AP Lit Summer Terms

Declarative

ends with period, states fact

Exclamatory

exclamation of emotion, exclamation mark

interrogative

question, ends with question mark

Imperative

a command

Nouns

person, place, thing, or idea

Verbs

action

Adjectives

descriptive words, describes noun

Pronouns

replace noun

Prepositions

describe location/relationship

Adverbs

describe verb/adjective

Conjunctions

connect words

Interjections

express strong emotions

Alliteration

repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of words

Allusion

a reference to an external event, play, movie, book, etc

Allegory

characters and stories represent moral qualities or character traits and have an overarching lesson

Antecedent

the noun/pronoun that a pronoun refers back to

Archetype

a universal, recurring pattern/character/story

Assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in a sentence (the rain in Spain brang me pain)

blank verse

unhrymed poetry spoken in iambic parameter

Chiasmus

similar concepts but changed order (the dance of the day, the night and its frolic)

Clause

a group of words with a noun and verb

Connotation

the associations that come with each word (connocation of murder vs self defense)

Couplet

two rhyming verses

Denotation

the literal, dictionary meaning of words

Diction

spoken lines or the words chosen for each sentence

Double

entendre

Euphemism

using gentler language to describe a difficult topic

figurative language

tools that are not meant to be taken literally, flavor the writing and illustrate points

Foil

when one character’s traits are opposite to another’s, making both their traits seem twice as strong in comparison

Foreshadowing

hints about the end of the story are dropped throughout the story

free verse

a poem without a rhyme scheme or meter

Hyperbole

purposeful exaggeration

Imagery

the use of 5 senses to create a vivid picture

Verbal irony

saying one thing while you mean another

Situational irony

difference between what was expected to happen and what actually happens

Dramatic irony

the audience has knowledge the characters do not

Literal

words are taken at face value; what is said is what is meant

Metaphor

comparing two things without like or as, saying one thing IS another

Metonymy

word replaced by something associated with that word

Mood

the overall feeling created by the setting, description, themes, etc

Motif

a recurring image/theme/concept

Onomatopoeia

using letters to create sounds

Oxymoron

figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms/words/items

Paradox

a self

Parallelism

when the grammatical structure of a sentence is repeated or balanced

Parody

an exaggerated retelling of a story, used to ridicule

Personification

human traits given to nonhuman characters/settings/things

prepositional phrase

phrase that begins with a preposition

Rhetorical

using language to impact an audience in a specific way

Satire

a genre of storytelling that uses humor, sarcasm, and wit to critique something about society (Animal Farm)

Setting

where the story takes place

Simile

comparing two things using like or as

Soliloquy

a speech given alone by a character; reveals inner thoughts

Sonnet

fourteen line poem written in iambic parameter with a ABAB CDCD GFGF EE rhyme scheme

Stanza

grouped set of lines within a poem

Symbol

when an object/person/setting represents a less literal concept

Synecdoche

when a part represents a whole: the king’s right hand

Syntax

the way sentences are structured; creates effects

Theme

the overarching message or topic of the story

Tone

the author’s attitude toward the topic of the story

1st person narrative

told from perspective of character using “I” , limited

3rd person limited

told using “her” “his” “name”, still limited to one perspective

3rd person omniscient

narrator has knowledge outside of characters, can hop around characters

3rd person objective

can freely move around perspectives, but simply narrates and does not input opinion

2nd person

story told to reader or another character, “you”