AP Vocabulary 1-20

Question 1

Anecdote

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Arugmentation

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 character, 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 Language 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.

Question 6

Rhetoric

Answer 6

the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other composition techniques. This is the core of the AP Language program.

Question 7

Colloquialism

Answer 7

a word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but is often inappropriate in formal writing.

Question 8

Connotation

Answer 8

words suggesting implied meaning because of its association in a readers mind. Opposite of “denotation”

Question 9

Enumeration

Answer 9

Enumeration is a metrical device use 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 further distributed into components or parts. Writers use this to clarify the detail understanding.

Question 10

Analogy

Answer 10

A comparison in which an idea 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 11

Parallelism

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Allusion

Answer 12

A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance. Does not describe in detail the person or thing it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the illusion and grasp it’s importance in a text.

Question 13

Consonance

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Caricature

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Coherence

Answer 15

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 16

Aphorism

Answer 16

A short, often witty, Statement of a principle or truth about life. Benjamin Franklin was somewhat famous for these in Poor Richards Almanac “the early bird gets the worm”.

Question 17

Apostrophe

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Cacophony

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Connotation/denotation

Answer 19

Connotation is words suggesting implied meaning because of its association in a readers mind. Denotation is the literal meaning of a word.

Question 20

Metonymy

Answer 20

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 across examples of metonymy both from Literature and in every day life. Do not confuse this with a metaphor as metonymy is not creating a comparison.