AP Language Midterm Terms

Alliteration

A repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words.

Allusion

A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art.

Antimetabole

Repetition of words in successive clauses where one follows in reverse syntactic order.

Anadiplosis

The repetition of the last word or words of a preceding clause at the beginning of the following clause.

Anaphora

The repetition of the same word or groups of words at the beginnings of successive clauses.

Anastrophe

The inversion of the usual order of words or clauses.

Antithesis

Two contrasting ideas, juxtaposed against each other in parallel structure.

Apposition

Involves placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification for the first.

Assonance

The relatively close juxtaposition of similar sounds especially of vowels.

Asyndeton

The omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.

Climax

a scheme in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance, weight, or emphasis.

colloquial

The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing.

comma splice

Two sentences joined incorrectly by a comma instead of a conjunction, period, or semicolon

Connotation

The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning.

Denotation

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

Didactic

This word means the primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially the teaching of moral or ethical principles.

Ellipsis

The omission from speech or writing of a word or words able to be understood from contextual clues.

Epistrophe

Repetition of the same word or groups of words at the end of clauses.

Euphemism

a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word

extended metaphor

A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work.

figurative language

Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.

imagery

The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions.

mood

The prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work.

narrative

The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events.

Polysyndeton

Involves the repeated use of coordinating conjunctions (like, and, for, but) to link words, phrases, or clauses.

Prose

one of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms.

repetition

The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern.

Semantics

The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.

Syntax

Word order or the way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Theme

The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life.

Thesis

The sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or position.

Tone

Similar to mood, _____ describes the author's attitude toward his material, the audience, or both.

Parallelism

Involves the similarity of structure in a pair or series or related words, phrases, or clauses. The basic principle of grammar and rhetoric demands that equivalent things be set forth in coordinate grammatical structures.

Pedantic

Excessively concerned with book learning and formal rules

Paradox

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

independent clause

expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. Has both a subject and a verb.

dependent clause

A clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb

rhetoric

the art of using language effectively and persuasively

Diction

word choice

Litotes

A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite

Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Clause

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.

Irony

the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

Metonymy

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

Onomatopoeia

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named