AP Language definitions 1-20

Question 1

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

Answer 1

Anecdote

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Argumentation

Question 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

Answer 3

Allegory

Question 4

explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographic data

Answer 4

Annotation

Question 5

the presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by word, phrase, clause, or paragraphs. “To be or not to be”

Answer 5

Antithesis

Question 6

The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques

Answer 6

Rhetoric

Question 7

a word or phrase used in everyday conversation

Answer 7

Colloquialism

Question 8

Words suggesting implied meaning because of it’s association in a reader’s mind

Answer 8

Connotation

Question 9

repetition of identical consonant sounds within two or more words in close proximity. Boot, Boat/ Fulfill, Ping-Pong

Answer 9

Consonance

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Coherence

Question 11

A short, often witly, 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.”

Answer 11

Aphorism

Question 12

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

Answer 12

Caricature

Question 13

the device of calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person or to a place, or personified abstraction

Answer 13

Apostrophe

Question 14

hard, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose: the opposite of Euphony

Answer 14

Cacophony

Question 15

• an idea or feeling that a word invokes into the reader

* The literal meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings the word expresses

Answer 15

• Connotation

* Denotation

Question 16

a rhetorical device used for listing the details or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step

Answer 16

Enumeration

Question 17

a comparison in which an idea or a 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

Answer 17

Analogy

Question 18

the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter

Answer 18

Parallelism

Question 19

a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or personal significance

Answer 19

Allusion

Question 20

a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which is closely associated

Answer 20

Metonymy