AP Lang Rhetoric Vocab

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words of syllables in sequence

Allusion

Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word for phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.

Antithesis

Opposition or contrast of ideas or words in a parallel construction.

Archaic Diction

Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words

Asyndeton

Absence of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words.

Cumulative sentence

Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on.

Hortative Sentence

Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.

Imperative Sentence

Sentence used to command or enjoin.

Inversion

inverted order of words in a sentence

Juxtaposition

placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences

Metaphor

Figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as.

Oxymoron

Paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another.

Parallelism

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Periodic Sentence

Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.

Personification

Giving human attributes or actions to an inanimate object or idea.

Rhetoric Question

A figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.