AP English Vocabulary – Flashcards

the sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, usually applied to consonants, usually in closely proximate stressed syllables. For instance, "She sells sea shells by the sea shore."

a literary, historical, religious, or mythological reference. For example, one might contrast the life and tribulations of Frederick Douglass to the trials of Job.

a concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief. For example, "Spare the rod and spoil the child" is an aphorism.

an address or invocation to something inanimate—such as when the slave Fredrick Douglass exclaims as he looks upon the ships in the Chesapeake Bay: "I would pour out my soul's complaint, in my rude way, with an apostrophe to the moving multitude of ships."

the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words. The alliteration example also demonstrates assonance: "She sells sea shells by the sea shore."

the sense expressed by the tone of voice or the mood of a piece of writing; the author's feelings toward his or her subject, characters, events, or theme. It might even be his or her feelings for the reader. AP English Exam essay prompts often require students to respond to some aspect of the attitude of the writer, speaker, or narrator.

in argumentation, an assertion of something as fact.

a mode of discourse in which two or more things are compared, contrasted, or both. On the 1993 English Language exam, students were asked to contrast two marriage proposals taken from literature, analyzed for the use the narrators made of rhetorical devices and their argumentative success.

the implied, suggested, or underlying meaning of a word or phrase. It is opposite of denotation which is the "dictionary definition" of the word.

the repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels, such as pitter-patter, splish-splash, and click-clack.

the specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect. The 1982 English Language exam included Adlai Stevenson's famous "Cat Bill" veto addressed to the Illinois State Senate. Cats roaming without leashes were "feline delinquency," and irritated citizen reactions were referred to as "small game hunts by zealous citizens." On the AP exam you must relate how a writer's diction, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary devices, etc., all come together to become the author's style.

a poem or prose work that laments, or meditates upon the death of, a person or persons. Sometimes an elegy will end with words of consolation. Many public elegies were presented in the aftermath of 9/11.

an indirect, kinder, or less harsh or hurtful way of expressing unpleasant information. For instance, it is much nicer for a person who has just been given a pink slip to hear that she has been made redundant, rather than she has hereby been terminated.

a series of comparisons within a piece of writing. If they are consistently one concept, this is also known as a conceit.

figurative (in contrast to literal) language has levels of meaning expressed though figures of speech such as personification, metaphor, hyperbole, irony, oxymoron, litote, and others.

overstatement characterized by exaggerated language, usually to make a point or draw attention. If in a state of exhaustion you say "I'm really beat," that is hyperbole.

broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation in a work; more narrowly, the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or to describe an object. Basically, imagery involves any or all of the five senses. A writer generally uses imagery in conjunction with other figures of speech, such as simile and metaphor. "Her cheeks were rosy and so was my love—bursting with fragrance and softness." Here metaphor is used, with the images of rosy cheeks (the visual color) and the smell and feel of roses.

the contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The intended meaning is often the opposite of what is stated, often suggesting light sarcasm. The most famous classical ironist is Jonathan Swift in his "Modest Proposal." Irony is used for many reasons, often to create poignancy or humor. There are three major types of irony: Verbal Irony- what the author/narrator says is actually the opposite of what is meant. Situational Irony- when events end up the opposite of what is expected. Dramatic Irony- in drama and fiction, facts or situations are known to the reader or audience but not the characters.

one thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy. Metaphor is an implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another, without the use of a verbal signal such as like or as. Shakespeare's Romeo says, "It is the east and Juliet is the sun," directly comparing Juliet to the sun. Sometimes the term metaphor is used as a general term for any figure of speech.

a figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name or designate something, as in "Buckingham Palace announced today. . ."

a word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes; "buzz" is a good example. The purpose of these words is to make a passage more effective for the reader or listener. For example, "Becca whacked the ball over the fence and took her time walking the bases."

a statement that seems contradictory but may probably be true. A popular paradox from the 1960's was that war protesters would "fight for peace."

the use of similar forms in writing nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts, for example, "Jane enjoys reading, writing, and skiing." In prose, parallel, recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that their ideas are equal in importance. A Tale of Two Cities opens with "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. . . "

treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by endowing it with human features or qualities. Ex: "the spirit of america weeps for a tragedy."

the relation in which a narrator/author stands to a subject of discourse. Point of view in nonfiction requires the reader to establish the historical perspective of what is being said.

the ordinary form of written language without metrical structure in contrast to verse and poetry.

the art of using words to persuade in writing or speaking. All types of writing may seek to persuade and rhetoricians study these genres for their persuasive qualities.

a literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure. Jonathan Swift and George Orwell were masters of satire. Several years ago, the English language exam included a satirical piece by columnist Ellen Goodman, "The Company Man," a satire attacking the struggle for corporate survival by the little man. Arthur Miller exposed the same subject several decades ago in his tragic play, Death of a Salesman.

a direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, usually using the words like or as to draw the connection. For instance, Charles Dickens wrote: "there was a steamy mist in all the hollows, and it had roared in its forlornness up the hill like an evil spirit."

use of a person, place, thing, event, or pattern that figuratively represents or "stands for" something else. Often, the thing or idea represented is more abstract or general than the symbol, which is concrete. Everyone recognizes the symbol of the Golden Arches representing McDonald's™ restaurants.

a figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole, such as "fifty masts" representing fifty ships or "100 head of steer had to be moves to their grazing land."

the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax is sentence structure and how it influences the way the reader receives a particular piece of writing. It is important in establishing the tone of a piece and the attitude of the author/narrator. See Loose sentence, Parallel structure, and Periodic sentence.

the central or dominant focus of a work: a statement a passage makes about its subject

the attitude the narrator/writer takes toward a subject and theme; the tenor of a piece writing based on particular stylistic devices employed by the writer. Tone reflects the narrator/author's attitude.