AP Language

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AP Language Composition

• Unlocking the Rhetorical Devices

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Alliteration

• A sequence of repeated consonantal sounds in a
  stretch of language
• Example Books build better brains!

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Allusion

• A passing reference in a work of literature to
  something outside itself.
• Example

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Analogy

• A word, thing, or idea chosen for the purpose of
  comparison.
• Another word for a literary parallel.

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Antithesis

• Opposing or contrasting ideas in the next-door
  sentence
• Example I am going north by bicycle, but she is
  coming south by car.

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Apostrophe

• A rhetorical (not requiring a response) term for
  a speech addresses to someone or something in the
  beginning of a poem or essay a pause
• Clue When your parents ask, Who do you think
  you are? (You are not supposed to respond.)

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Connotation/Denotation

• Connotation-emotional response evoked by a word
• Ex. Kittensoft, warm, cuddly
• Denotation-literal meaning
• Ex. Kittenyoung cat

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Epithet

• An adjective, or adjectival phrase, such as
  heather-covered hills, which defines a special
  quality or attribute. (The characteristic poetic
  diction of the 18th century was replete with
  epithets.)
• ex. The finny tribe, lowing herd, solemn
  stillness, incense-breathing moron.

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Hyperbole

• A figure of speech, emphasized by exaggeration.
• Ex. There were millions of people at the café.

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Metaphor

• It goes further than a comparison between two
  different things or ideas by fusing them
  together one thing is described as being
  another.
• Ex Shakespeare remarks, love is the star to
  every wandering bark.

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Metonymy

• The substitution of the name of a thing by the
  name of an attribute of it.
• Ex.the crown monarchy
• John Hancocksignature
• The big appleNYC

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Synecdoche

• A part is used to describe the whole.
• Ex all hands on decksailors
• All aboardboarding a train

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Onomatopoeia

• Words which sound like the noise they describe.
• Ex Swish, cuckoo, smack, plonk, etc.

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Concrete Nouns

• Concrete- nouns, verbs, and adjectives that help
  you imagine specific sensations or form mental
  pictures.

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Abstract Nouns

• Language that appeals more to the mind than to
  the senses. Color is abstract, a category name
  that covers every specific color there is.
  Mustard Yellow is concrete.
• Ex courage, worthlessness, etc.

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Allegory

• A work that functions on a symbolic level.
  Example The Lord of the Flies is an allegory of
  society.

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Anecdote

• A story or brief episode told by the writer or a
  character to illustrate a point.

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Cacophony

• Harsh and discordant sounds in a line or passage
  in a literary work.

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Didactic

• Writing whose purpose is to instruct or to teach.
  A didactic work is usually formal and focuses on
  moral and ethical concerns.

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Epigraph

• The use of a quotation at the beginning of a work
  that hints at its theme. Hemingway begins The
  Sun Also Rises with two epigraphs. Example You
  are all a lost generation by Gertrude Stein

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Euphemism

• A more acceptable and usually more pleasant way
  of saying something that might be inappropriate
  or uncomfortable. Example He went to his final
  reward.

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Euphony

• The pleasant, mellifluous presentation of sounds
  in a literary work.

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Parody

• A comic imitation of a work that ridicules the
  original (mocking or humorous). The Simpsons
  Show is a parody of _____________.

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Pedantic

• A term used to describe writing that borders on
  lecturing. It is scholarly and often overly
  difficult and distant. (erudite)

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Pun

• A play on words that often has a comic effect.

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Sarcasm

• A comic technique that ridicules through caustic
  language.

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Satire

• A mode of writing based on ridicule, that
  criticizes the foibles and follies of society
  without necessarily offering a solution.

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Syntax

• The sentence structure of prose and poetry.

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Understatement

• The opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique
  for developing irony and/or humor where one
  writes or says less than intended.

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Argument Terms

• Ad Hominem-an attack on the person rather than on
  the opponents ideas

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Inductive Reasoning

• Flowing from the specific to the general in an
  argument

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Deductive Reasoning

• Flowing from the general to the particular in an
  argument

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Logical Fallacy

• A mistake in reasoning

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Pathos

• An appeal to the emotions that can be used to
  persuade.

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Logos

• An appeal to the facts in order to persuade.

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Ethos

• An appeal to the ethical senses in order to
  persuade.

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Syllogism

• The format of a formal argument that consists of
  a major premise, minor premise, and a conclusion.

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Non sequitur

• Stating a conclusion that doesnt follow from the
  first premise.

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Post hoc, ergo propter hoc

• Assuming that because B follows A, B was caused
  by A.
• Example Because I wore my red polo shirt, I won
  the U.S. Open.

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Anaphora

• Rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same
  word or phrase is repeated (found often in prose
  and verse).

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Anticlimax

• A sudden drop from the dignified or important
  thought of expression to the commonplace or
  trivial, often for humorous effect.

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Aphorism

• A terse (short, abrupt) statement of known
  authorship, which expresses a general truth or a
  moral principle.

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Chiasmus

• Figure of speecha pattern in which the second
  part is balanced against the first but with the
  parts reversed. This may involve a repetition of
  the same words.
• Ex Byron Pleasures a sin, and sometimes
  sins a pleasure.

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Denouement

• The clearing up or untying of the complications
  of the plot in a play or story usually a final
  scene or chapter in which mysteries, confusions,
  and doubtful destinies are clarified.
• Ex the final scene in the Beauty The Beast

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Stream of Consciousness

• Narrative that presents the private thoughts of a
  character without commentary or interpretation by
  the author.

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Epistrophe

• A rhetorical figure by which the same word or
  phrase is repeated at the end of successive
  clauses, sentences, or lines.
• Whitmans Song of Myself
• The moth and the fish-eggs are in their place.
• The bright suns I see and the dark suns I cannot
  see are in their place,
• The palpable is in its place and the impalpable
  
• is in its place.

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Synaesthesia

• A blending or confusion of different kinds of
  sense-impression, in which one type of sensation
  is referred to in terms more appropriate to
  another.
• Ex
• Sounds in terms of coloryellow cocktail music
• Sounds in terms of taste how sweet the sound
• Color in terms of sound loud shirt
• Color in terms of temp. cool green
• Sound as smooth
• Color as warm loud

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Motif

• A simple element that serves as a basis for
  expanded narrative in literature, recurrent
  images, words, objects, phrases, or actions that
  unify a work.

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Inverted Syntax

• Reversing the normal word order of a sentence
• Ex Star Wars, Yoda speaks in inverted syntax.
• Robert Frost, Whose woods these are I think I
  know.