AP LANG VOCAB FINAL

Alliteration

the beginning of several consecutive words with the same sound.

EX: "The twisting trout twinkled below."

Allusion

a reference to a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing.

EX: "He met his Waterloo."

Antithesis

juxtaposition of parallel words, phrases, or clauses.

EX: "Sink or swim."

Apostrophe

the dead are spoken to as if present.

EX: "Michael Jackson you sure can dance."

Assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words.

EX: "cry " and "side"

Consonance

the repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words.

EX: "She sells sea shells by the sea shore."

Diction

word choice

NO EXAMPLE

Enjambment

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

NO EXAMPLE

Foreshadowing

hints in a narrative to suggest future action.

NO EXAMPLE

Hyperbole

intentional exaggeration for effect.

EX: "I'm so hungry I can eat a horse."

Verbal Irony

a speaker says one thing while meaning the opposite.

EX: "It is easy to stop smoking. I've done it many times."

Situational Irony

a situation turns out differently from what one would normally expect though often the twist is oddly appropriate.

EX: "A deep sea diver drowning in a bathtub is ironic."

Dramatic Irony

a speaker says something that has different meaning from what he or she thinks though the audience understands the action.

EX: "Oedipus curses the murderer of Laius, not realizing that he is himself the murderer and so is cursing himself."

Metaphor

a comparison of two unlike things nor using "like" or "as"

EX: "Time is money."

Onomatopoeia

words that mimic the sounds they describe.

EX: "hiss", "buzz", and "bang"

Oxymoron

combines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression.

EX: "sweet sorrow" or "cold fire"

Paradox

elements of a statement that contradict each other. Although the statement may appear illogical it turns out to have a coherent meaning.

EX: "Youth is wasted on the young."

Personification

gives inanimate objects human characteristics.

EX: "The wind cried in the dark."

Pun

play on words.

EX: "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man."

Simile

comparison of two different things using the words "like" or "as."

EX: "The warrior fought like a lion."

Suspense

the quality in literary work that makes the audience tense.

NO EXAMPLE

Synecdoche

a part to signify the whole.

EX: "All hands on deck"

Denotation

the dictionary definition.

EX: "House"

Conetation

the implied meaning.

EX: "Home"