Ap Langauge Flashcard Set One

Front 1

Aphhorism

Back 1

A concise statement which expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance

Example: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Front 2

Litotes

Back 2

An understatement in which something affirmative is expressed by negating it's opposite

Example: "My parents were not overjoyed when I came home three hours past me curfew"

Front 3

Diction

Back 3

Having to do with the word choice made by a writer

Example: Hemingways ised fews polysyllabic words; Dickens uses many polysyllabic words

Front 4

Syntax

Back 4

The manner in which words are arranged by a writer into sentences

Example: "A single sentence in a Faulkner work can sometimes be longer than an entire page, but Steinbeck tends to use simpler, shorter, sentences.

Front 5

Didactic

Back 5

Something which has it's primary purpose to teach or instruct.

Example: "Benjamin's Franklin Autobiographies shoes his readers how to be successful; Aesop's Fables presents morals."

Front 6

Connotation

Back 6

The implied association meaning of a word.

Example: ""Odor" and "Fragrance" literally means the same thing, but good things have fragrance, bad things, and odors. "

Front 7

Anaphora

Back 7

The repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences.

Example: " The repetition of words or phrases at thebeginning of consecutive lines or sentences."

Front 8

Denotation

Back 8

The literal meaning of a word

Example: Although the word “home” may suggest safetyand comfort, it’s really simply “one’s residence.”

Front 9

Symbol

Back 9

An object which is something in itself yet isused to represent something else.

Example: The dove-peace the hawk-war

Front 10

Oxymoron

Back 10

An expression in which two words thatcontradict each other are joined

Example: Jumbo shrimp, sweet sorrow, little giant

Front 11

Paradox

Back 11

An apparently contradictory statement whichactually contains some truth.

Example: Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

Front 12

Metonymy

Back 12

Substituting the name of one object for anotherobject closely associated with it.

Example: “The White House issued a statement today.”

Front 13

Analogy

Back 13

A comparison between two different thingswhich are similar in some way.

Example: By comparing conducting to politics, IgorStravinsky helped non-musicians understand hisfeelings about orchestra conductors.

Front 14

Genre

Back 14

A major category or type of literature

Example: Paradise Lost is an epic poem; The Scarlet Letteris a novel; Into Thin Air is nonfiction

Front 15

Tone

Back 15

The attitude of a writer, usually implied, towardthe subject or audience

Example: Sardonic apologetic light-hearted somber

Front 16

Allusion

Back 16

A reference to something literary, mythological,or historical

Example: Nelson Mandela’s reference to the “I Have aDream” speech in his Nobel Peace speech.

Front 17

Colloquialism

Back 17

Informal words or expressions not usuallyacceptable in formal writing.

Example: Huck Finn says, “I got fantods” to describe hisnervousness and says “shin” instead of “run.”

Front 18

Personification

Back 18

Endowing non-human objects or creatures withhuman qualities or characteristics

Example: The smiling, friendly sun was about to beswallowed by the angry clouds moving in fromthe south.

Front 19

Parody

Back 19

A humorous imitation of a serious work

Example: Parody Space balls and the space epic genre

Front 20

Hyperbole

Back 20

Intentional exaggeration to create an effect

Example: There were at least a million people at the mallwhen I went shopping Saturday.

Front 21

Apostrophe

Back 21

The act of speaking directly to an absent orimaginary person, or to some abstraction

Example: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where isthy victory?”

Front 22

Invective

Back 22

An intensely vehement, highly emotional verbalattack

Example: “My opponent is a lying, cheating, and immoralbully!”

Front 23

Euphemism

Back 23

An indirect, less offensive way of sayingsomething that is considered unpleasant.

Example: In Victorian times, ladies were said to “glisten”rather than “sweat” or “perspire.”

Front 24

Onomatopoeia

Back 24

A word formed from the imitation of sounds.

Example: The fire crackled in the fireplace. We could hearthe buzzing of the bees in the hive.