AP LANG AND COMP Flashcards
Active voice
The subject of the sentence performs the action.
Effect on text: tends to reveal or emphasize the actor of the sentence.
EX: Jerry knocked over the lamp.
Allusion
An indirect reference to something (usually a literary text, although it can be other things
commonly known, such as plays, songs, historical events) with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.
Effect on text : The literary device is used to enhance the text, often by making it more relatable to the reader or by illustrating either an example or the text’s overarching theme.
Example: “Chocolate cake is my Achilles heel.”
Anecdote
A brief recounting of a relevant episode. Anecdotes are often inserted into fictional or non
fictional texts as a way of developing a point or injecting humor.
Example: f a group of coworkers are discussing pets, and one coworker tells a story about how her cat comes downstairs at only a certain time of the night, then that one coworker has just told an anecdote.
Effect on text ; often provide insight into how an issue has affected someone’s life. They give a human face to facts and figures, bringing credibility to an argument by showing the events or experiences that led a writer to form their opinion.
Antecedent
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
Example of Antecedent: David plays football in the courtyard.
Diction
Word choice, particularly as an element of style. Different types of words have significant effects
on meaning.
Example: We would not address a stranger in the same way as a good friend, and we would not address a boss in that same way as a child.
Effect on text: To evoke specific emotions in his/her audience.
Colloquial
Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.
Examples of Colloquial - “There’s more than one way to skin a cat” and “He needs to step up to the plate.”
Effect on text: tell readers about the regional area of a character or the setting of a text.
Connotation
Rather than the dictionary definition (denotation), the associations suggested by a
word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
Example, “policeman,” “cop,” and “The
Man” all denote the same literal meaning of police officer, but each has a different connotation.)
Connotation
Rather than the dictionary definition (denotation), the associations suggested by a
word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
Example, “policeman,” “cop,” and “The
Man” all denote the same literal meaning of police officer, but each has a different connotation.)
Effect on text:
Understanding the connotations of words can enhance description, meaning, and tone.
Denotation
The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.
Examples of denotation: She was cold
Denotation effect on text:
Used when an author wants the reader to understand a word, phrase, or sentence in its literal form, without other implied, associated, or suggested meanings.
Jargon
The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.
Example of jargon: AWOL: Short for “absent without leave,” AWOL is military jargon used to describe a person whose whereabouts are unknown.
Effect of jargon on text: meant to enhance communication by simplifying a particular concept.
Vernacular
- Language or dialect of a particular country. 2. Language or dialect of a regional
clan or group. 3. Plain everyday speech
Vernacular effect on text : the use of vernacular helps show settings and characters.
Vernacular ex: The word “y’all” is a very common vernacular term in the American South
Didactic
A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or
provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.
Example of didactic : Every textbook and “how-to” book is an example of didacticism
Didactic effect on text : text is one that teaches and instructs, and originally.
Adage
A folk saying with a lesson.
Adage ex: “Things are not always what they seem.”
Adages effect on text: Writers tend to use adages to communicate a particular message to readers.
Allegory
A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent
qualities or concepts.
Allegory ex: Animal Farm, by George Orwell. On its surface, Animal Farm is a story about farm animals that rebel against their farmer. The underlying story, however, concerns Orwell’s disillusionment with the Bolshevik Revolution and is an indictment of the Russian government.
Allegory effect on text: Allegory allows writers to create some distance between themselves and the issues they are discussing, especially when those issues are strong critiques of political or societal realities.
Aphorism
A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle. An aphorism
can be a memorable summation of the author’s point.
Aphorism effect on text: Writers and speakers can teach universal truths to audiences, allowing them to relate to the world around them and the words of the writer.
EX: Actions speak louder than words.
Ellipsis
The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author.
Ellipsis effect on text : decreasing the amount of text displayed.
Ellipsis ex: “The whole
day, rain, torrents of rain.”
Euphemism
A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.
Sometimes they are used for political correctness.
Euphemism Ex: “Physically challenged,” in place of “crippled.”
Sometimes a euphemism is used to exaggerate correctness to add humor. “Vertically challenged”
Euphemism effect on text : Are often used ironically for comedic effect.
Figurative Language
Writing that is not meant to be taken literally.
Figurative Language ex:
The warrior has a heart of stone.
Love is a battlefield.
Baby, you are my sunshine.
Figurative Language effect on text: transforms ordinary descriptions into evocative events, enhance the emotional significance of passages, and turn prose into a form of poetry.
Analogy
An analogy is a comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables.
Analogy ex: “She’s as blind as a bat.” “
Analogy effect on text: makes connections between familiar and unfamiliar things, suggest a deeper significance, or create imagery in the reader’s mind.
Hyperbole
Exaggeration.
Hyperbole: “My mother will kill me if I am late.”
Hyperbole effect on text: the use of over-exaggeration to emphasize a point or to be humorous.
Idiom
A common, often used expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally.
Idiom ex: “I got
chewed out by my coach.”
Idiom effect on text: amplify messages in a way that draws readers in and helps to awaken their senses.
Metaphor
Making an implied comparison, not using “like,” as,” or other such words.
Metaphor ex: “My feet
are popsicles.”
Metaphor effect on text: Elicits analogical transfer in people, so that readers abstract the entailments of the metaphor and apply them to their interpretation of the literal situation.
Metonymy
Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept.
Metonymy ex: “Relations
between London and Washington have been strained,”
metonymy effects on text: enhances literary symbolism.
Synecdoche
A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its
parts, or vice versa.
Synecdoche ex: “The cattle rancher owned 500 head.”
Synecdoche effect on text: allows for variation of expression and produces an effect for the reader.