Vocab 6

Question 1

Freytag’s Pyramid

Answer 1

diagram of dramatic structure

Question 2

genre

Answer 2

The major category into which a literary work fits. On the AP language exam, expect the majority of the passages to be from the following genres: autobiography, biography, diaries, criticism, essays, and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing.

Question 3

grounds

Answer 3

reasons or supporting evidence

Question 4

hasty generalization

Answer 4

basing an argument on limited or insufficient evidence

Question 5

homily

Answer 5

This term literally means “sermon,” but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice

Question 6

horative sentence

Answer 6

sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action (Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. –John F. Kennedy)

Question 7

hyperbole

Answer 7

A figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. (The literal Greek meaning is “overshoot.”) Hyperboles often have a comic effect; however, a serious effect is also possible. Often, hyperbole produces irony. The opposite of hyperbole is understatement.

Question 8

imagery

Answer 8

The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions

Question 9

imperative sentence

Answer 9

sentence used to command or enjoin (My fellow citizens of the word: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. -John F. Kennedy)

Question 10

inductive reasoning

Answer 10

argument in which general conclusions are drawn from specific facts

Question 11

inference/infer

Answer 11

To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. When a multiple choice question asks for an inference to be drawn from a passage, the most direct, most reasonable inference is the safest answer choice

Question 12

innuendo

Answer 12

a subtle or indirect observation about a person or thing, usually of a disparaging nature

Question 13

intended readers

Answer 13

the actual, real-life people whom a writer consciously wants to address in a piece of writing

Question 14

invective

Answer 14

an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language. (For example, in Henry IV, Part I, Prince Hal calls the large character of Falstaff “this sanguine coward, this bedpresser, this horseback breaker, this huge hill of flesh.”)

Question 15

inversion

Answer 15

inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order)

Question 16

invoked readers

Answer 16

the readers directly addressed or implied in a text, which may include some that the writer didn’t consciously intend to reach. An argument that refers to those who have experienced a major trauma, for example, invokes all readers who have undergone this experience

Question 17

irony/ironic

Answer 17

The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, or the difference between what appears to be and what is actually true. Irony is often used to create poignancy or humor. In general, there are three major types of irony used in language:

Question 18

verbal irony

Answer 18

when the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s (or speaker’s) meaning

Question 19

situational iron

Answer 19

when events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen

Question 20

dramatic irony

Answer 20

when facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work.