Ap Lang Terms

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Allegroy

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The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.

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Style

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an author’s characteristic manner of expression – his or her diction, syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to style.

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Pedantic

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a term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing. It is scholarly and academic and often overly difficult and distant.

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Syllogism

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A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from
them. A syllogism is the format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

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Ad Hominem

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appealing to one's prejudices, emotions, or special interests rather than to one's intellect or reason.

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Pathos

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The aspects of a literary work that elicit sorrow or pity from the audience. An appeal to emotion that can be used as a means to persuade.

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Chiasmus

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A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.

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Metaphor

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A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.

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Allusion

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A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event--real or fictional.

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Denotation

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literal meaning of a word as defined

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Invective

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a verbally abusive attack

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Colloquialism

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a word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing.

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Oxymoron

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a figure of speech composed of contradictory words or phrases.

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Anaphora

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The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.

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Paradox

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a statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have a rational meaning

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Aphorism

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a short, often witty statement of a principle or a truth about life.

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Apostrophe

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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.

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Parallelism

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The similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

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Apposition

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A construction in which a noun or noun phrase is placed with another as an explanatory equivalent, both having the same syntactic relation to the other elements in the sentence.

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Asyndeton

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The omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.

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Irony

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The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the meaning is directly contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.

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Neologism

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the coining or introduction of new words or new senses for established words.

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Antimetabole

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A figure in which the same words or ideas are repeated in transposed order.

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Anecdote

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

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Synecdoche

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a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent a whole

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Satire

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A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an extreme way. Satire doesn’t simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). Satire targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals.

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Non Sequitur

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An inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence.

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Antithesis

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the presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by word, phrase, clause, or paragraphs.

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Ellipsis

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The omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete syntactical construction but not necessary for understanding.

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Understatement

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A figure of speech in which a writer deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.

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Alliteration

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The repetition of an initial consonant sound.

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Connotation

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implied or suggested meaning of a word because of its association in the reader’s mind.

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Diction

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word choice, an element of style; Diction creates tone, attitude, and style, as well as meaning. Different types and arrangements of words have significant effects on meaning.

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Litotes

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A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

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Euphemism

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a more acceptable and usually more pleasant way of saying something that might be inappropriate or uncomfortable.

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Personification

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A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or abilities.

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Analogy

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Reasoning or arguing from parallel cases.

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Symbol

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A person, place, action, or thing that (by association, resemblance, or convention) represents something other than itself.

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Hyperbole

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deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or emphasis.

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Didactic

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writing whose purpose is to instruct or to teach. A didactic work is usually formal and focuses on moral or ethical concerns.

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Isocolon

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A succession of phrases of approximately equal length and corresponding structure.

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Assonance

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The identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words.

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Polysyndeton

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using several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted.

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Parentheses

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A qualifying or amplifying word, phrase, or sentence inserted within written matter in such a way as to be independent of the surrounding grammatical structure.

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Anadiplosis

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Rhetorical repetition at the beginning of a phrase of the word or words with which the previous phrase ended.