AP Lang test guide

Ad hominem

An argument technique which points out the flaws of the person rather than the argument said person holds.

Alliteration

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Antithesis

A literary device used to show the difference or contrast between two objects.

Chiasmus

A literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order.

Ethos

Credibility establishment

Imagery

Describes the way things or ideas seem in your mind or in art or literature.

Irony

A literary device or event in which how things seem to be is actually very different from how they are.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things with the use of specific words of comparison as like, as, or resembles.

Sarcasm

A verbal form of irony when someone says they opposite of what they actually mean.

Syllepsis

A figure of speech in which a word is applied to two others in different senses. (I caught the train and a bad cold)

Syllogism

A method of reasoning by drawing a conclusion from two premises.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vise versa.

Tautology

Needless repetition

Understatement

The presentation of something being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is. And vise versa.