AP English 11 Literary Terms

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

A brief reference to a person or thing, most often from history, mythology, or religion

Question 2

Ambiguity

Answer 2

multiple meanings

Question 3

analogy

Answer 3

a resemblance between two different things which require more explanation than a simile would require, using something familiar to explain the unfamiliar

Question 4

assonance

Answer 4

the close repetition of similar vowel sounds

Question 5

Cacophany

Answer 5

discordant or harsh sounds

Question 6

chiasmus

Answer 6

a verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first half with the parts reversed. (fair is foul, foul is fair)

Question 7

connotation

Answer 7

the implied or suggested meanings evoked by a word

Question 8

Consonance

Answer 8

close repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowels (flip flop and east west)

Question 9

denotation

Answer 9

a words most literal and limited meaning

Question 10

dissonance

Answer 10

cacophany

Question 11

hyperbole

Answer 11

exaggeration for effect

Question 12

inversion

Answer 12

the reversal of normal order of words in a sentence

Question 13

irony

Answer 13

a result opposite from what is expected (dramatic irony, situation irony, verbal irony)

Question 14

litotes

Answer 14

understatement for effect

Question 15

metaphor

Answer 15

comparing two fundamentally different things without using “like” or “as”

Question 16

metonymy

Answer 16

substitution of one word or phrase for another that is very closely associated with it (the white house declared today…)

Question 17

neologism

Answer 17

a newly coined word or phrase (eg chortle)

Question 18

oxymoron

Answer 18

a two-word apparent contradiction (ash snowflakes)

Question 19

paradox

Answer 19

an apparently contradictory statement that contains a basis of truth that reconciles the seeming opposites

Question 20

parallel structure

Answer 20

repetition of two or more items using identical grammatical structure within each item

Question 21

personification

Answer 21

giving human or life-like qualities to nonhuman objects or abstract ideas (tears trudge from her eyes)

Question 22

simile

Answer 22

comparing two fundamentally different things using “like” and “as” (bodies like driftwood in a stream)

Question 23

syllepsis

Answer 23

a figure of speech in which the same word is applied to two others in different senses (creased-up cardboard and annoyed face)

Question 24

symbol

Answer 24

something concrete that stands for something abstract

Question 25

synecdoche

Answer 25

substitution of a part of the whole (all hands on deck)

Question 26

synesthesia

Answer 26

the intermingling of sensations/crossing the lines between the senses (sound of the smell of the footsteps)

Question 27

Alliteration

Answer 27

Close repetition of similar consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words

Question 35

allegory

Answer 35

An extended narrative that carries a second meaning along with the surface story

Question 35

apostrophe

Answer 35

a personified abstraction or the addressing of a person not present

Question 36

Asyndeton

Answer 36

a list or a series in which no "and" is used at all; the items in the list are separated by commas alone

Question 36

diction

Answer 36

word choice

Question 36

euphony

Answer 36

agreeable sounds

Question 37

figurative language

Answer 37

makes use of figures of speech- most of which are techniques for comparing dissimilar objects, to achieve effects beyond the range of literal language

Question 37

genre

Answer 37

a literary type or class

Question 38

imagery

Answer 38

the use of language to create visual pictures

Question 38

meiosis

Answer 38

litotes

Question 39

onomatopoeia

Answer 39

using words that sound like what they mean

Question 40

paraphrase

Answer 40

the restatement in different words of the sense of a piece of writing

Question 41

polysyndeton

Answer 41

a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction, most commonly "and" or "or"

Question 42

Precis

Answer 42

a concise summary or abstract of a longer work

Question 43

pun

Answer 43

word play involving either the use of words with two different meanings or two words spelled differently but with similar meanings

Question 44

repetition

Answer 44

a fundamental device in art- assonance, alliteration, consonance, and parallelism

Question 45

rhetoric

Answer 45

the art of using words effectively in speaking or in writing

Question 46

sarcasm

Answer 46

bitter, derisive expression; verbal irony

Question 47

satire

Answer 47

ridicule of any subject

Question 47

solecism

Answer 47

deviation from conventional grammar, syntax, or pronunciation

Question 48

syntax

Answer 48

the arrangement of and relationships among words, phrases, and clauses forming sentences (sentence structure)

Question 49

tautology

Answer 49

needless repetition of an idea using different words (died of a fatal dose of heroin)

Question 50

tone

Answer 50

the authors attitude towards his subject shown indirectly

Question 51

trope

Answer 51

in general, any rhetorical or figurative device

Question 52

zuegma

Answer 52

syllepsis

Question 53

stream of consciousness

Answer 53

writing that reflects the natural, realistic flow of a characters thoughts

Question 53

syllogism

Answer 53

a deduction from two propositions (all men are mortal, greeks are men, therefore, all greeks are mortal)