AP Lang Semester 1 Final Exam Review

Speaker

Identity

Occasion

When/where

Audience

Reader

Context

Circumstances

Exigence

Compel

Purpose

Goal

Ethos

Credibility

Pathos

Emotion

Logos

Logic

Security & freedom, individual & community, tradition & change

Values in tension

Overarching debatable claim

Thesis

facts, data, or stats

Evidence

Main idea of a paragraph

Claim

Scare tactics

Using fear or threats to persuade instead of logical reasons or evidence

Either-or choices

Presenting only two options when more alternatives exist

Slippery slope

Claiming that one small action will inevitably lead to extreme or disastrous consequences without proof.

Sentimental appeals

Using emotions like pity, love, or sympathy instead of facts to influence an argument.

Bandwagon appeals

Arguing something’s is true or good simply because many people believe or do it.

Appeals to false authority

Relying on an authority who lacks expertise in the subject being discussed.

Dogmatism

Asserting a claim is true without evidence and refusing to consider other viewpoints.

Ad homenim

Attacking the person making the argument rather than the argument itself.

Hasty generalization

Drawing a broad conclusion from insufficient or unrepresentative evidence.

Faulty casualty

Assuming that because one event follows another, the first caused the second.

Begging the question

Assuming the truth of the conclusion within the argument itself (circular reasoning).

Equivocation

Using a work or phrase with multiple meanings in a misleading way within an argument.

Non sequitur

A conclusion that does not logically follow from the premises.

Straw man

Misrepresenting or oversimplifying an opponent’s argument to make it easier to attack.

Faulty analogy

Comparing two things that are not sufficiently alike in relevant ways.

Sensory Details

Deliberate word choice that awakens the senses and creates a mental image for the reader

Dialogue

Direct speech

Expanded moment

Snapshot in time lengthened with specific details

Personification

Giving human aspects to inanimate objects or ideas

Alliteration

Series of words that start with the consonant

Onomatopoeia

Formation of words that imitate sounds

Rhyme

Word that corresponds with another in sound, especially end sound

Simile

Comparison of 2 items using “like” or “as”

Metaphor

Comparison of 2 things not using “like” or “as”

Analogy

Reference to a person, event, or text that the writer anticipates the reader understands

Antonomasia

Substituting a descriptive phrase for a proper name (ex: His Airness)

Irony

Words that convey meanings that are in tension with, or even opposite to the literal meaning

Oxymoron

Word choice that illustrates a paradox or contradiction

Metonymy

Particular object to stand for a general concept (ex: Wall Street)

Hyphenated Modifer

Series of words connected with hyphens that act as an original modifier (ex: don’t-you-dare-do-that-again look)

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Litote Understatement

Understatement

Rhetorical Question

Question left unanswered because the answer is obvious

Parallelism

Use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter.

Anaphora

Repeated word or phrase at the beginning of sentences, paragraphs, or sections.

Epistrophe

Repeated word or phrase at the end of sentences, paragraphs, or sections.

Antithesis

Parallel words or sentence structures that highlight contrast or opposition.

Inverted Word Order

Rearrangement of the typical subject-verb-object sentence structure

Intentional fragment

Incomplete sentence used for emphasis

Jargon

Specialized language particular to a group of people

Colloquial Language

Language of daily speech, informal and conversational

Connotation

Emotional or cultural meaning behind a word

Denotation

Dictionary definition of a word

Pun

Play on words (double meaning)

Punctuation

placed in sentences to enhance style and meaning