Ap Literary Terms

Front 1

Parallelism

Back 1

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

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Isocolon

Back 2

scheme of parallel construction which occurs when the parallel elements are similar in not only grammatical structure but also in length.

Front 3

Antithesis

Back 3

juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure. the contrast may be in words or in ideas or both.

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Anastrophe

Back 4

Inversion of the natural or usual word order.

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Parenthesis

Back 5

Inversion of some verbal unity in a position that interrupts the normal syntactical flow of the sentence.

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Apposition

Back 6

Placing side by side two coordinate elements, the second of which serves as an explanation or modification of the first.

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Ellipsis

Back 7

Deliberate omission of a word or of words which are readily implied by the context

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Asyndeton

Back 8

Deliberate omission of conjunction between a series of related clauses.

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Polysyndeton

Back 9

Deliberate use of many conjunctions.

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Alliteration

Back 10

The sound of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words.

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Assonance

Back 11

Repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants.

Front 12

Anaphora

Back 12

Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

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Epistrophe

Back 13

The repetition of the same word or group at the ends of successive clauses.

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Epanalepsis

Back 14

Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause.

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Anadiplosis

Back 15

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause.

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Climax

Back 16

Arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance.

Front 17

Antimetabole

Back 17

Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order.

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Chiasmus

Back 18

Reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses.

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Polyptoton

Back 19

Repetition of words derived from the same root.

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Metaphor

Back 20

Implied comparison between two things of unlike nature.

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Simile

Back 21

Explicit comparison between two things of unlike nature using like or as.

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Synecdoche

Back 22

Figure of speech in which a part stands for a whole (or vice versa).

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Metonymy

Back 23

Substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant.

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Antanaclasis

Back 24

Repetition of a word in two different senses.

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Paronomasia

Back 25

Use of words alike in sound but different in meaning.

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Syllepsis

Back 26

Use of a word understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs.

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Anthimeria

Back 27

Substitution of one part of speech for another.

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Periphrasis

Back 28

Substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name.

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Personification

Back 29

Investing abstractions for inanimate objects' heightened effect.

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Hyperbole

Back 30

Use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.

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Litote

Back 31

Deliberate use of understatement.

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Rhetorical Question

Back 32

Asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely.

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Irony

Back 33

Use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word.

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Onomatopoeia

Back 34

Use of words whose sound echoes the sense.

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Oxymoron

Back 35

Yoking of two terms which are ordinarily contradictory.

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Paradox

Back 36

Apparently contradictory statement that nevertheless contains a measure of truth.

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Synesthesia

Back 37

When one sensory experience is described in terms of another sensory experience (to create an effective yet mixed combination of senses).

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Aphorism

Back 38

Calling into question the proper use of a word.

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Euphamism

Back 39

Substituting a more favorable term for a socially delicate term.