AP English Terms 1-15 Flashcards
Allegory
A narrative, either in verse or prose, in which character, action, and sometimes setting represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of a story.
Ex. The Scarlet Letter, Animal Farm
Analogy
A process of reasoning that assumes if the two subjects share a number of specific observable qualities, then they may be expected to share qualities that have not been observed.
Ex. “He that voluntarily continues ignorance is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces, as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks.” - Samuel Johnson
Anaphori
One of the devices of repetition in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses or sentences.
Ex. “What we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness.” - Robert F. Kennedy
Anastrophe
The inversion of the usual order of the parts of a sentence.
Ex. “Ready are you? My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained!” - Yoda
Antithesis
A direct juxtaposition of structurally parallel words, phrases, or clauses for the purpose of contrast.
Ex. “We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change.” - John F. Kennedy
Aphorism
A concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words.
Ex. “Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult.”
Apostrophe
A figure of speech in which someone (usually, but not always absent), some abstract quality or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present.
Ex. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel. / Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him.”
Archetype
A character, action, symbol, or situation which represents universal patterns of human nature; Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist, argued that the root of an archetype is in the ‘collective unconscious’ of mankind. The phrase ‘collective unconscious’ refers to experiences shared by a race of culture.
Assonance
The repetition of accented vowel sounds in a series of words.
Ex. The words ‘cry’ and ‘side’ have the same vowel sound.
Asyndeton
The deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series of related clauses.
Ex. “Be one of the few, the proud, the Marines.” - Marine Corps Advertisement
Cacophony
The use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing and unreel odious sounds, primarily those of consonants, to achieve desired results. Writers use cacophony as a tool to describe a discordant situation using discordant words. The use of such words allows readers to picture and feel the unpleasantness of. The situation the writer has described through words.
Ex. “My stick fingers click with a snicker.” - John Updike
Chiasmus
A type of balance in which the second part of the sentence is balanced against the first but with the part reversed; also known as antimetabole.
Ex. “My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.” -Obama
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” - JFK
Colloquial Expressions
Words or phrases characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation.
Connotation
The emotional implications that words may carry.
Denotation
The specific, exact meanings of a word, independent of its emotional coloration or associations.
