AP Lang Week Words

aesthetic reading

Reading to experience the world of the text

complex sentence

A sentence with one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

compound-complex sentence

A sentence with two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses

compound sentence

A sentence with two or more independent clauses.

compound subject

The construction in which two or more nouns, noun phrases, or noun clauses constitute the grammatical subject of a clause.

conflict

The struggle of characters with themselves, with others, or with the world around them

connotation

The implied meaning of a word, in contrast to its directly expressed "dictionary meaning."

context

The convergence of time, place, audience, and motivating factors in which a piece of writing or a speech is situated

contradiction

One of the types of rhetorical invention included under the common topic of relationships. Contradiction urges the speaker or writer to invent an example or a proof that is counter to the main idea or argument.

data (as evidence)

Facts, statistics, and examples that a speaker or writer offers in support of a claim, generalization, or conclusion.

deductive reasoning

Reasoning that begins with a general principle and concludes with a specific instance that demonstrates the general principle.

delivery

The presentation and format of a composition.

denotation

The "dictionary definition" of a word, in contrast to its implied meaning

diction

Word choice, which is viewed on scales of formality/ informality, concreteness/abstraction, derivation, and denotative/connotative value

double entendre

The double (or multiple) meanings of a group of words that the speaker or writer has purposely left ambiguous.

effect

The emotional or psychological impact a text has on a reader or listener

efferent reading

Reading to garner information from a text. Reading to "take away" particular bits of information. Here, the reader is not interested in the rhythms of the language or the prose style but is focused on obtaining a piece of information.

allegory

A piece of visual or narrative media uses one thing to “stand in for” a different, hidden idea. It’s a little bit like an algebraic equation, like y = 2x, but in the form of art. Like in algebra, when we talk about meaning in allegory, we have two different variables we’re thinking about, but we don’t call them X and Y. Instead, we call them the tenor and the vehicle. A “tenor” is the “hidden” concept, object, idea, or ulterior meaning; and the “vehicle” is the word, image, or narrative in the story that “carries” it.

alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning or in the middle of two or more adjacent words.

allusion

A reference to a written or spoken text to another text or to some particular body of knowledge

anadiplosis

The repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause.

anaphora

The repetition of a group of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

anecdote

A brief narrative offered in a text to capture the audience's attention or to support a generalization or claim

anticipated objection

The technique a writer or speaker uses in an argumentative text to address and answer objections, even though the audience has not had the opportunity to voice these objections.

antimetabole

The repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order-for example, "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy."

antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas, often in parallel structure-for example, "Place your virtues on a pedestal; put your vices under a rock.”

anthimeria

The substitution of one part of speech for another-for example, "The poet says we 'milestone our lives."' or “The little old lady turtled down the road.”

apologist

A person or character who makes a case for some controversial, even contentious, position.

apology

An elaborate statement justifying some controversial, even contentious,position.

appeal to authority

In a text, the reference to words, action, or beliefs of a person in authority as a means of supporting a claim, generalization, or conclusion.

appositive

A noun or noun phrase that follows another noun immediately or defines or amplifies its meaning.

argument

A carefully constructed, well-supported representation of how a writer sees an issue, problem, or subject

arrangement

In a spoken or written text, the placement of ideas for effect.

assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of two or more adjacent words.

assumption

An opinion, a perspective, or a belief that a writer or speaker thinks the audience holds.

asyndeton

The omission of conjunctions between related clauses-for example, "I came, I saw, I conquered."

attitude

the manner in which an action is carried out.

audience

The person or persons who listen to a spoken text or read a written one and are capable of responding to it.

begging of the question

The situation that results when a writer or speaker constructs an argument on an assumption that the audience does not accept.

claim

The ultimate conclusion, generalization, or point that a syllogism or enthymeme expresses. The point, backed up by support, of an argument.

ellipsis

The omission of words, the meaning of which is provided by the overall context of a passage

enthymeme

Logical reasoning with one premise left unstated

epistrophe

The repetition of a group of words at the end of successive clauses-for example, "They saw no evil, they spoke no evil, and they heard no evil."

epithet

A word or phrase adding a characteristic to a person's name-for example, "Richard the Lion-Hearted."

euphemism

An indirect expression of unpleasant information in such a way to lessen its impact--for example, saying a person’s position was eliminated rather than saying the person was fired

ethos

The appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator.

evidence

The facts, statistics, anecdotes and examples that a speaker or writer offers in support of a claim, generalization, or conclusion.

extended analogy

An extended passage arguing that if two things are similar in one or two ways, they are probably similar in other ways as well

extended example

An example that is carried through several sentences or paragraphs.

fable

A narrative in which fictional characters often animals take actions that have ethical or moral significance

generalization

A point that a speaker or writer generates on the basis of considering a number of particular examples

genre

A piece of writing classified by type-for example, letter, narrative, eulogy, or editorial

heuristic

A systematic strategy or method for solving problems

hyperbole

An exaggeration for effect.

image

A passage of text that evokes sensation or emotional intensity.

imagery

Language that evokes particular sensations or emotionally rich experiences in a reader

implied metaphor

A metaphor embedded in a sentence rather than expressed directly as a sentence. For example, His voice cascaded through the hallways” contains an implied metaphor; “His voice was a cascade of emotion” contains a direct metaphor

inductive reasoning

Reasoning that begins by citing a number of specific instances or examples and then shows how collectively they constitute a general principle

inference

A conclusion that a reader or listener reaches by means of their own thinking rather than by being told directly by a text

jargon

The specialized vocabulary of a particular group

irony

Writing or speaking that implies the contrary of what is actually written or spoken.

litotes

Understatement---for example, "Her performance ran the gamut of emotion from A to B.

logic

the art of reasoning

logos

The appeal of a text based on the logical structure of its argument or central ideas

loose sentence

A sentence that adds modifying elements after the subject, verb, and complement

metonymy

An entity referred to by one of its attributes or associations-for example, "The admissions office claims applications have risen.”

mnemonic device

A systematic aid to memory

mood

The feeling that a text is intended to produce in the audience.

narrative intrusion

A comment that is made directly to the reader by breaking into the forward plot movement

oxymoron

Juxtaposed words with seemingly contradictory meanings-for example,"jumbo shrimp."

paradox

A statement that seems untrue on the surface but is true nevertheless

parallelism

A set of similarly structured words, phrases, or clauses that appears in a sentence or paragraph. Parallelism is the repetition of grammatical elements in a piece of writing to create a harmonious effect. Sometimes, it involves repeating the exact same words, such as in the common phrases “easy come, easy go” and “veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”). Other times, it involves echoing the pattern of construction, meter, or meaning.

pathos

The appeal of a text to the emotions, values, or interests of the audience

periodic sentence

A sentence with modifying elements included before the verb_verb and/or complement.

Periphrasis

The substitution of an attributive word or phrase for a proper name, or the use of a proper name to suggest a personality characteristic. For example, "Pete Rose-better known as Charlie Hustle” or "That young pop singer thinks she's a real Madonna, doesn't she?"

persona

The character that a writer or speaker conveys to the audience

purpose

The goal a writer or speaker hopes to achieve with the text-for example, to clarify difficult material, to inform, to convince, and/ or persuade. Also called aim and intention.

recursive

Referring to the moving back and forth from invention to revision in the process of writing.

refutation

the part of a speech in which the speaker would anticipate objections to the points being raised and counter them.

repetition

a text repeated use of sounds, words, phrases, or clauses to emphasize meaning or achieve effect

rhetoric

The art of analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective; the specific features of texts, written or spoken, that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners in a situation.

rhetorical choices

The particular choices a writer or speaker makes to achieve meaning, purpose, or effect

rhetorical question

A question posed by the speaker or writer not to seek an answer but instead to affirm or deny a point simply by asking a question about it

rhetorical situation

The convergence in a situation of exigency (the need to write), audience, and purpose

sarcasm

The use of mockery or bitter irony

simile

A type of comparison that uses the word like or as

simple sentence

A sentence with one independent clause and no dependent clause

stance

A writer's or speaker's apparent attitude toward the audience

style

The choices that writers or speakers make in language for effect

subordinate clause

A group of words that includes a subject and verb but that cannot stand on its own as a sentence; also called dependent clause.

synecdoche

A part of something used to refer to the whole-for example, "50 head of cattle" referring to 50 complete animals

syntax

The order of words in a sentence

tone

The writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject matter

understatement

Deliberate playing down of a situation in order to make a point "As the principal dancer, Joe displayed only two flaws: his arms and his legs.”

verisimilitude

The quality of a text that reflects the truth of actual experience.

voice

The textual features, such as diction and sentence structure, that convey a writer’s or a speaker’s persona.

zeugma

A trope in which one word, usually a noun or the main verb, governs two other words not related in meaning ("He maintained a business and his innocence ") .