AP Lang Second Semester Study Guide

Flashcards covering rhetorical devices, tone, and literary techniques.

Rhetorical Devices

Techniques used by speakers or writers to persuade or impact the audience.

Tone

The author’s attitude toward the subject or audience, conveyed through word choice and style.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely placed words.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds, typically at the end or middle of words.

Mood

The emotional atmosphere or feeling a reader gets from a text.

Repetition

Repeating words or phrases for emphasis or effect.

Diction

The author’s choice of words, which affect tone and meaning.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or vice versa.

Connotation

The implied or emotional meaning of a word beyond its dictionary definition.

Metonymy

Replacing the name of something with something closely related to it.

Personification

Giving human traits to nonhuman objects or ideas.

Denotation

The literal dictionary definition of a word.

Allusion

A brief reference to a well-known person, place, event, or literary work.

Allegory

A story, poem, or image with a hidden moral or political meaning.

Ethos

Appeals to credibility or character.

Pathos

Appeals to the audience’s emotions.

Logos

Appeals to logic and reason.

Context

The circumstances or background information surrounding an event, statement, or idea in a text.

Irony

A contrast between what is expected and what actually happens.

Hyperbole

Extreme exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Imagery

Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in literary work.

Juxtaposition

The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effects.

Oxymoron

Combines two contradictory or opposite words to create a paradoxical or ironic effect.

Antithesis

A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

Paradox

A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

Analogy

A comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

Rhetorical question

A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.

Parallelism

The use of similar grammatical structures in two or more phrases or clauses to emphasize a connection between ideas.

Chiasmus

A rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form.

Anecdotal evidence

A type of evidence based on personal accounts or stories rather than on hard facts or data

Paralipsis

The device of giving emphasis by professing to say little or nothing about a subject.

Apostrophe

A rhetorical device where a speaker directly addresses an absent person, or personified object, or an abstract concept.

Understatement

When a speaker or writer makes a statement that is less strong than what is actually meant or than what the situation might seem to warrant.

Juvenalian Satire

Type of satire characterized by its harsh, bitter, and often pessimistic tone.

Horatian Satire

Type of satire that is gentle, playful, and aims to evoke amusement and mild laughter rather than anger.

Persona

The voice through which the author speaks, even if the author is not the actual speaker.

Anaphora

Repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences.

Epistrophe

Repeating the same word or phrase at the end of multiple sentences, clauses, or phrases.

Polysyndeton

The deliberate and excessive use of conjunctions in a sentence, especially when they are not strictly necessary.

Asyndeton

When coordinating conjunctions are intentionally omitted between words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence.

Concrete details

A specific, observable, and factual element used to support a claim or point.

Abstract details

Details that relate to intangible concepts, ideas, or qualities.

Rhetoric Argument

A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating a truth or falsehood, using ethos, pathos, and logos.

CHORES

A framework for generating supporting details: Current event, History/art, Our experiences, Reading, Entertainment, Sports/science.

Slippery slope

When an initial action is presented as inevitably leading to a chain of negative consequences.

Straw man

Misrepresenting or oversimplifying an opponent’s position to make it easier to attack.

Appeal to fear

Persuading an audience by creating fear or anxiety about a potential negative outcome.

Red herring

Introducing an irrelevant topic to divert attention from the central issue.

False dilemma

Presenting only two options as if they are the only possibilities, even when more exist.

Hasty generalization

Drawing a conclusion based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence.

Ad hominem

An attack against a person rather than their position.

Ad populem/bandwagon

Arguing that something is true or right because it’s widely accepted.

Post Hoc

Claiming something is a cause just because it happened earlier.

Faulty analogy

Comparing two things that are not comparable.

Equivocation

Using an ambiguous term in more than one sense, thus making the argument misleading.

False authority

Citing someone as an authority who has no expertise on the issue.

Begging the question

When a claim is based on evidence or support that is in doubt.

Circular reasoning

When the argument repeats the claim as a way to provide evidence.

Classical Model of Argument

Introduction, narration, confirmation, counter-argument, rebuttal, conclusion.

MLA Format

Header, pagination, 12 pt. Font, TNR, Double Spaced, Works Cited, Parenthetical citations

Tim O'Brien

Author of 'The Things They Carried', a Vietnam War veteran, blends fact and fiction.

Telegraphic sentence

No unnecessary words, as concise as possible

Cumulative sentence

A sentence that makes complete grammatical sense well before the actual ending. 

Periodic sentence

A sentence that only makes complete grammatical sense when the end is reached.

Natural order sentence

A sentence where the subject comes before the predicate (main verb).

Inverted order sentence

A sentence where the predicate (main verb) comes before the subject. Subject is at the end. 

Split order sentence

Divides the predicate into two parts with the subject coming in between. Verb is at the end. 

Declarative sentence

Makes a statement

Imperative sentence

Gives a command

Interrogative sentence

Asks a question

Exclamatory

Makes an exclamation

Simple sentence

One independent clause

Compound sentence

Two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjuction (FANBOYS)

Complex sentence

One independent clause and one or more dependent clauses

Compound-complex sentence

Two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause