AP Language and Composition Literary Devices Test

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference

Question 4

Ambiguity

Answer 4

The quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness

Question 5

Anaphora

Answer 5

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Question 6

Antecedent

Answer 6

The word phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun

Question 7

Antithesis

Answer 7

A figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other

Question 8

Aphorism

Answer 8

A pithy observation that contains a general truth, such as, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Question 9

Apostrophe

Answer 9

A rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an abstraction or inanimate object”

Question 10

Cacophony

Answer 10

A literary term that describes a blend of unharmonious sounds

Question 11

Caricature

Answer 11

A distorted representation of a person in a way that exaggerates some characteristics and oversimplifies others

Question 12

Catharsis

Answer 12

The use of strong feelings in literature to engage the reader in a type of emotional purification

Question 13

Clause

Answer 13

A group of words working together that contains both a subject and a verb

Question 14

Colloquialism

Answer 14

A literary device often used by authors as a way to convey personality and authenticity to characters

Question 15

Connotation

Answer 15

secondary, implied, or associative meanings and emotions that a word carries beyond its literal definition

Question 16

Diction

Answer 16

A writer’s or speaker’s distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a piece of writing such as a poem or story

Question 17

Digression

Question 18

Ethos

Answer 18

The writers attempt to persuade by appealing to the reader’s moral values

Question 19

Euphamism

Answer 19

A word or phrase used to obliquely describe something unpleasant, impolite, or taboo

Question 20

Foil

Answer 20

A character who is presented as a contrast to a second character so as to point to or show to advantage some aspect of the second character

Question 21

Foreshadowing

Question 22

Genre

Answer 22

The classification of a literary work by its form, content, and style into categories such as poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction

Question 23

Hyperbole

Answer 23

An extreme exaggeration specifically for literary or rhetorical effect

Question 24

Invective

Answer 24

The literary device in which one attacks or insults a person or thing through the use of abusive language and tone

Question 25

Imagery

Answer 25

A literary device that uses vivid description to create a sensory experience in the reader’s mind

Question 26

Irony

Question 27

Logos

Question 28

Metaphor

Question 29

Metonymy

Question 30

Mood

Question 31

Onomatopoeia

Question 31

Motif

Question 32

Narrative

Question 33

Oxymoron

Question 34

Parable

Question 35

Paradox

Question 36

Parody

Question 37

Pastoral

Question 38

Pathos

Question 39

Personification

Question 40

Point of View

Question 41

Rhetoric

Question 42

Rhetorical Question

Question 43

Satire

Question 44

Setting

Question 45

Simile

Question 46

Symbol

Question 46

Thesis

Question 47

Theme

Question 48

Tone