AP Mid Term-AP Terms
Terms
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- Allegory
- the device of using character and/or story elements sybolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning.
- Alliteration
- the repetition of sounds, expecially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words
- Allusion
- A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work or art. They can be historic, literary, religious, or mythical.
- Ambiguity
- The mutliple menaing, either intentional or unintentional, or a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.
- Analogy
- a similarity or comparison between two different things or teh relationship between them.
- Antecedent
- The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
- Aphorism
- A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral priciple.
- Apostrophe
- A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.
- Atmosphere
- the emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly byt he author's choice of objects that are described
- Clause
- A grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb. Independent: a main clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand alone in a sentence. Dependent: a subordinate cluase that cannot stand alone in a sentence and must be accompanied by an independent clause.
- Colloquial/Colloquialism
- the use of slang or informalities in speech or writing
- Conceit
- A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.
- Connotation
- The nonliteral, associative meaning of a word, the implied, suggested meaning.
- Denotation
- the strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word
- Diction
- Related to style, writer's word choices, especially with regard to thier correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.
- Euphemism
- Greek for "good speech." A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept
- Extended metaphor
- A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work
- Figurative Langugage
- Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning...imaginative and vivid
- Figure of Speech
- a device used to produce figurative language
- Generic Conventions
- this term describes traditions for each genre...defines each genre
- Genre
- the major category into which a literary work fits...3 basic divisions: prose, poetry, and drama.
- Homily
- literally means "sermon" but more informally it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice
- Hyperbole
- a figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement...has a comic effect and produces irony
- Imagery
- the sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions...five senses
- Inference/Infer
- to draw a resonable conclusion from the information presented
- Invective
- an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation or attack using strong, abusive language
- Loose sentece
- a type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses
- Metaphor
- a figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike objects or the substitution of one for the other
- Metonomy
- Greek for "changed label" or "substitute name"...a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it
- Narrative
- the telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events
- Onomatopoeia
- a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words (buzz, hiss, hum, crack, whinny, and murmor)
- Oxymoron
- Greek for "pointedly foolish"...is a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox
- Paradox
- a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity
- Parody
- a work that closely imitates the style or content of another with specific aim of comic effect and/ or ridicule
- Pedantic
- an adjective thta describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish.
- Periodic sentence
- a sentence that presents its centeral meaning in a main clause at the end...the independent clause is preceded by a phrase that cannot stand alone
- Personification
- a figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions
- Point of view
- in literature, the perspective from which a story is told (first person narrative "I", third peson narrator "he" "she" "it" (omniscient, limited omniscient))
- Predicate nominative
- a noun, groups of nouns, or noun clause that renames the subject
- Prose
- one of the major divisions of genre, refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms, because they are written in ordinary language and most closely resemble everyday speech.
- Repetition
- the duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of languge, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern.
- Rhetoric
- Greek for "orator", describes the principles governing the art of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively
- Rhetorical Modes
-
describes the variety, the conventions, and the purposes of the major kinds of writing (4 common types)
1. exposition, expository writing is to explain and analyze information
2. argumentation is to prove the validity of an idea
3. description is to re-create, invent, or visually represent a person, place, event, or action
4. Narration, is to tell a story - Sarcasm
- Greek for "to tear flesh", involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something
- Satire
- a work that targets human vices and follies or social situations and conventions for reform or ridicule
- Semantics
- the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, thier historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another
- Style
- has two purposes 1. an evaluation of the sum of choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices 2. classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors
- Subject Complement
- the word or clause that follows a linking verb and complement, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either renaming it, or describing it
- Syllogism
-
Greek for "reckoning together"...it is a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises that inevitably lead into a sound conclusion
A=B
B=C
therefore A=C - Parallelism
- term comes from Greek roots meaning "beside one another"..it refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity
- Symbol/ symbolism
- anything that represents, stands for, something else..is something concrete (natural, conventional, and literary)
- Syntax
- the way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences..smiliar to diction, but GROUPS of words
- Theme
- central idea or message of a work, hte insight it offers into life
- Thesis
- is the sentence or group of sentences that directly expres the author's opinion, purpose, meaning, or proposition
- Tone
- describes the author's attitude toward his or her material, the audience, or both
- Transition
- a word or phrase that links different ideas
- Understatement
- the ironic minimalizing fact, presents something as less significant than it is
- Wit
- intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights...humorous and terse language
- Didactic
- From the Greek, means "teaching." These types of works have the primary aim of teaching or instructing.
- Irony/ ironic
- the contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant (verbal, situational, and dramatic)...to create poignancy or humor
- Mood
-
1)grammatical and deals ith verbal units and a speaker's attitude (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative)
2) literary, meaning the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work
...is similar to tone and atmosphere - Subordiante Clause
- this word group contains both a subject and a verb, but unlike the independent clause, it cannot stand alone..it does not express a complete thought
- Predicate adjective
- one type of subject complement - an adjective, group of adjectives, or adjective clause that follows a linking verb