AP Lang Vocab 1-20

Question 1

Anecdote

Answer 1

A short, simple narrative of an incident, often used for humorous effect or to make a point.

Question 2

Argumentation

Answer 2

Writing that attempts to prove the validity of a point of view or an idea by presenting “reasoned” arguments; persuasive writing is a form of argumentation and is the focus of the AP Language and Composition Program

Question 3

Allegory

Answer 3

An extended narrative of an incident in prose or verse in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the writer intends a second meaning to be read beneath the surface of the story; the underlying meaning may be moral, religious, political, social, or satiric.

Question 4

Annotation

Answer 4

Explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographic data. In AP Lang, you will need to demonstrate DETAILED annotation on most of your readings

Question 5

Antithesis

Answer 5

The presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by word, phrase, clause, or paragraphs. “To be or not to be…” “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Question 6

Rhetoric

Answer 6

the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing especially the used of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. This is the CORE of the AP Lang Program

Question 7

Colloquialism

Answer 7

A word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing. (Y’all, ain’t, can’t, somethin’)

Question 8

Connotation

Answer 8

Words suggesting implied meaning because of its association in a readers mind. This is the opposite of “denotation”

Question 9

Consonance

Answer 9

Repetition of identical constant sounds within two or more words in close proximity: boot/ beat/ best/ brag, or even compounds words: fulfill, ping-pong

Question 10

Caricature

Answer 10

Descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of a person’s appearance or a facet of a personality.

Question 11

Coherence

Answer 11

The “quality” of a piece of writing in which all the parts contribute to the development of the central idea/ theme or organizing principle.

Question 12

Aphorism

Answer 12

A short, often witty, statement of a principle or truth about life. Benjamin Franklin was somewhat famous for these in Poor Richard’s Almanac e.g. “the early bird gets the worm.”

Question 13

Apostrophe

Answer 13

Usually in poetry, but sometimes in prose: the device of calling out to an imaginary, dead or absent person or to a place, thing, or personified abstraction.

Question 14

Cacophony

Answer 14

Also referred to as dissonance… hard, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony

Question 15

Denotation

Answer 15

The literal meaning behind a word; definition

Question 16

Enumeration

Answer 16

A rhetorical device used for listing the details or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step. In fact, it is a type of amplification or division in which a subject is a further distributed into components or parts. Writers use this to clarify and detail understanding.

Question 17

Analogy

Answer 17

An analogy is a comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. It aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar. “Structure of an atom is like a solar system. Nucleus is the sun and electrons are the planets revolving around their sun.”

Question 18

Parallelism

Answer 18

Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter. Parallelism examples are found in literary works as well as in ordinary conversations.

Question 19

Allusion

Answer 19

Allusion is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or ice of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to posses enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.

Question 20

Metonymy

Answer 20

It is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. We can come across examples of metonymy both from and in everyday life. Do not confuse this with a metaphor as a METONYMY is not creating a comparison.