AP Vocabulary 1-20 Flashcards
(20 cards)
Anecdote
a short,simple narrative of an incident, often used for humorous effect to make a point.
Argumentation
Writing that attempts to prove the validity of a point of view or an idea by presenting “reasoned” arguments
Allegory
An extended narrative of an incident in a phrase 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.
Annotation
Explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographic data. In AP Lang. you will need to demonstrate DETAILED annotation on most of your readings.
Antithesis
The presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas balanced by word, phrase, clause, or paragraph.
Rhetoric
The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other com positional techniques.
Colloquialism
A word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing.
Connotation
Words suggesting implied meaning because of its association in a readers mind. The opposite of denotation.
Consonance
Repetition of identical consonant sounds within two or more words in close proximity (boot/beat/best/brag) or even compound words, fulfill, ping pong
Caricature
Descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of a person’s appearance or a facet personality
Coherence
The “quality” of a piece of writing in which all the parts contribute to the development of the central idea/theme or organizing principle.
Aphorism
A 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.”
Apostrophe
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.
Cacophony
Also referred to as dissonance… hard, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose;the opposite of Euphony.
Enumeration
A rhetorical device used for listing the details or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step. It is a type of amplification or division in which a subject is further distributed into components or parts. Used for clarification and detailed understanding.
Analogy
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.
Parallelism
The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or matter.
Allusion
A 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 posses enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.
Metonmy
It is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. Not to be confused with a metaphor as a metonmy is not creating a comparison.
Anaphora
The deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect is known as Anaphora. Possibly the oldest literary device has its roots in Biblical Psalms Romantic writers brought this device into practice.
