AP Vocabulary 1-20

Question 1

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

Answer 1

anecdote

Question 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 this.

Answer 2

argumentation

Question 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; an underlying meaning may be moral, religious, political, social or satiric.

Answer 3

allegory

Question 4

explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographic data.

Answer 4

annotation

Question 5

The presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by words, phrases, clauses, or paragraphs. “To be or not yo be…”, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.

Answer 5

antithesis

Question 6

the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other composition techniques.

Answer 6

rhetoric

Question 7

a word or phrase( including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing( y’all, ain’t, can’t, somethin’)

Answer 7

colloquialism

Question 8

words suggesting implied meaning because of its association in a reader’s mind. That is the opposite of “denotation”.

Answer 8

connotation

Question 9

Repetition of identical consonant sounds within 2 or more words in close proximity: boot/beat/best/ brag, or even compound words, fulfill, ping-pong

Answer 9

Consonance

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Caricature

Question 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.

Answer 11

Coherence

Question 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”

Answer 12

Aphorism

Question 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.

Answer 13

Apostrophe

Question 14

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

Answer 14

Cacophony

Question 15

1) emotional

2) dictionary

Answer 15

1) connotation

2) denotation

Question 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 student is further distributed into components or pairs. Writers use this to clarify and detail understanding.

Answer 16

Enumeration

Question 17

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.

Answer 17

Analogy

Question 18

Use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning, or meter.

Answer 18

Parallelism

Question 19

Brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea 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 and grasp it.

Answer 19

Allusion

Question 20

A figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely related to.

Answer 20

Metonymy