AP Lang terms "L-P"

Liote

A form of understanding in which the opposite is used to achieve emphasis. (She's not a bad hockey player.)

Logos

The use of reason as a controlling principle in an argument. (We need the addition of a traffic light at the corner of 1st and 34th. Traffic lights are shown to reduce traffic accidents by up to 30 percent at busy intersections.)

Loose Syntax

A sentence in which the main clause is presented first followed by a series of dependent clauses. (The corpse was stuffed in the trunk as drove the car carefully, his shaggy hair whipped by the wind, his eyes hidden behind wrap-around mirror shades, his mouth set in a grim smile, a .38 Police Special on the seat beside him.)

Malapropism

The substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound in which the resulting phrase makes no sense and often creates a comic effect. (Let's create a little dysentery among the ranks.)

Standard Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a connection between two unlike things. (My heart is a rose.)

Extended Metaphor

A metaphor that extends over several line, verses, or chapters. (Writing this research paper is a gring. My brain is not operating. I am running out of steam.)

Implied Metaphor

A less direct metaphor. (the boxer pecked away at his opponent.)

Dead Metaphor

A metaphor that has become so common that we no longer notice it as a figure of speech. (My sister drives me out of my mind.)

Metonymy Metaphor

A figure of speech in which something closely related to a thing is substitued for the thing itself. ("Here comes the crown." The crown stands in for the king himself.)

Mixed Metaphor

A faulty metaphor that switches the terms of comparison before it finishes. (We are at the crossroads of an enormous precipice.)

Synecdoche Metaphor

A substitution of apart for a whole (or vice versa.) ("Five hundred hands were needed to build the bridge.")

Mood

The audience's attitude or feelings towards a subject.

Narration

One of the four primary modes of writing in composition courses (description, exposition, and analysis are the others.) To narrate is to tell a story, to tell what happened.

Neologism

A newly invented, or coined, word.

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents. (The bees buzzed and zoomed around my head. I screeched in horror.)

Oxymoron

a pair of contradictory words or ideas joined together in one expression (Love is a 'cold fire.')

Pacing

the speed of a story's action, dialogue, or narration (Flashforwards, flashbacks, en medias res (begins in middle, moves outwards))

Panoramic method

an omniscient, or all knowing, narrator in a work of fiction or nonfiction (In Lord of the Rings, features the Panoramic method of narration from beginning to end. Throughout, the narrator knows the thoughts, feelings, motivations, and ideas for all the characters present in the story.)

Paradox

a seeming contradiction that in fact reveals some truth (You are the daughter of your son. You are most humble, most exalted.)

Paragraph

a series of closely related sentences

Parallelism

developing an argument or emphasizing an idea by using the same syntactical structures in a series (I came, I saw, I conquered.)

Parody

an imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject ("Scary Movie" films Parody horror movies)

Participle

an expression built from a verb that can function as a verb, an adjective, or noun (past Participle as verb) "Julie has tried to finish the problem a dozen times."

Passive voice

a sentence where the subject is the receiver of the action (The missiles were fired at the city.)

Pathos

the feelings or emotions evoked by an artistic work (We should get rid of cigarettes because my grandmother, who raised me by herself, was slowly overtaken by the illness.)

Periodic syntax

a sentence that delays the most important information until the very end (He drove carefully, his shaggy hair whipped by the wind, his eyes hidden behind wraparound mirror shades, his mouth set in a grim smile, a .38 Police Special on the seat beside him, a corpse stuffed in the trunk.)

Persona

the character created in the voice and narration by the speaker of a text (A business person wants others to think that he is charitable and kind. He offers lots of benefits and perks to his employees and he makes sure that his business publicly gives lots of money to charities and positive social causes. His Persona is that he is a good guy.)

Personification

a figure of speech in which ideas or objects are described as having human qualities or personalities (When I was taking my Calculus final, my calculator shorted out on me. I knew it just wanted to embarrass me in front of my teacher.)

Pleonasm

when a speaker's word choice is redundant or tautological
(This is a new innovation that is more superior than the competitor's product." Both 'new' and 'more' in this sentence are Pleonasm.)

Point of View

the perspective from which a story is told (subjective, objective, omniscient, limited)

Polysyndeton

when coordinating conjunctions are intentionally overused
(The first day of school was awesome! We colored, and played, and laughed, and learned math, and saw a play!)

Preposition

a word that indicates a relationship between words or ideas
(about, above, across, after, against, etc.)

Pun

a play on words (Let's taco bout' it!)