AP Vocabulary 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

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

Question 5

Antithesis

Answer 5

presentation of two contrasting images

Question 6

Rhetoric

Answer 6

art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. Core of the AP program

Question 7

Colloquialism

Answer 7

word or phrase used in everyday conversation and informal writing, but that is often inappropriate in formal writing

Question 8

Connotation

Answer 8

idea or feeling that a word invokes

Question 9

Consonance

Answer 9

repetition of identical consonant sounds within two or more words in close proximity. Ex. boot/beat/best/brag or compound 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 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. Ex. “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

Enumeration

Answer 15

a rhetorical device used for listing the details or a process of mentioning words or phrases step by step. It is a type of amplification or division in which a subject is further distribute into components or parts. Writers use to clarify and detail understanding

Question 16

Analogy

Answer 16

a comparison in which and ides or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. Aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar.

Question 17

Parallelism

Answer 17

the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter. found in literary works and in normal conversation.

Question 18

Allusion

Answer 18

a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. Doesn’t describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.

Question 19

Metonymy

Answer 19

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 literature and in everyday life. Metonymy is not creating a comparison, not a metaphor

Question 20

Anaphora

Answer 20

Writing or speech, the deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect us known as Anaphora. Anaphora, possibly the oldest literary device, has its roots in Biblical Psalms used to emphasize certain words of phrases. Gradually, Elizabethan and Romantic writers brought this device into practice.