AP Exam Vocab Flashcards
Alliteration
(If you don’t know this, you’re a dumb fuck) The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds, in two or more neighboring words.
Antithesis
A figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced grammatical structure. (Ex. “Too black for heaven, to white for hell”).
Apostrophe
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction. (Ex. “Death be not proud”).
Colloquialism
Slang or informality in speech or writing.
Diction
The writers word choices
Figurative Language
Writing or speech that is not intended to carry a literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.
Figure of speech
A device used to produce figurative language.
Narrative
The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events
Parallelism
The grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity.
Pathos
A writer or speaker’s attempt to inspire an emotional reaction in an audience.
Rhetoric
The principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively
Rhetorical Appeal
logos, ethos, and pathos
Rhetorical Modes
The variety, conventions, and purposes of the major kinds of writing
Exposition
Explain and analyze information
Argumentation
Prove the validity of an idea or point of view
Description
Recreate, invent, or visually present something so that the reader can picture what is being described
Narration
Tell a story or narrate an event or series of events
Syntax
The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences. The arrangement or order of grammatical elements in a sentence.
