AP LIT- Figures of Speech & Language Device

Alliteration

Repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of nearby words

Allusion

Brief reference to a person, place, event, or text-real or ficition

Analogy

Comparing two things to explain or clarify something unfamiliar

Anaphora

Repeating a word or phrase at the start of consecutive sentences or clauses

Apostrophe

Talking directly to someone or something that’s not present or cannot respond

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words

Chiasmus

A syntactical structure by which the order of the terms in the first two parallel clauses is reversed in the second. May involve repetition of the same words or just a reversed parallel between two corresponding pairs of ideas

Climax

Arranging words or ideas in order to increase importance

Connotation

The emotional or cultural meaning a word carries, beyond its dictionary definition

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds, typically at the end or middle of words in close proximity

Denotation

The exact, dictionary meaning of word

Euphemism

A polite or mild way of saying something harsh

Figurative language

Language that uses figures of speech like metaphors, similes, and hyperbole

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration for emphasis or effect

Imagery

Vivid, descriptive language that appeals to the senses

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect happens (or is said)

Juxtaposition

Placing two unlike things side by side to highlight difference

Metaphor

Directly comparing two unlike things without using like or as

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates a sound

Oxymoron

Combining two contradictory

Paradox

A statement that seems to contradict itself but reveals a truth

Personification

Giving human qualities to non-human things

Pun

A play on words with double meaning

Repetition

Using a word or phrase more than once for emphasis

Similie

Comparing two things using like or as

Symbol

Something that stands for something else

Understatement

Making something seem less important than it really is