AP Vocabulary 1-22

Question 1

anecdote

Answer 1

short, simple narrative of an incident, often used for humorous effect or to make a point

Question 2

argumentation

Answer 2

writing that attempts to prove the validity of a point of view or an idea by presenting “reasoned” arguments: persuasive writing is a form of argumentation and is the focus of the AP language and composition program

Question 3

allegory

Answer 3

an extended narrative of an incident in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface of the story; the underlying meaning may be moral, religious, political, social, or satiric.

Question 4

annotation

Answer 4

explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographic data. In AP language you will need to demonstrate detailed annotation on most of your readings.

Question 5

antithesis

Answer 5

presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by word, phrase, clause, or paragraphs

Question 6

rhetoric

Answer 6

art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. This is the CORE of the AP language program

Question 7

colloquialism

Answer 7

word or phrase (including slang) used everyday conversations and informal writing but that is often unappropriated in formal writing

Question 8

connotation

Answer 8

words suggesting implied meaning because of it’s association in a reader’s mind. This is the opposite of “denotation”.

Question 9

consonance

Answer 9

repetition of identical consonant sounds within two or more words in close proximity: boot, beat, best, brag or even compound words fulfill, ping-pong

Question 10

caricature

Answer 10

descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of a person’s appearance or a facet of personality

Question 11

coherence

Answer 11

the “quality” of a piece of writing in which all parts contribute to the development of the central idea, theme, or organizing principle

Question 12

aphorism

Answer 12

short, often witty, statement of a principle or truth about life. Benjamin Franklin was somewhat famous for these in Poor Richard’s Almanac, e.g. “The early bird gets the worm.”

Question 13

apostrophe

Answer 13

usually in poetry, but sometimes in prose; the device of calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person or to a place, thing, or personified abstraction

Question 14

cacophony

Answer 14

also referred to as dissonance…hard, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; opposite of euphony

Question 15

connotation

Answer 15

words suggesting implied meaning; opposite of denotation

Question 16

enumeration

Answer 16

a rhetorical device used for listing the details or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step. In fact, it is a type of amplification or division in which a subject is further distributed into components or parts. Writers use this to clarify and detail understanding

Question 17

analogy

Answer 17

a comparison in which an idea or thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. It aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar

Question 18

parallelism

Answer 18

use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter. Parallelism examples are found in literary works as well as in ordinary conversations

Question 19

allusion

Answer 19

brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in the text.

Question 20

metonymy

Answer 20

figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. We can come across examples of metonymy both from literature and in everyday life. Do not confuse that with a metaphor as a metonymy is not creating a comparison.

Question 21

anaphora

Answer 21

in writing or speech, the deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect is known as anaphora. Anaphora, possibly the oldest literary device, has it’s roots in Biblical Psalms used to emphasize certain words or phases. Gradually, Elizabethan and Romantic writers brought this device into practice.

Question 22

epistrophe

Answer 22

derived from Greek word that means turning upon, which indicates the same word returns at the end of each sentence. Epistrophe is a stylistic device that can be defined as the repetition of phrases or words at the end of the clauses or sentences. It is also called epiphora. Epistrophe examples are frequently found in literary pieces, in persuasive writing and speeches. The opposite of epistrophe is anaphora.