Ap Comp Vocabulary

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narrative

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the telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events

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onomatopoeia

Back 2

a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words.

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oxymoron

Back 3

Greek for "pointedly foolish"
A figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox.

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paradox

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a statement that apprears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validdity

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parallelism

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Greek for "beside one another"
It refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs to give structural similarity

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parody

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a work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule.

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pedantic

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an adjective that describes words, phrases or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish

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periodic sentence

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a sentence that presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end.

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personification

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a figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions.

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point of view

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the perspective from which the story is told.

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predicate adjective

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one type of subject complement--an adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clauses that follows a linking verb.

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predicate nominative

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a second type of suject complement--a noun, a group of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject

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prose

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one of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms, becaues they are written in ordinary language and most closely resemble everyday speech.

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repetition

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the duplication, either exact or approximate, or any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern

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rhetoric

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Greek for "orator" rhetoric describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently and persuasively

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rhetorical modes

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describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing. Exposition, argumentation, description, narration

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sarcasm

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Greek for "to tear flesh" sarcasm invovles bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something.

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satire

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a work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and conventions for reform or ridicule.

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semantics

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thebranch of linguistics that sudies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.

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style

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the unique characteristics of hwo a writer communicates with words and word groups

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subject complement

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the word (with any accompanying phrases) or clause that foloows a linking verb and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentences by either (1) renaming it or (2) describing it.

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subordinate clause

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contains both a subject and a verb, but unlike the independent clause, the subordinate clause cannot stand alone; it does not express a complete thought.

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syllogism

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Greek for "reckoning together" a sllogism is a deductive systeem or formal logic that presents two premises that inevitable lead to a sound conclusion.

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symbol/symbolism

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Anything that represents, stands for, something else is a symbol. Usually a symbol is somethin concrete--such as an object, action, character or scene--that represents something more abstract.

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syntax

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the way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and seentences

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theme

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the central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into like.

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thesis

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in expository writing, the thesis statement is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author's opinioin, purpose, meaning or proposition.

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tone

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similar to mood, tone describes the author's attitude toward his or her materical, the audience or both.

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transition

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a word or phrase that links different ideas is a transition

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understatement

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the ironic minimalizing of fact, understatement presents something as less significant that it is.

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wit

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in modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights.