AP English Terms

Prep for AP Eng

antithesis

exact opposite

analogy

drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity

argument

He notes that Martin Luther employed posters to get his \_____ across.

equivocation

"As Harvard law professor and Bush Justice Department official Jack Goldsmith has pointed out, Johnson's speech contains many hedges and \______". -Slate (Dec 11, 2012)

Allusion

passing reference or indirect mention

post hoc ergo propter hoc

the logical fallacy of believing that temporal succession implies a causal relation

eristic

"He belonged to the fighting class, and was further distinguished as a hero of debate, who professed the \____ art." -Plato (not unlike many teenagers and lawyers today)

alliteration

use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word

innuendo

December looks like being a satisfying month of teasing, suggestion and \__________

onomatopoeia

using words that imitate the sound they denote

antecedent

a preceding occurrence or cause or event

non sequitur

a reply that has no relevance to what preceded it

litotes

understatement for rhetorical effect

appositive

a relationship between two or more words or phrases in which the two units are grammatically parallel and have the same referent

archaic

so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period

disinterest

freedom from special interests; one of the three traits of ethos

reductio ad absurdum

a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proof of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction

neologism

a newly invented word or phrase

aphorism

a short pithy instructive saying

periphrasis

an act of expressing things in an indirect or roundabout way

"subordinate clause" is a clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb

True

prolepsis

anticipating and answering objections in advance

anecdote

"Paisley, a West Virginia native, begins the song with a/an \_____about a black man taking offense at his Confederate flag T-shirt."-Seattle Times (Apr 12, 2013)

annotation

the act of adding notes

anaphora

repetition of a word or phrase to begin successive clauses

synecdoche

using part of something to refer to the whole thing

a fortiori

with greater reason

common ground

The best way to find solutions and \____ is to build personal relationships based on trust.

colloquialism

an expression that seeks to imitate informal speech; "As these messages are being shared by millions of people on Twitter, the software also takes into account \_____."-New York Times (Aug 1, 2012)

Claim

French historians\____ its forces were responsible for sinking the Mary Rose in battle.

tautology

useless repetition

anthropomorphism

the representation of objects as having human form

asyndeton

omission of conjunctions where they would normally be used

chiasmus

"Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." -JFK This is an example of

circumlocution

an indirect way of expressing something

voice

a means by which something is expressed or communicated

authority

an expert whose views are taken as definitive

complex sentence

The \___ contains one independent clause and at least one subordinate clause.

cite

make reference to

ad hominem

appealing to personal considerations rather than to reason

bias

a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue

"subordination" is the semantic relation of belonging to a lower rank or class

True

attitude

a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings

dialectic

arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments

audience

the part of the general public interested in something

anadiplosis

repetition of the final words of a sentence or line at the beginning of the next

assumption

the act of taking something for granted

zeugma

rhetorical use of a word to govern two or more words; "Now the trumpet summons us again\---not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--but a call to bear the burden."- JFK

assertion

the act of affirming or stating something

metonymy

In the line "Lucidity of soul unlocks the lips" are both \____ and personification.Sylvester, Charles Herbert

speaker

"One difficult area for universities is handling campus meetings involving a controversial ______." A term used for an author or character -the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advance in a speech or piece of writing

understatement

something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast

trope

language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense

syllogism

reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises

subject

the topic of a conversation or discussion

coordination

relation of two constituents with the same grammatical form

style

make consistent with certain rules; the distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech

thesis

an unproved statement advanced as a premise in an argument

denotation

"Words, in exposition, must be chosen chiefly with a view to definite denotation."-Hamilton, Clayton Meeker

syntax

the study of the rules for forming admissible sentences

tone

a quality that reveals the attitudes of the author

counterargument

an opinion offered in opposition to another position

His fastidious \____ is unmistakable: he picks up words as if with sugar tongs - as if each syllable needed personal attention.

diction

straw man

a weak or sham argument set up to be easily refuted; It's called the \____ \____ fallacy: refuting arguments nobody's made

concession

the act of yielding

declarative sentence

"His stump speech is all \____ \_____ and optimism."-Slate (Jun 13, 2011)

connotation

an idea that is implied or suggested

"simple sentence" are a sentence having no coordinate clauses or subordinate clauses

True

deduction

reasoning from the general to the particular

synthesize

combine so as to form a more complex product

context

the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation

topic sentence

a sentence that states the topic of its paragraph

credible

capable of being believed

major premise

\____ premise: All mammals are warm-blooded. Minor premise: All horses are mammals. Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded.

fact

a piece of information about events that have occurred

rhetoric

study of the technique for using language effectively

rhetorical question

an inquiry that is not supposed to be answered

hortatory

giving strong encouragement; exhorts, advises, calls to action

pronoun

The \____ "I" and exclamation "O" must be always written in capital letters.-Hartley, Cecil B.

polysyndeton

using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted (as in \`he ran and jumped and laughed for joy')

satire

witty language used to convey insults or scorn

figure of speech

language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense

fragment

A grammatical \_____--missing parts to make it a whole sentence

simile

a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things

documentation

validation from written records

purpose

an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions

refute

overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof

epigram

a witty saying

compound sentence

a sentence composed of at least two coordinate independent clauses

imagery

"Stories about people are graphic, full of individual details, and typically involve strong visual \_____."-Scientific American (May 14, 2013)

ethos

the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era

propaganda

information that is spread to promote some cause

minor premise

Major premise: All mammals are warm-blooded. \_____ premise: All horses are mammals. Conclusion: All horses are warm-blooded

figurative

the use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond the literal meaning to achieve literary effect

imperative

requests or commands; "Go to the cafeteria now!"

elegiac

resembling or characteristic of a lament for the dead

explication de texte

a method of literary criticism that analyzes details of a text in order to reveal its structure and meaning

hyperbole

extravagant exaggeration

parody

a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style

paradox

a statement that contradicts itself