AP Lang jolliffe

simile

the comparison between 2 things made with the use of the word “like” or “as”

implied metaphor

a figure of speech that compares 2 things without naming them directly

ex: Mary roared at the children.

(direct metaphor would be Mary is a roaring lion in the morning)

synecdoche

A part of something is used to refer to the whole

ex: we decided we could rearrange the gym equipment if everyone would lend a hand (everyone uses hands, arms, legs, etc but “hand” stands for it all.)

Metonymy

an entity is referred to by one of its attributes

ex: Hollywood (used to mean the American film and television industry), White House (used to represent the US president/administration)

personification

inanimate objects are given human characteristics

ex: the flowers danced in the nightly breeze

periphrasis

a descriptive word or phrase is used to refer to a proper name

ex: The New york rangers and New York Islanders vie to be the best hockey team in the Big Apple.

pun

a word that suggests two of its meanings or the meaning of a homonym.

ex: need an arc? I noah guy, A bike can’t stand on its own because its two-tired

anthimeria

one part of speech, usually a verb, substitutes for another, usually a noun

ex: when the little leaguers lost the championship, they needed just to have a good cry before they could feel okay about their season

onomatopoeia

sounds of words used are related to their meaning

ex: the puck whizzed and zipped over the ice, then clattered into the goal

hyperbole

an overstatement

ex: he couldn’t make that shot again if he tried a million times

litotes

understatement

ex:"It's not rocket science" meaning "It is easy to do."

Jargon

specialized or technical vocab used by a particular profession, trade, or group that is difficult for outsiders to understand.

ex: Myocardial infarction (instead of saying heart attack)

irony

words meant to convey the opposite of their literal meaning

ex: a pilot has a fear of heights

sarcasm

when irony has a particular biting or bitter tone

ex: oh great, another homework quiz

oxymoron

words that have contradictory meanings that are placed near each other

ex: jumbo shrimp, deafening silence

rhetorical question

a question that is designed not to secure an answer but to move the development of an idea forward and suggest a point (aka cause an effect rather than get an answer)

ex: hasn’t the state of intercollegiate athletics reached a point where the line between professionalism and amateurism is blurred? (packet example), or who knows? (used to show that an answer is unknown/uncertain)

parenthesis

the first scheme that is used to interrupt the flow of a passage to provide necessary information

ex: sports night at the school always brings out the wanna-be jocks (who would expect any different?) ready to show that they’re potentially as good as the varsity players

appositive

a construction in which two coordinating elements are set aside by side, and the second explains or modifies the first

ex: Joe weider, a pioneer in personal weight training, would marvel at the facilities open to todays student athletes.

the capital of France, Paris, is a popular destination

ellipsis

Any omission (leaving out) of words.

ex: In a hockey power play, if you pass the puck to the wing, and he to you, then you can close in on the goal (“and he to you” omits the words “passes it” but the reader can infer the meaning) *can also be categorized as a punctuation mark made of 3 dots (I went to the store…and bought apples).

asyndeton

The omission of conjunctions between related clauses

ex: I skated, I scored, I cheered—what a glorious moment of sport!

alliteration

repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of in the middle of two or more adjacent words

ex: hockey is a strenuous, stimulating, satisfying sport

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of two or more adjacent words

ex: go slow over the road (short o sound), a workout partner is finally a kind, reliable, right minded helper. (long I sound)

anaphora

repetition of the same group of words at the beginning of successive clauses

ex: exercise builds stamina in young children; exercise builds stamina in teenagers and young adults; exercise builds stamina in older adults and senior citizens

epistrophe

repetition of the same group of words at the end of successive clauses

ex: …and that government of the people, by the people, for the people.

ex: to become a top player, I thought like an athlete, I trained like an athlete, I ate like an athlete.

Anadiplosis

repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause

ex: fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Climax

repetition of words, phrases, or clauses in order of increasing number of importance

ex: excellent athletes need to be respectful of themselves, their teammates, their schools, and their communities.

Denotation

a literal meaning of a word

ex: The denotation of a house would be a building where people live.

Connotation

an association, emotional or otherwise, that the word evokes. (negative connotation vs positive)

ex: (positive) He’s very thrifty!

ex: (negative) He’s very stingy with his money

Scheme

any artful variation from the typical arrangement of words in a sentence

aka- figures of speech that deal with word order, syntax, letters, and sounds rather than the meaning of words

ex: (schemes of repetition, schemes of word order, etc)

Trope

any artful variation from the typical or expected way a word or idea is expressed

aka: figurative language (manipulating the meanings of words)

Parallelism

Ideas expressed in the same grammatical form to balance ideas that fulfill a similar function; ensures the writing is measured, deliberate, and balanced.

ex: Rivka discovers the bitter truth about her husbands hidden life, her son’s death, and that Herman wasn’t sending her letters all along (these 3 elements all serve the same function- as they are all things she discovers the bitter truth about)

Parallelism of words

ex:

exercise physiologists argue that body pump aerobatic sessions benefit a persons heart and lungs, muscles and nerves, and

Parallelism of phrases

ex:

exercise physiologists argue that body pump aerobatic sessions help a person breathe more efficiently, move with less discomfort, and avoid injury

Parallelism of clauses

ex:

exercise physiologists argue that body pump aerobatics is the most efficient exercise class, that bp (body pump) participants show greater gains in stamina than participants in comparable exercise programs, and that bp aerobics is less expensive in terms of equipment and training needed to lead classes.

antithesis

parallelism of words, phrases, or clauses that contrast

antithesis of words: when distance runners reach a state of focus, they find themselves mentally engaged, yet detached

antithesis of phrases: when distance runners reach a state of focus,they find themselves mentally engaged with their physical surroundings yet detached from moment to moment concerns abt their conditions

antithesis of clauses: when distance runners reach a state of focus,they find that they are empirically engaged with their physical surrounds, yet they are also completely detached from moment to moment concerns about their conditioning.

antimetabole

words that are repeated in different grammatical forms

ex: when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

you can take the kid out the country, but not the country out the kid

Simple sentence

a sentence with a single independent clause

ex: Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union.

Compound sentence

A sentence that contains 2 clauses, each of which could exist as a simple sentence if you removed the conjunction connecting them.

ex: Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union, and Andrew Johnston assisted him.

complex sentence

a sentence that contains two clauses, one independent and at least one subordinate to the main clause.

ex: When the leaders of the Confederacy insisted that the rights of the states were more important than the maintenance of the Union, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnston struggled to save the Union and persevered.

Compound-complex sentence

A sentence that has the defining features of both a compound sentence and a complex sentence.

When the leaders of the Confederacy insisted that the rights of the states were more important than the maintenance of the Union, Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union and persevered, and Andrew Johnson assisted him.

Loose sentences

a basic sentence with details added immediately at the end of the basic sentence elements.

ex:

sentence with 2 basic elements: Abe Lincoln wept.

Loose sentence: Abe Lincoln wept, fearing that the Union would not survive if the southern states seceded.

Periodic sentences

A sentence in which additional details are placed in the one of two positions, either before the basic sentence elements or in the middle.

ex:

sentence with 2 basic elements: Abe Lincoln wept.

Periodic sentence that has details BEFORE: Alone in his study, lost in somber thoughts about his beloved country, dejected but not broken in spirit, Abe Lincoln wept.

Periodic sentences that has details in the MIDDLE: Abe Lincoln, alone in his study, lost in somber thoughts about his beloved country, dejected but not broken in spirit, wept.

Euphony/Euphonious (sounds of words)

The quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through a harmonious combination of words

ex: So long lives this, and this gives life to thee

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see

Cacophony/Cacophonous (sounds of words)

a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds

ex: Did gyre and gimble in the wabe or Twas brillig, and the slithy toves (uses strange and harsh words to create an unsettling effect)

Antanaclasis (trope- fig. language)

to repeat a word or phrase but with a different meaning than in the first case.

ex: If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired, with enthusiasm. (football coach pov)

if you don’t look good, we don’t look good (hairdresser pov)

Euphemism (trope- fig. language)

a polite or mild word or expression used to refer to something embarrassing, taboo, or unpleasant.

ex: letting someone go instead of firing an employee, passed away instead of died, thrifty instead of cheap, between jobs instead of unemployed, etc.

Active voice

The subject is performing the action

Doer—> action—> receiver (subject+verb+object)

ex: the dog caught the frisbee, the cat chased the mouse

Passive voice

The subject is having the action done to it

Receiver—>action (by doer)

ex: The frisbee was caught by the dog, the mouse was chased by the cat.

Ladder of abstraction

A way of organizing ideas that move up from specific to general and back down again.

ex: education—> teaching profession—> highschool teacher—> Mrs Dabezic

Zeugma (parallelism)

a figure in which more than one item in a sentence is governed by a single word

ex: She broke his car and his heart, You held your breath and the door for me