AP Language-Vocab-Definitions

adage

a familiar proverb or wise saying

ad hominem argument

 attacking the character of the arguer rather than the argument itself

 allegory

the device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning.

alliteration

the practice of beginning several consecutive words with the same sound

allusion

 a reference to mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing.

anadiplosis

a figure of repetition that occurs when the last word or terms in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of the next sentence, clause, or phrase.

ambiguity

allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action, or situation, all of which can be supported by the context of a work.

 analogy

A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them.

 anaphora

 One of the devices of repetition, in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines or sentences.

 antanagoge

 placing a good point or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the impact or significance of the negative point:

 anecdote

A short narrative detailing particulars of an interesting episode or event.  The term most frequently refers to an incident in the life of a person

antecedent

the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers

antithesis

The juxtaposition of contrasting words, often in parallel structure.

 aphorism

 A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle.

 aporia

 expresses doubt about an idea or conclusion. Among its several uses are the suggesting of alternatives without making a commitment to either or any.

apostrophe

a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present and the inanimate as if animate.  They are addressed directly.

appositive

a noun or noun phrase that follows another noun immediately or defines or amplifies its meaning. 

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words, e.g., the words “cry” and “side” have the same vowel sound and are so said to be in assonance.

asyndeton

the omission of conjunctions between related clauses

bathos

insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity

 chiasmus

 a form of parallelism; a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed.

cliché

an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness is worn off.

 colloquial/colloquialism

The use of slang or informalities in speech or writing. Not generally acceptable for formal writing, colloquialisms give a work a conversational, familiar tone. Colloquial expressions in writing include local or regional dialects. 

 complex sentence

a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

compound sentence

a sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by one or more conjunctions.

conceit

 A fanciful expression in writing or speech; an elaborate metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects

 conduplication

resembles anadiplosis in the repetition of a preceding word, but it repeats a key word (not just the last word) from a preceding phrase, clause, or sentence, at the beginning of the next. 

 context

the convergence of time, place, audience, and motivating factors in which a piece of writing or a speech is situated.

consonance

the repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words to produce a harmonious effect

circumlocution

the use of an unnecessarily large number of words or an indirect means of expression to express an idea so as to affect an evasion in speech.