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AP Language > Literary and Rhetorical Devices > Flashcards

Literary and Rhetorical Devices Flashcards

1
Q

Active Voice

A

The subject of the sentence performs the action.

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2
Q

Allusion

A

An indirect reference to something

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3
Q

Alter-ego

A

When an author speaks directly to the audience through a character.

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4
Q

Anecdote

A

A brief recounting of a relevant episode

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5
Q

Antecedent

A

The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

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6
Q

Classicism

A

Art or literature characterized by a realistic view of people and the world.

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7
Q

Comic relief

A

When a humorous scene is inserted into a serious story, in order to lighten the mood somewhat.

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8
Q

Diction

A

Word choice, particularly as an element of style

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9
Q

Colloquial

A

An ordinary or familiar type of conversation.

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10
Q

Connotation

A

The associations suggested by a word. Implied meaning rather than the literal meaning.

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11
Q

Denotation

A

The literal, explicit meaning of a word, without its connotations.

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12
Q

Jargon

A

The diction used by a group that practices a similar profession or activity.

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13
Q

Vernacular

A

Language or dialect of a particular country

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14
Q

Didactic

A

A term used to describe fiction, nonfiction or poetry that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

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15
Q

Adage

A

A folk saying with a lesson.

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16
Q

Allegory

A

A story, fictional or non-fictional, in which characters, things, and events represent qualities or concepts.

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17
Q

Aphorism

A

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

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18
Q

Ellipsis

A

The deliberate omission of a word or phrase from prose done for effect by the author.

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19
Q

Euphemism

A

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

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20
Q

Figurative Language

A

The opposite of “Literal Language.” Literal language is writing that makes complete sense when you take it at face value.

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21
Q

Analogy

A

An analogy is a comparison of one pair of variables to a parallel set of variables.

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22
Q

Hyperbole

A

Exaggeration

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23
Q

Idiom

A

A common often used expression that doesn’t make sense if you take it literally.

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24
Q

Metaphor

A

Making an implied comparison, not using “like,” as,” or other such words.

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25
Q

Metonymy

A

Replacing an actual word or idea, with a related word or concept

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26
Q

Synecdoche

A

A kind of metonymy when a whole is represented by naming one of its parts, or vice versa.

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27
Q

Simile

A

Using words such as “like” or “as” to make a direct comparison between two very different things.

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28
Q

Synesthesia

A

A description involving a “crossing of the senses.

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29
Q

Personification

A

Giving human-like qualities to something that is not human.

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30
Q

Foreshadowing

A

When an author gives hints about what will occur later in a story.

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31
Q

Genre

A

The major category into which a literary work fits.

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32
Q

Gothic

A

Writing characterized by gloom, mystery, fear and/or death.

33
Q

Imagery

A

Word or words that create a picture in the reader’s mind.

34
Q

Invective

A

A long, emotionally violent, attack using strong, abusive language.

35
Q

Irony

A

When the opposite of what you expect to happen does.

36
Q

Verbal irony

A

When you say something and mean the opposite/something different.

37
Q

Dramatic irony

A

When the audience of a drama, play, movie, etc. knows something that the character doesn’t

38
Q

Situational irony

A

Found in the plot (or storyline) of a book, story, or movie. Sometimes it makes you laugh because it’s funny how things turn out.

39
Q

Juxtaposition

A

Placing things side by side for the purposes of comparison.

40
Q

Mood

A

The atmosphere created by the literature and accomplished through word choice (diction).

41
Q

Motif

A

a recurring idea in a piece of literature.

42
Q

Oxymoron

A

When apparently contradictory terms are grouped together and suggest a paradox

43
Q

Pacing

A

The speed or tempo of an author’s writing.

44
Q

Paradox

A

A seemingly contradictory situation which is actually true.

45
Q

Parallelism

A

Sentence construction which places equal grammatical constructions near each other, or repeats identical grammatical patterns.

46
Q

Anaphora

A

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences or clauses in a row.

47
Q

Chiasmus

A

When the same words are used twice in succession, but the second time, the order of the words is reversed.

48
Q

Antithesis

A

Two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses, or even ideas, with parallel structure.

49
Q

Zeugma (Syllepsis)

A

When a single word governs or modifies two or more other words, and the meaning of the first word must change for each of the other words it governs or modifies.

50
Q

Parenthetical Idea

A

Parentheses are used to set off an idea from the rest of the sentence.

51
Q

Parody

A

An exaggerated imitation of serious work for humorous purposes.

52
Q

Persona

A

A device used in poetry to manipulate the sound of words, sentences or lines.

53
Q

Alliteration

A

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words.

54
Q

Assonance

A

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

55
Q

Consonance

A

The repetition of the same consonant sound at the end of words or within words.

56
Q

Onomatopoeia

A

The use of a word that imitates or suggests the sound that the thing makes.

57
Q

Internal rhyme

A

When a line of poetry contains a rhyme within a single line.

58
Q

Slant rhyme

A

When a poet creates a rhyme, but the two words do not rhyme exactly – they are merely similar.

59
Q

End rhyme

A

When the last word of two different lines of poetry rhyme.

60
Q

Rhyme Scheme

A

The pattern of a poem’s end rhymes.

61
Q

Stressed and unstressed syllables

A

In every word of more than one syllable, one of the syllables is stressed or said with more force than the other syllable(s).

62
Q

Meter

A

A regular pattern to the syllables in lines of poetry.

63
Q

Free verse

A

Poetry that doesn’t have many meters or rhyme.

64
Q

Iambic pentameter

A

Poetry is written in lines of 10 syllables, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

65
Q

Sonnet

A

A 14 line poem written in iambic pentameter. Usually divided into three quatrains and a couplet.

66
Q

Polysyndeton

A

When a writer creates a list of items that are all separated by conjunctions.

67
Q

Pun

A

When a word that has two or more meanings is used in a humorous way.

68
Q

Rhetoric

A

The art of effective communication.

69
Q

Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle

A

The relationships, in any piece of writing,
between the writer, the audience, and the
subject. All analysis of writing is essentially
an analysis of the relationships between the
points on the triangle.

70
Q

Rhetorical Question

A

Questions not asked for information but for effect.

71
Q

Romanticism

A

Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature.

72
Q

Romanticism

A

Art or literature characterized by an idealistic, perhaps unrealistic view of people and the world, and an emphasis on nature.

73
Q

Sarcasm

A

A generally bitter comment that is ironically or satirically worded.

74
Q

Satire

A

A work that reveals a critical attitude toward some element of life to a humorous effect.

75
Q

Sentence

A

A sentence is a group of words (including subject and verb) that expresses a complete thought.

76
Q

Appositive

A

A word or group of words placed beside a noun or noun substitute to supplement its meaning.

77
Q

Clause

A

A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb.

78
Q

Balanced sentence

A

A sentence in which two parallel elements are set off against each other like equal weights on a scale.

AP Language (1 decks)

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