Terminology For Ap Language And Composition

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Alliteration

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The repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of consecutivewords or syllables.

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Allusion

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An indirect reference, often to another text or an historic even

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Analogy

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An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.

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Anaphora

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The repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

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Anecdote

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A short account of an interesting event.

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Annotation

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Explanatory or critical notes added to a text.

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Antecedent

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The noun to which a later pronoun refers.

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Antimetabole

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The repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen a contrast.

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Antithesis

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Parallel structure that juxtaposes contrasting ideas.

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Aphorism

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A short, astute statement of a general truth.

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Appositive

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A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun.

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Archaic diction

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The use of words common to an earlier time period; antiquated language.

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Argument

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A statement put forth and supported by evidence.

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Aristotelian triangle

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A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see rhetorical triangle).

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Assertion

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An emphatic statement; declaration. An assertion supported by evidence becomes an argument.

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Assumption

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A belief or statement taken for granted without proof.

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Asyndeton

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Leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, clauses.

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Attitude

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The speaker’s position on a subject as revealed through his or her tone.

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Audience

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One’s listener or readership; those to whom a speech or piece of writingis addressed.

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Authority

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A reliable, respected source—someone with knowledge.

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Bias

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Prejudice or predisposition toward one side of a subject or issue.

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Cite

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Identifying a part of a piece of writing as being derived from a source.

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Claim

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An assertion, usually supported by evidence.

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Close reading

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A careful reading that is attentive to organization, figurative language,sentence structure, vocabulary, and other literary and structural elements of a text.

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Colloquial/ism

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An informal or conversational use of language.

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Common ground

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Shared beliefs, values, or positions.

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Complex sentence

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A sentence that includes one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

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Concession

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A reluctant acknowledgment or yielding.

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Connotation

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That which is implied by a word, as opposed to the word’s literal meaning (see denotation).

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Context

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Words, events, or circumstances that help determine meaning.Coordination

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Coordination

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Grammatical equivalence between parts of a sentence, often through a coordinating conjunction such as and, or but.

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Counterargument

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A challenge to a position; an opposing argument.Cumulative sentence An independent clause followed by subordinate clauses or phrases that supply additional detail.

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Declarative sentence

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A sentence that makes a statement.

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Deduction

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Reasoning from general to specific.

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Denotation

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The literal meaning of a word; its dictionary definition.

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Diction

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Word choice.

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Documentation

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Bibliographic information about the sources used in a piece ofwriting.

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Elegiac

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Mournful over what has passed or been lost; often used to describe tone.

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Epigram

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A brief witty statement.

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Ethos

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A Greek term referring to the character of a person; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see logos and pathos).

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Figurative language

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The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect

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Figure of speech

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An expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning.

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Hyperbole

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Exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis.

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Imagery

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Vivid use of language that evokes a reader’s senses (sight, smell, taste,touch, hearing).

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Imperative sentence

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A sentence that requests or commands.

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Induction

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Reasoning from specific to general.

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Inversion

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A sentence in which the verb precedes the subject.

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Irony

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A contradiction between what is said and what is meant; incongruity between action and result.

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Juxtaposition

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Placement of two things side by side for emphasis.

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Logos

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A Greek term that means “word”; an appeal to logic; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and pathos) .

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Metaphor

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A figure of speech or trope through which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else, thus making an implicit comparison.

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Metonymy

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Use of an aspect of something to represent the whole.

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Occasion

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An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing.

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Oxymoron

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A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.

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Paradox

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A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.

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Parallelism

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The repetition of similar grammatical or syntactical patterns.

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Parody

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A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.

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Pathos

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A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).

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Persona

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The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece ofwriting.

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Personification

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Assigning lifelike characteristics to inanimate objects.

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Polemic

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An argument against an idea, usually regarding philosophy, politics, or religion.

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Polysyndeton

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The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.

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Premise: major, minor

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Two parts of a syllogism. The concluding sentence of asyllogism takes its predicate from the major premise and its subject from the minor premise.

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Major premise

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All mammals are warm-blooded.

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Minor premise

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All horses are mammals.

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Conclusion

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All horses are warm-blooded (see syllogism).

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Propaganda

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A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.

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Purpose

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One’s intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.

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Refute

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To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.

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Rhetoric

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The study of effective, persuasive language use; according to Aristotle,use of the “available means of persuasion.”

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Rhetorical modes

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Patterns of organization developed to achieve a specific purpose; modes include but are not limited to narration, description, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, definition, exemplification, classification and division, process analysis, and argumentation.

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Rhetorical question

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A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.

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Rhetorical triangle

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A diagram that represents a rhetorical situation as the relationship among the speaker, the subject, and the audience (see Aristotelian triangle).

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Satire

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An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues against it.

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Scheme

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A pattern of words or sentence construction used for rhetorical effect.

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Sentence patterns

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The arrangement of independent and dependent clauses into known sentence constructions—such as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

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Sentence variety

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Using a variety of sentence patterns to create a desired effect.

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Simile

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A figure of speech that uses “like” or “as” to compare two things.

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Simple sentence

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A statement containing a subject and predicate; an independent clause.

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Source

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A book, article, person, or other resource consulted for information

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Speaker

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A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.

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Speaker

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A term used for the author, speaker, or the person whose perspective (real or imagined) is being advanced in a speech or piece of writing.

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Straw man

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A logical fallacy that involves the creation of an easily refutable position; misrepresenting, then attacking an opponent’s position.

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Style

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The distinctive quality of speech or writing created by the selection and arrangement of words and figures of speech.

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Subject

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In rhetoric, the topic addressed in a piece of writing.

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Subordinate clause

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Created by a subordinating conjunction, a clause that modifies an independent clause.

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Subordination

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The dependence of one syntactical element on another in a sentence.

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Syntax

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Sentence structure.

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Syllogism

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A form of deductive reasoning in which the conclusion is supported by a major and minor premise (see premise; major, and minor).

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Synthesize

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Combining or bringing together two or more elements to produce something more complex.

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Thesis

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The central idea in a work to which all parts of the work refer.

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Thesis statement

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A statement of the central idea in a work, may be explicit or implicit.

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Tone

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The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience.

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Topic sentence

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A sentence, most often appearing at the beginning of a paragraph, that announces the paragraph’s idea and often unites it with the work’s thesis.

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Trope

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Artful diction; the use of language in a nonliteral way; also called a figure of speech.

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Understatement

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Lack of emphasis in a statement or point; restraint in language often used for ironic effect.

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Voice

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In grammar, a term for the relationship between a verb and a noun (active or passive voice). In rhetoric, a distinctive quality in the style and tone of writing.

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Zeugma

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A construction in which one word (usually a verb) modifies or governs—often in different, sometimes incongruent ways—two or more words in a sentence.