AP Glossary Flash Cards
Active Voice Definiton
The subject of the sentence performs the action.
Active Voice Example
You must not leave the door open.
Active Voice Effect
Makes writing more concise and more engaging.
Allusion Definition
An indirect reference to something with which the reader is supposed to be familiar.
Allusion Example
If it doesn’t stop raining, I’m going to build an ark.
Allusion Effect
Designed to call comparisons in mind to get the writers point across.
Alter-ego Definition
When an author speaks directly to the audience through a character.
Alter-ego Example
The narrator in the story tells the reader what is happening in the story and why it is happening.
Alter-ego Effect
It allows the author to communicate with the audience more smoothly instead of disrupting the flow of the writing.
Anecdote Definition
A brief recounting of a relevant episode.
Anecdote Example
I wish I studied for the test better. I spent so much time goofing and and not taking the class seriously that when the time for the test cam around I didn’t know anything on it. I got such a terrible grade and was ground as well.
Anecdote Effect
Effect is often to create an emotional or sympathetic response.
Antecedent Definition
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
Antecedent Example
(Bob Frank) like his toys. (Antecedent)
Antecedent Effect
Effect is it makes the composition words, grammar, and the expression of the writers clear and precise.
Classicism Definition
Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world.
Classicism Example
An example of this would be Renaissance Paintings
Classicism Effect
The effect of this is it has throwback the audience to classics of the Greeks and Romans due to the style similarity.
Comic Relief Definition
When a humorous scene is inserted into a serious story, in order to lighten the mood
somewhat.
Comic Relief Example
As the fat man is running from the gunman he sees a donut stand and stops to buy donuts, eat them, and then starts running again screaming.
Comic Relief Effect
Gives the audience a breather during tense situations.
Diction Definition
Word choice, particularly as an element of style.
Diction Example
Formal: Germs
Informal: Bug
Diction Effect
Creates a certain tone that supports purpose
Colloquial Definition
Ordinary or familiar type of conversation.
Colloquial Example
You’re nuts.
Colloquial Effect
Useful in creating a bond between reader and writer that makes it easier for the reader to agree with the writer’s point of view
Connotation Definition
The associations suggested by a
word. Implied meaning rather than literal meaning.
Connotation Example
Neutral; visitor
Positive; Guest
Negative; Intruder
Connotation Effect
Create emotional associations that can be either positive, negative, or neutral.
Denotation Definition
The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.
Denotation Example
Star is a ball of light/glass in the sky.
Denotation Effect
Used when an author wants the reader to understand a word, phrase, or sentence in its literal form, without other implied, associated, or suggested meanings.
Jargon Definition
The diction used by a group which practices a similar profession or activity.
Jargon Example
Bang for the buck
Jargon Effect
Condenses meaning and allows us to share information effectively
Vernacular Definition
- Language or dialect of a particular country. 2. Language or dialect of a regional
clan or group. 3. Plain everyday speech
Vernacular Example
Example?
Vernacular Effect
Effect?
Didactic Definition
A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or
provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.
Didactic Example
Slow and steady wins the race is what the tortoise and the heir taught children.
Didactic Effect
Type of literature that’s primary purpose is to teach a lesson (moral, political, religious, etc) to the reader.
Adage Definition
A folk saying with a lesson.
Adage Example
You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Adage Effect
expresses a general fact or truth about life
Allegory Definition
A story, fictional or non fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts.
Allegory Example
Superman who is afraid of nothing, he is confident in his powers. What can bring this almighty person to his knees, a mysterious rock called kryptonite.
Allegory Effect
Create some distance between themselves and the issues they are discussing, especially when those issues are strong critiques of political or societal realities.
Aphorism Definition
A terse statement which expresses a general truth or moral principle.
Aphorism Example
“Honesty is the best policy.” Benjamin Franklin
Aphorism Effect
Affords writers wonderful opportunity to mean what they say and say what they mean.
Passive Voice Definition
The subject of the sentence receives the action.
Passive Voice Example
The cat was petted by Beth.
Passive Voice Effect
Highlight important events by putting them in the beginning of the sentence.
Ellipsis Definition
The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author.
Ellipsis Example
Hello….. I guess
Ellipsis Effect
Adds effect to the writing like suspense
Euphemism Definition
A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.
Euphemism Example
Original sentence: Uncle Bill died last year.
Euphemism: Uncle Keith passed away laster.
Euphemism Effect
Allows a writer to address potentially sensitive, offensive, or unpleasant subjects in a more delicate or less damaging manner than literal words or phrasings would be.
Figurative Language Definition
Writing that is not meant to be taken literally.
Figurative Language Example
Metaphor, Simile, Personification
Figurative Language Effect
It makes the descriptions in the text more vivid to the reader, and it helps readers to visualize what they are reading.
Analogy Definition
Comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables.
Analogy Example
In is to out as up is to down
Analogy Effect
Showing a connection between two different things, writers help to explain something important about one thing by using a second thing you already know about.
Hyperbole Definition
Exaggeration
Hyperbole Example
My mother will kill me if she finds out I broke the TV.
Hyperbole Effect
Used to highlight points and add emphasis to a feeling, an idea, an action, or a feature.
Idiom Definition
A common, often used expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally.
Idiom Example
I got chewed out by my mom.
Idiom Effect
Used to add dynamism and character to otherwise stale writing.
Metaphor Definition
Making an implied comparison, not using “like,” as,” or other such words.
Metaphor Example
He shines so bright that he is the sun.
Metaphor Effect
Allows writers to convey vivid imagery that transcends literal meanings, creates images that are easier to understand and respond to than literal language
Metonymy Definition
Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept.
Metonymy Example
Relations between Chicago and New York have been strained.
Metonymy Effect
Allows the reader a more profound way of considering the meaning of an image or concept that the writer is trying to convey.
Synecdoche Definition
A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa.
Synecdoche Example
Check out my new windows.
Synecdoche Effect
Allow speakers to emphasize certain parts of a whole, highlighting their importance by substituting them for the whole. They also draw attention to the power of associative and referential thinking, as readers automatically understand that a part can stand for the whole and vice versa.
Simile Definition
Using words such as “like” or “as” to make a direct comparison between two very
different things.
Simile Example
His nails are sharp as claws.
Simile Effect
Can create a vivid image in the reader’s mind, helping to engage and absorb them.
Synesthesia Definition
a description involving a “crossing of the senses.”
Synesthesia Example
I was deafened by his brightly-colored clothing.
Synesthesia Effect
Allows authors to deliver another level of description in literature. It challenges readers to think out of the box and reinterpret their senses as they know them.
Personification Definition
Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.
Personification Example
The wind screamed as it blew past me.
Personification Effect
Provides personality, energy, will, and emotion to an otherwise lifeless scene.
Foreshadowing Definition
When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.
Foreshadowing Example
There killer hiding behind the second door waiting for an unexpecting person to walk by. Poor Bob gets closer and closer to the second door unexpecting of what lies in wait.
Foreshadowing Effect
It is a technique used to change the perception of the audience by providing them with more knowledge than to some or all of actual characters involved. Depending on how it is used, it can serve as an element for humor, fear, tension, excitement, suspicion or, most commonly, suspense and anticipation.
Genre Definition
The major category into which a literary work fits.
Genre Example
Fiction, Nonfiction
Genre Effect
Give writers a specific type of literature to work within. Allow people to classify literature, to deem what is appropriate for a certain type of literature, and to judge the merit of literature based on its genre.
Gothic Definition
Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.
Gothic Example
Horror story written for suspense and to scare the reader.
Gothic Effect
Romantic literature elicits personal pleasure from natural beauty, and Gothic fiction takes this aesthetic reaction and subverts it by creating delight and confusion from terror.
Imagery Definition
Word or words that create a picture in the reader’s mind. Usually this involves the five senses.
Imagery Example
As I picked up the bag I felt the mysterious liquid in it slowly run down my arm.
Imagery Effect
It allows readers to directly sympathize with characters and narrators as they imagine having the same sense experiences.
Invective Definition
A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.
Invective Example
You are so weak even a mouse can bully you!
Invective Effect
Invective is an important literary device in that the insult can arouse negative emotion in the audience as well as the target of the insult.
Irony Definition
When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.
Irony Example
A fire station burns down
Irony Effect
Points us towards deeper meanings of a situation.
Verbal irony Definition
When you say something and mean the opposite/something different
Verbal irony Example
Hitting the ball accurately with everything you got takes no effort at all.
Verbal irony Effect
This approach to irony can help the reader gain insight into each character’s personality.
Dramatic irony Definition
When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the character doesn’t and would be surprised to find out.
Dramatic irony Example
Knowing the choice the character made was the wrong one, while the character themselves believed they made the correct choice.
Dramatic irony Effect
Puts the audience and readers above the characters, and also encourages them to anticipate, hope, and fear the moment when a character would learn the truth behind events and situations of the story.
Situational irony Definition
Found in the plot (or story line) of a book, story, or movie.
Situational irony Example
You walk down the side of the street and see a fire hydrant on fire.
Situational irony Effect
Can make a plot twist more interesting, draw attention to a reader’s unwarranted biases, or show how a character handles an unexpected situation.
Juxtaposition Definition
Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.
Juxtaposition Example
A well dressed lady in the finest clothes returns home to a small run down house.
Juxtaposition Effect
Used to fully illustrate a character in a novel, complicate a poem’s subjects, or convince an audience to feel a certain way about the subjects.
Mood Definition
The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction)
Mood Example
Tense air around the characters as they sit silently staring at each other with stares as sharp as blades.
Mood Effect
Evokes various emotional responses in readers, and thus ensures their emotional attachment to the literary piece they read.
Motif Definition
a recurring idea in a piece of literature
Motif Effect
Motifs allow authors, writers, and directors to create a more poetic and structured narrative, cluing in readers and audiences to symbols of larger ideas. Motifs are partners to themes, as repetitive images and symbols emphasize the overarching themes of the work.
Oxymoron Definition
When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox
Oxymoron Example
Smart fool
Oxymoron Effect
Challenge audiences in speeches, poetry, and prose with confusing phrases that apparently contradict themselves, but upon further inspection, make sense. Oxymora encourage audiences to think beyond everyday logic in order to critically think about and understand paradoxes.
Pacing Definition
The speed or tempo of an author’s writing
Pacing Example
A story can be fast, sluggish, stabbing, vibrato, staccato, measured, etc.
Pacing Effect
Affects the mood of your story, helps develop ideas and themes, and allows your readers to connect to the characters and the events that surround them.
Paradox Definition
A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true
Paradox Example
I must be cruel only to be kind.
Paradox Effect
Used to illustrate the speaker or writer’s opinion which is contradictory to accepted traditional thought on the subject.
Parallelism Definition
Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns.
Parallelism Example
One step for man one leap for mankind.
Parallelism Effect
Simple uses of parallelism create readable and understandable passages. More importantly, though, parallelism also provides prose, poetry, and speeches with symmetry that the human eye and ear both crave. This symmetry creates a rhythm and repetition which can make phrases more catchy, memorable, or compelling.
Anaphora Definition
Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row.
Anaphora Example
I’m sick and tired of these vocab words. I’m sick of tired of doing this. I’m sick and tired of having to type this already.
Anaphora Effect
Anaphora serves to emphasize certain ideas, which can stir up associated emotions and appeal to the audience in order to inspire, convince, or challenge.
Chiasmus Definition
When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed
Chiasmus Example
Work hard so that in time you can see your hard work.
Chiasmus Effect
Great way to make readers perceive your writing as more complete.
Antithesis Definition
Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.
Antithesis Example
It was so much fun, it was the worst time I have ever had.
Antithesis Effect
Used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.
Zeugma Definition
When a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies.
Zeugma Example
The girls left the room with tear-filled eyes and hearts.
