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...” --Charles Dickinson

13 Antithesis

An example of this literary technique: “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” --William Shakespeare

14 Allusion

An example of this literary technique aside from metaphor: "His eyes followed the woman across the room, even though he knew she was forbidden fruit."

15 Apostrophe

An example of this literary technique: "Then come, sweet death, and rid me of this grief." --Christopher Marlowe

16 Euphemism

An example of this literary technique: “A terrorist's victim, bombs in a rented truck, ... / An innocent product of collateral damage.” --Joseph Wassersug

17 Imagery

An example of this literary technique: “It was a rimy morning, and very damp... I saw the damp lying on the bare hedges and spare grass,.... On every rail and gate, wet lay clammy...” --Charles Dickens

18 Hyperbole

An example of this literary technique: “At that time Bogota was a remote, lugubrious city where an insomniac rain had been falling since the beginning of the 16th century.”--Gabriel Garcia Márquez

19 Irony

An example of this literary technique aside from paradox: “We must arm ourselves to prevent war.”

20 Litotes/Understatement

An example of this literary technique: “One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day.”

21 Rhetorical Question

An example of this literary technique: "Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans?” --Frederick Douglass

22 Metaphor

An example of this literary technique: “For ever since that time you went away / I've been a rabbit burrowed in the wood...” --Maurice Sceve

23 Juxtaposition

An example of this literary technique: From Romeo and Juliet, the contrast of the old nurse and the young Juliet.

24 Oxymoron

Examples of this figurative language: "military intelligence" or Milton's "darkness visible".

25 Paradox

An example of this literary technique: "There is nothing that fails like success."--G.K. Chesterton

26 Personification

An example of this literary technique aside from imagery:"Outside, the sun springs down on the rough and tumbling town. It runs through the hedges of Goosegog Lane, cuffing the birds to sing.” --Dylan Thomas

27 Simile

An example of this literary technique aside from personification: “Death lies on her like an untimely frost.” --William Shakespeare

28 Synecdoche

An example of this literary technique:“One would have thought that we would find willing ears on the part of the newspapers." -- Lee De Forest

29 Begging the Question Fallacy

Identify the type of logical fallacy:“Smoking is injurious to your health because it harms your body.”

30 Ad Hominem Fallacy

Identify the type of logical fallacy: “He’s an awful politician; he’s a fraud and a liar and should never be re-elected.”

31 False Dilemma Fallacy

Identify the type of logical fallacy: “People hate politics because politicians often lie.”

32 Generalization Fallacy

Identify the type of logical fallacy: “Only motivated athletes become champions.”

33 Ad Populum Fallacy

Identify the type of logical fallacy: “Most students agree with block scheduling; you should support it too!”

34 Appeal to Altruism

Identify the type of appeal: “If we want to slow global warming, we need to be mindful of our behaviors; we need to recycle more, drive less and seek out alternative energies.”

35 Appeal to Ethos

Identify the Socratic appeal: “But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” --Martin Luther King, Jr.

36 Appeal to Logos

Identify the Socratic appeal:"In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: 1) Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive. 2) Negotiation. 3) Self-purification and 4) Direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham.” --Martin Luther King, Jr.

37 Appeal to Pathos

Identify the Socratic appeal:“We stood all alone a year ago... All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished... But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in...” --Winston Churchill

38 Narrative

This rhetorical mode tells a story, usually based on personal experience.

39 Cause/Effect

This rhetorical mode describes events and identifies or implies causal relationship to other events, people, etc.

40 Description

This rhetorical mode explains a topic, usually with considerable detail.

41 Compare/Contrast

This rhetorical mode describes similarities or differences between ideas, objects, places or events.

42 Definition

This rhetorical mode introduces a subject then provides a classification of the subject.

43 Persuasive

This rhetorical mode attempts to convince the reader to do or believe something by making a strong claim and providing evidence for it.

44 Division

This rhetorical mode takes a subject and analyzes its parts.