AP English Language Vocabulary

Ad Hominem Argument

Attacks the opposing speaker or another person rather than addressing the issues at hand

Allegory

Fictional work in which the characters represent ideas or concepts

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words

Allusion

A reference, usually oblique or faint, to another thing, idea, or person

Ambiguity

Uncertain or indefinite; subject to more than one interpretation

Analogy

The correspondence or resemblance between two things that are essentially different

Anecdote

A short story used to illustrate a point the author is making

Antecedent

Every pronoun refers back to a previous noun or pronoun

Antithesis

An opposition or contrast of ideas that is often expressed in balanced phrases or clauses

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which an absent person or personified object is addressed by a speaker

Appositive

A word or phrase that follow a noun or pronoun for emphasis or clarity

Assonance

A type of internal rhyming in which vowel souds are repeated

Asyndeton

When the conjunctions (such as "and" or "but") that would normally connect a string of words, phrases, or clauses are omitted from a sentence

Atmosphere

The emotional feeling -or mood- of a place, scene, or event

Attitude

The feelings of a particular speaker or piece of writing toward a subject, person, or idea

Contrast

Oppositions

Colloquial Language

Slang or common language that is informal

Connotative

The interpretive level of a word based on associated images rather than the literal meaning

Deductive Argument

The process of moving from a general rule to a specific example

Diction

An author's choice of words

Didactic

Writing which has the purpose of teaching or instructing

Elegy

A work that expresses sorrow

Ellipses

Indicated by a series of three periods; shows that words have been omitted

Ethos

Refers to generally ethics, or values

Euphemism

A mild or pleasant sounding expression that substitutes for a harsh, indelicate, or simply less pleasant idea

Exposition

Writing or speech that is organized to explain

Figurative Language

All uses of language that imply an imaginative comparison

Foreshadowing

A purposeful hint placed in a work of literature to suggest what may occur later in the narrative

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used to achieve emphasis

Imagery

A mental picture that is conjured by specific words and associations

Inductive Argument

Creating a case by providing specific examples and drawing a conclusion based on the evidence they provide

Irony

When a situation produces and outcome that is the opposite of what is expected

Juxtaposition

When two contrasting things are placed next to each other for comparison

Logos

The use of reason as a controlling principle in an argument

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared directly

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it

Mood

The prevailing or dominant feeling of a work, scene, or event

Onomatopoeia

An effect created by words that have sounds that reinforce their meaning

Oxymoron

Two contradictory words in one expression

Paradox

A seeming contradiction that in fact reveals some truth

Parallelism

A literary technique that relies on the use of the same syntactical structures

Parody

An effort to ridicule or make fun of a literary work or an author by writing a comic imitation of the work

Pathos

A sympathetic feeling of pity or compassion evoked by an artistic work

Periodic Sentence

Presents the main clause at the end of the sentence, for emphasis

Persona

The character created by the voice and narration of the speaker of a text

Personification

A figure of speech in which ideas or objects are described as having human qualities or personalities

Point of View

The particular perspective from which a story is told

Pun

A play on words

Repetition

The reiteration of a word or phrase for emphasis

Rhetoric

The art and logic of a written or spoken argument to persuade, to analyze, or to expose

Rhetorical Strategy

The way an author organizes words, sentences, and overall argument in order to achieve a particular purpose

Rhetorical Devices

The specific language tools that an author uses to carry out a rhetorical strategy (diction, imagery, or syntax)

Rhetorical Question

A question that is asked for the sake of argument

Satire

To ridicule or mock ideas, persons, events, or doctrines

Selection of Detail

The specific words, incidents, images, or events the author uses to create a scene or narrative

Simile

A commonly used figure of speech that compares one thing with another using the words "like" or "as"

Speaker

The narrator of a story, poem, or drama

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning in which pieces of evidence are used to create a new conclusion

Symbol

Something that stands for something else

Synonym

A word that has the same, or nearly the same, meaning as another word

Syntax

The way words are arranged in a sentence

Tension

A feeling excitement and expectation the reader or audience feels because of the conflict, mood, or atmosphere of the work

Theme

The central idea

Tone

Attitude

Understatement

When an author assigns less significance to an event or thing than it deserves

Zeugma

When a word is used with two adjacent words in the same construction, but only makes literal sense with one of them