Ap Terms (1-20)

Front 1

ad hominem argument

Back 1

"to or against the person"

appeals to emotion rather than reason, to feeling rather than intellect

“How can you argue your case for vegetarianism when you are enjoying your steak?”

Front 2

allegory

Back 2

device of using character and/or elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning.

author may intend the characters to personify an abstraction such as hope or freedom; usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence

ie Animal Farm

Front 3

alliteration

Back 3

repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds,

Front 4

allusion

Back 4

direct or indirect reference to something that is presumably commonly known

historical, literary, religious, mythical, etc

Front 5

ambiguity

Back 5

multiple meanings either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage

can also include a sense of uncertainty or inexactness that a work presents

O Rose thou art sick.

Front 6

analogy

Back 6

simularity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them

can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with, or pointing out its similarity to, something familiar

Front 7

anecdote

Back 7

short narratice acount of an amusing, unusual, revealing, or interesting event

has a single definite point and is used to clarify an abstract point, humanize individuals so that readers can relate to them, or create a memorable image

Front 8

antecedent

Back 8

word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun

antecedent of a pronoun is a noun

Front 9

antithesis

Back 9

figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced gramatical structure

resulting parallelism emphasizes opposition of ideas

Man proposes, God disposes

Front 10

aphorism

Back 10

terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth or moral principle

can be memorable summation of author's point

(called folk proverb if authorship is unknown)

"Pride hath fall"

"Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old age regret"

Front 11

apostrophe

Back 11

a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary pwerson or personified abstraction, such as liberty, love, or an inanimate object

"death be not proud"

Front 12

atmosphere

Back 12

emotional mood created by the entirety of the wrok, established partly by the setting and the partly by the author's choic of objects that are described

can foreshadow events

Front 13

caricature

Back 13

representation especially pictorial or literary in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect

synonyms: burlesque, parody, travesty, satire, lampoon

Front 14

chaismus

Back 14

inverted parallelism

Front 15

clause

Back 15

grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb

independent-complete thought

dependent- cannot stand alone and must be accompanied by an independent clause

Front 16

colloquialism

Back 16

slang or informality in speech or writing

conversational, familiar tone

Front 17

conceit*

Back 17

fanciful expression, usuallyin the form of an extended metaphor or a surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects

-“The broken heart is a damaged china pot."

Front 18

connotation

Back 18

nonliteral associative meaning, implied meaning

Front 19

denotation

Back 19

strict literal dicitionary definition

Front 20

diction

Back 20

writer's word choice

(with an adjective like formal, ornate, etc)

Front 21

didactic

Back 21

"instructive"

primary aim of teaching or instructing, especially moral or ethical principles