AP Lang: Vocab List 3

Irony

A situation or statement in which the actual outcome or meaning is opposite to what was expected

Jargon

The special language of a profession or group

Logic

The process of reasoning

Logical Fallacy

A mistake in reasoning

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which one thing is referred to as another

Metonymy

A figure of speech that uses the name of an object, person, or idea to represent something with which it is associated

Mode

The method or form of a literary work; the manner in which a work of literature is written

Mood

Similar to tone, it is the primary emotional attitude of a work (the feeling of the work; the atmosphere)

Motif

main theme or subject of a work that is elaborated on in the development of the piece; a repeated pattern or idea

Narration

The telling of a story in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama; one of the four modes of discourse

Negative-Positive

Sentence that begins by stating what is NOT true, then ending by stating what is true

Non-sequitur

When one statement isn't logically connected to another

Objectivity

An impersonal presentation of events and characters

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that sound like what they mean, such as "hiss," "buzz," "slam," and "boom"

Oxymoron

A figure of speech composed of contradictory words or phrases, such as "wise fool," "bitter-sweet," "pretty ugly," "jumbo shrimp," and "cold fire"

Pacing

The movement of a literary piece from one point or one section to another

Parable

A short tale that teaches a moral; similar to but shorter than an allegory

Paradox

A statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have a rational meaning

Parallelism

The technique of arranging words, phrases, clauses, or larger structures by placing them side by modifiers in a row to describe the same noun or verb

Parody

A work that ridicules the style of another work by imitating and exaggerating its elements

Pathos

The aspects of a literary work that elicit sorrow or pity from the audience

Pedantic

A term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing

Personification

The attribution of human qualities to a nonhuman or inanimate object

Persuasion

A form of argumentation, one of the four modes of discourse; language intended to convince through appeals to reason or emotion

Oversimplification

When a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the issues in an argument