AP Language Arts Terms
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Created by:
samanthamarie23 on October 20, 2011
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103 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Abstract Language | Refers to things that are not perceived by the scenes but by the mind |
| Allegory | A narrative symbolic story that's true meaning is under the surface, abstract in addition to the literal meaning |
| Alliteration | A repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words or phrases |
| Allusion | A reference indirectly or directly to a person, event, work of art or past history |
| Ambiguity | multiple meanings, intentional or unintentional |
| Analogy | A comparison of an unfamiliar object with a familiar one |
| Annotation | Critical or explanatory note, a commentary |
| Antecedent | Going before, proceeding |
| Antithesis | A figure of speech, direct opposite |
| Aphorism | A statement of truth or opinion |
| Appositive | A noun or phrase used to identify or rename another noun |
| Apostrophe | Addressed to an absent or imaginary person, idea or work |
| Atmosphere | Emotion that is felt through the entirety of a work |
| Attitude | What an author conveys about his feelings toward his work |
| Clause | An expression including a subject and a predicate but not constituting a complete sentence |
| Cliche | overly used phrase or saying |
| Colloquial/ Colloquialism | Used in, or characteristic of familiar and informal conversation, includes slang and regional dialect |
| Conceit | An extended metaphor; two unlike things being compared at once. Relive intellectual cleverness. |
| Concrete Detail | A highly specific, particular, often real, actual or tangible detail; opposite of abstract |
| Connotation | The non-literal, associative meaning of a word, the implied, suggested meaning. |
| Denotation | The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude or color. |
| Dependent Clause | A group of words that has both a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone in a sentence |
| Diction | Refers to the authors word choices, correctness, cleverness and effectiveness |
| Didactic | Excessively instructive, teaching |
| Equivocation | Falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language |
| Euphemism | An inoffensive or indirect term that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or harsh |
| Extended Metaphor | A comparison between two unlike things that continues through out a series of sentences in a paragraphs or lines in a poem, developed through out a novel |
| Figurative Language | Non literal, representation of a word, imaginative |
| Genre | Kind, sort, style, class or category of literature |
| Gerund | -ing form of a verb when functioning as a noun |
| Hyperbole | Intentional over exaggeration |
| Imagery | Formation of mental images. Scenery, figurative language |
| Inference | To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented |
| Invective | Abusive expression or speech, insulting/ abusive language |
| Inversion | Reversal of usual order of words for an emphasis |
| Irony | The disparity between that is states and what is meant |
| Dramatic Irony | When a character thinks things are true but the audience knows better |
| Verbal Irony | occurs when what is said contradicts what is meant or thought |
| Situational Irony | occurs when the outcome of a work is unexpected, or events turn out to be the opposite from what one had expected |
| Loose Sentence' | Type of sentence in which main idea comes first followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity |
| Mood | Prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a word effective by setting, tone and events |
| Motif | a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work |
| Narrative | An account of personal experiences, specific events |
| Non Sequitur | Doesn't follow, a conclusion that doesn't follow its premises |
| Onomatopoeia | Forming a word by imitation a sound |
| Paradox | Self contradictory by may be expressing a possible truth |
| Parallelism | Beside one another, two story lines running |
| Parody | Work that closely imitates the style or content of another work |
| Pedantic | Literature that is overly academic/ show-offy |
| Periodic Sentences | Main clause followed by a subordinate clause, opposite of loose |
| Personification | A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts or attitudes |
| Point of View | The vanatge point from which a story is told |
| Predicate | something that is affirmed or denied of the subject in a proposition logic, tells about the sentence |
| Prose | Straight forward, the ordinary language people use in speaking not writing, anything that is not poetry |
| Refute | To group wrong by arguments or evidence |
| Repetition | A duplication of any element of language |
| Rhetoric | All encompassing label from the art of writing, any form |
| Sarcasm | Bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicual. It may be used as an irony device. "to tear flesh" |
| Satire | A literal work holding holding human device/ follies to ridicual or scorn |
| Semantics | The study of words meaning or phrase |
| Simile | A figure of speech when two unlike things are compared using like or as |
| Stream of consciousness | A method of narrative representation of random thoughts which follow in a freely flowing style |
| Style | A distinctive manner or expression as in writing or speech, evolution of the choices an author makes, classification of the styles |
| Subordinate Clause | A clause that modifies the principle clause, dependent clause |
| Syllogism | Deductive reasoning, major and minor premises |
| Symbol | Something that stands for or suggest something else be reason of relationship, association, convention or accidental resemblance. The use of conventional or traditional signs in the representation of immaterial, ideal, or intangible truth or states |
| Synecdouce | A figure of speech by which a part is out for the whole, the whole for the part, the species for the genus, the genus for the species, or the name of the material for the thing made, all hands on deck |
| Syntax | The arrangement of words and phrases to create well formed sentences |
| Theme | Insight, idea, or massage of a story, may be about life, society, or human nature |
| Thesis | A proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disprove, expresses authors opinion, meaning pr position |
| Tone | The attitude a write takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience |
| Transition | Passage from one condition, form, or stage to another, suppose to link ideas |
| Understatement | A statement that says less than what is meant, especially for effect |
| Voice | Associated with the basic vision of the author, their general attitude toward the world |
| Wit | Intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights |
| Trope | A twist, means more then saying |
| Ad Hominem | An attempt to negate the truth of a clam by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person advocating it, against the man/ against the person instead of evidence |
| Anaphora | Deliberate repetition "it was the best of times, it was the worst of time" |
| Anecdote | A short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person |
| Begging the Question | A type of logical fallacy in which a statement is assumed to be true with only itself as evidence |
| Clasual Relationships | Form of argumentation in which the write claims that one thing results from another (cause and effect) |
| Consonance | A stylistic device characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession |
| Digression | Tending to depart or wander off from the main point to cover a wide range of subjects |
| Elliptical | Tending to be ambiguous. cryptic, or obscure |
| Emotional Appeal | Exploits the readers' feeling of pity or fear to make a case; this fallacy draws solely on the readers pathos and not on logic |
| Epigram | Cleveryly expressed thought |
| Epigraph | The use of a quotation in the beginning of a work that hints at its theme |
| Ethical Appeal | The most subtle and often the most powerful because it comes from character and reputation, not words. Authors way to prove a point, argument seeks common ground on shared moral or values |
| Explication | The attempt to analyze a literary work thoroughly, giving it full attention to its complexities of form and meaning |
| False Analogy | A fallacy in which an argument is based on misleading, superficial, or implausible comparisons |
| Freight Train | Sentence consisting of three or more very short independent clauses joined by conjunctions |
| Grotesque | A very ugly or comically distorted creature, figure, or image |
| Jargon | The specialized language of a professional, occupational, or other group. often meaningless to outsiders |
| Moral | A lesson being taught in a literary work |
| Oversimplification | To simplify the point of distortion as bu ignoring essential details |
| Parable | A story that operated on more than one level and usually teaches a moral lesson |
| Persona | The aspect of someone;s character that is presented to or perceived by others, the voice of the text; not always the authors personality |
| Post hoc/ ergo propter hoc | After this; therefore resulting from it; used to indicate that a casual relationship as been erroneously assumed from a merely sequential one, ex- assuming b comes after am a caused b to happen |
| Red Herring | Something, especially a clue that is or is intended to be misleading |
| Soliloquy | A dramatic speech in which a character speaks his thoughts aloud; known as an aside when other characters are present who do not hear the speech |
| Straw man | a sham argument set up to be defeated, a diversion attack |
| Exposition | Introduces the situation, the characters, setting and conflict |
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