AP Lang Vocab

Alliteration: The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutive words or

syllables.

Allusion: An indirect reference, often to another text or an historic event.

Analogy: An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.

Anaphora: The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

Anecdote: A short account of an interesting event.

Antecedent: The noun to which a later pronoun refers.

Aphorism: A short, astute statement of a general truth.

Archaic diction: The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.

Asyndeton: Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses.

Attitude: The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.

Audience: One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writing is addressed.

Authority: A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.

Bias: Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.

Colloquial/ism: An informal or conversational use of language.

Common ground: Shared beliefs, values, or positions.

Complex sentence: A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Concession: A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.

4Connotation: That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning (see

denotation).

Coordination: Grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating

conjunction such as and, or but.

Context: The factors around the text at its inception, including the time, place, history, etc.

Counterargument: A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.

Declarative sentence: A sentence that makes a statement.

Deduction: Reasoning from general to specific.

Denotation: The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.

Diction: Word choice.

Ethos: A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals

(see logos and pathos).

Exigence: The moment or event that motivates the speaker to write or speak about an issue, topic, or

situation.

Figurative language: The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve

literary effect.

Figure of speech: An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.

Hyperbole: Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.

Imagery: Vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing).

Imperative sentence: A sentence that requests or commands.

Induction: Reasoning from specific to general.

Irony: A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.

Juxtaposition: Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.

Logos: A Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals

(see ethos and pathos) .

Metaphor: A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something

else, thus making an implicit comparison.

5Metonymy: Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole.

Oxymoron: A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.

Paradox: A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.

Parallelism: The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.

Parody: A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect

or ridicule.

Pathos: A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to

emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).

Persona: The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.

Personification: Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.

Polysyndeton: The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.

Propaganda: A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.

Purpose: One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.

Refute: To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.

Rhetoric: The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle, use of the “available

means of persuasion.

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Rhetorical modes: Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but

are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition,

exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.

Rhetorical question: A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.

Satire: An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues

against it.

Scheme: A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect.

Sentence patterns: The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence

constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

Simile: A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.

Simple sentence: A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause.

6Speaker: A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is

being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.

Straw man: A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position; misrepresenting,

then attacking an opponent’s position.

Style: The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and

figures of speech.

Subordinate clause: Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent

clause.

Subordination: The dependence of one syntactic element on another in a sentence.

Syntax: Sentence structure.

Synthesize: Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.

Thesis: The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.

Thesis statement: A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.

Tone: The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.

Topic sentence: A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the

paragraph’s idea and often unites it with the work’s thesis.

Understatement: Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic

effect.

Voice: In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In

rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.