AP Language Terminology

Vocabulary flashcards covering key rhetorical and linguistic terms for AP Language.

Absolute

A word, phrase, or sentence free from limitations or qualification.

Active Voice

A sentence in which the subject performs the action rather than receives the action.

Allusion

Within a text, a reference to an outside historical figure, text, film, religious figure or story, or work of art.

Audience

The recipient of the speaker's message.

Cause and Effect

A paragraph analyzing the causes that lead to a certain effect, or conversely, the effects that result from a certain cause.

Classification and Division

Paragraphs featuring material sorted into major ideas that answer the question of why they belong together.

Context

The occasion or the time and place the text was written or spoken.

Deductive Reasoning Paragraph

A paragraph that begins with the point (topic sentence) and then goes on to support and develop that point.

Definition Paragraph

A paragraph in which an author provides an explanation of her/his perception of a topic or idea and provides examples so that the audience cannot mistake the author's explanation.

Denotation

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

Dependent Clause

A group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought and cannot be a sentence.

Descriptive Paragraph

A paragraph used to emphasize sensory details and create mood or atmosphere by painting a vivid picture for the audience.

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Ethos

An appeal to credibility and trustworthiness that establishes the speaker's or writer's credibility towards the audience based on expertise, experience, training, sincerity, or shared values.

Exigence

In rhetoric, an issue, problem, or situation that causes or prompts someone to write or speak.

Independent Clause

A clause containing at least one subject and one verb that can stand alone as a complete sentence.

Inductive Reasoning Paragraph

A paragraph that features specific examples about a subject, which are used to validate a general claim on the subject.

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

Logos

An appeal to logic that strengthens the validity of the argument through logical reasoning, clear main ideas, supporting evidence, specific facts, and statistical data.

Narration Paragraph

A paragraph featuring general anecdotal writing used as an example to connect to the writing's specific thesis.

Passive Voice

A sentence in which the action is performed by the object to the subject.

Pathos

An appeal to emotion, effectively used through adeptly chosen language and personal anecdotes meant to target the audience's emotions.

Persona

The character the speaker creates when writing or speaking.

Process Analysis

A writing strategy used to explain how something works, how to do something, or how something was done.

Qualifier

The use of words like 'usually, probably, in most cases, most likely' to temper a claim and make it less absolute.

Rhetoric

The art of persuasion.

Rhetorical Situation

The relationship between the speaker, subject, and audience.

Rhetorical Question

A question asked for a particular effect and not one asked for a response.

Speaker

The author of a speech or essay.

Subject

The message conveyed by the speaker to the audience.

Tone

The speaker's or writer's feelings or judgment about the subject at hand.

Comparison and Contrast

Juxtaposing two things to highlight their similarities and differences.