AP Test Terms Set #1

Question 0

Alliteration

Answer 0

• The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words. Although the term is not frequently in the multiple choice section, you can look for alliteration in any essay passage. The repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, supply a musical sound, and/or echo the sense of the passage.

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

• The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. The allegorical meaning usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence.

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

• A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. There are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion.

Question 3

Ambiguity

Answer 3

• The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.

Question 4

Analogy

Answer 4

• A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. An analogy can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something more familiar. Analogies can also make writing more vivid, imaginative, or intellectually engaging.

Question 5

Antecedent

Answer 5

• The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. The AP language exam occasionally asks for the antecedent of a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences.

Question 6

Antithesis

Answer 6

• The opposition or contrast of ideas; the direct opposite.

Question 7

Aphorism

Answer 7

• A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle. An aphorism can be a memorable summation of the author’s point.

Question 8

Apostrophe

Answer 8

• A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. Many apostrophes imply a personification of the object addressed.

Question 9

Atmosphere

Answer 9

• The emotional not created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author’s choice of objects that are described. Even such elements as a description of the weather can contribute to the atmosphere. Frequently atmosphere foreshadows events. Perhaps it can create a mood.