AP English 3 - Rhetorical Terms and Glossary Quiz 1

Abstract

refers to language that describes concepts rather than concrete images (ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people, or places). The observable or “physical” is usually described in concrete language.

Allegory

An extended metaphor in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities in which the writer intends a second meaning to be ready beneath the surface of the story; the underlying meaning may be moral, religious, political, social, or satiric.

Alliteration

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words

Allusion

an indirect reference to works, events, or figures that the author assumes the reader is familiar.

Analogy

a more developed simile

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of every clause

Anecdote

a short, simple narrative of an incident; it is often used for humorous effect or to make a point

Annotations

explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give biographical data

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause, referred to by a pronoun. The AP Language and Composition Exam occasionally asks for the ______ of a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences.

Antithesis

The presentation of two contrasting images. The idea are balanced by word, phrase, clause, or paragraphs. Examples include “To be or not to be…” and “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…”

Aphorism

A short, often witty statement of a principle or a truth about life: “Early birds get the worm.”

Apostrophe

The device of calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person or to a place, thing, or personified abstraction.

Assertion (or “Claim”)

An arguable opinion stated as a fact.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds

Assumption

A supposed “fact” that is never actually proven.

Asyndeton

The deliberate omission of conjunctions in sentence constructions in which they would normally be used.

Polysyndeton

The use of overuse of multiple conjunctions in close succession.