AP Language literary terms

Ethos

Appeals to an audience's sense of morality/trust; Achieved by projecting an image of credibility which supports the speaker's position

Pathos

Appeals to an audience's sense of emotion; Achieved by evoking a passionate response which supports the speaker's position

Logos

Appeals to an audience's sense of intellect; Achieved by providing valid and relevant facts which support the speaker's position

Classicism

Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world; sticks to traditional themes and structures

Antecedent

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Active Voice

The subject of the sentence performs the action

Denotation

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations

Connotation

Implied meaning rather than literal meaning

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style

Abstract Language

Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people or places.

Analogy

A comparison to a directly parallel case

Aphorism

A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle

Allusion

An indirect reference to something with which the reader is supposed to be familiar

Ambiguity

An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way

Concrete Language

Language that describes specific, observable things, peoples or places, rather than ideas or qualities

Colloquial

Ordinary or familiar type of conversation; vernacular

Allegory

A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity.

Anecdote

A brief recounting of a relevant episode

Adage:

A folk saying with a lesson

Attitude

Revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization

Annotation

Explanatory notes added to a text to explain, clarify, or prompt further thought.

Appositive

A word or group or words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning

Didactic

A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Epigram

A short poem with a clever twist at the end, or a concise and witty statement

Figurative Language

The opposite of "literal language"; writing that is not meant to be taken literally

Epigraph

A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of theme.

Homily

This term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice.

Genre

The major category into which a literary work fits.

Imagery

Word or words that create a picture in the reader's mind.

Verbal Irony

When you say something and mean the opposite/something different

Jargon

The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity

Vernacular

Language or dialect of a particular country, language or dialect of a regional clan or group, plain everyday speech.

Simile

Using words such as "like" or "as" to make a direct comparison between two very different things.

Irony

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does

Idiom

A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.

Explication

The act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text.

Ellipsis

The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author.

Euphemism

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

Metaphor

Making an implied comparison, not using "like," "as," or other such words.

Gothic

Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.

Invective

An emotional violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language.

Situational Irony

Found in the plot of a book, story, or movie

Suspension of disbelief

The demand made that the reader accept the incidents recounted in the literary work

Objectivity

An author's stance that distances himself from personal involvement.

Oxymoron

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox.

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory statement which is actually true.

Rhetoric

The art of effective communication.

Antithesis

Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.

Parody

An exaggerated imitation of a serious work for humorous purposes.

Passive Voice

The subject of the sentence receives the action.

Pedantic

Observing strict adherence to formal rules or literal meaning at the expense of a wider view.

Sarcasm

A generally bitter comment that is ironically worded

Persona

The fictional mask or narrator that tells a story.

Juxtaposition

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

Romanticism

Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature.

Parallelism

Sentence construction which places equal grammatical construction near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns.

Mood

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row

Semantics

The study of actual meaning in languages--especially the meanings of individual words and word combinations in phrases and sentences

Rhetorical Question

A question not asked for information but for effect.

Satire

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect.

Clause

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.

Compound Sentence

Contains at least two independent clauses but no dependent clauses.

Complex Sentence

Contains only one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Balanced Sentence

One in which two parallel elements are set off against each other like equal weights on a scale.

Interrogative Sentence

Sentences incorporating interrogative pronouns.

Theme

The central idea or message of a work.

Sentence

A group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.

Simple Sentence

Contains one independent clause.

Loose Sentence

A complex sentence in which the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause follows.

Compound - Complex Sentence

Contains two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

Declarative Sentence

States an idea

Periodic Sentence

When the main idea is not completed until the end of the sentence.

Imperative Sentence

Issues a command

Litotes

A particular form of understatement, generated by denying the opposite of the statement which otherwise would be used.

Transition

Smooth movement from one paragraph (or idea) to another.

Understatement

The ironic minimizing of fact, presents something as less significant than it is.

Syntax

Grammatical arrangement of words.

Thesis

The sentence or groups of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition.

Style

The choices in diction, tone, and syntax that a writer makes

Symbol

Anything that represents or stands for something else.

Claim

A statement or assertion that is open to challenge and that requires support

Parenthetical phrase/idea

Interrupts the flow of a sentence with some commentary or added detail.

Rhetorical modes

Describe the variety, conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing. Four of the most common are exposition, argumentation, description, and narration.

Kairos

The opportune time and/or place, the right or appropriate time to say or do the right or appropriate thing.

Argumentation

The interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be reached through logical reasoning; that is, claims based, soundly or not, on premises. It includes the arts and sciences of civil debate, dialogue, conversation, and persuasion.

Caricature

The exaggeration of specific features of appearance or personality

Conceit

A comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a piece of literature.

Description

The picturing in words of something or someone through detailed observation of color, motion, sound, taste, smell, and touch; one of the four modes of discourse.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by something closely associated with it.

Narration

The act of telling a story, whether in prose or in verse, and the means by which that telling is accomplished.

Prose

The ordinary form of spoken and written language whose unit is the sentence, rather than the line as it is in poetry. The term applies to all expressions in language that do not have a regular rhythmic pattern.

Inference

Interpreting or drawing a conclusion.

Generic conventions

Traditions for each genre. These help to define each genre; they differentiate an essay and journalistic writing or an autobiography and political writing; the unique feature of a writer's work from those dictated by convention.

Extended metaphor

A sustained comparison, often referred to as a conceit, developed throughout a piece of writing.

Exposition

An explanation; one of the four modes of discourse.

Independent clause

A clause that can stand by itself, also known as a simple sentence; contains a subject and a predicate; it makes sense by itself.

Subordinate clause

Also called a dependent clause—will begin with a subordinate conjunction or a relative pronoun and will contain both a subject and a verb. This combination of words will not form a complete sentence. It will instead make a reader want additional information to finish the thought.