AP LANGUAGE

1
AP LANGUAGE COMPOSITION

• Rhetorical Terms Review
• Set 4
• Syntax Devices

2
Polysyndeton

• Definition sentence style that uses many
  conjunctions to slow the rhythm or to suggest the
  continuity of the experience
• Examples
• "He pulled the blue plastic tarp off of him and
  folded it and carried it out to the grocery cart
  and packed it and came back with their plates and
  some cornmeal cakes in a plastic bag and a
  plastic bottle of syrup."(Cormac McCarthy, The
  Road)
• "Let the whitefolks have their money and power
  and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and
  schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and
  mostly--mostly--let them have their whiteness.
  (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,)

3
Anaphora

• Definition a repetition of the same word or
  group of words at the beginnings of successive
  clauses
• Example
• "I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life
  insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home
  in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and
  a gun. (Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely)
• "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all
  the world, she walks into mine. (Rick Blaine in
  Casablanca)

4
Loose (Cumulative) Sentence

• Definition A type of sentence in which the main
  idea (independent clause) comes first, followed
  by dependent grammatical units such as phrases
  and clauses. If a period were placed at the end
  of the independent clause, the clause would be a
  complete sentence. The effect can be to make a
  work seem informal, relaxed, and conversational.
• Examples
• The hotel has greatly expanded its customer base
  through the addition of a fitness spa, extensive
  advertising, and weekend specials.
• He was willing to pay slightly higher taxes for
  the privilege of living in Canada, considering
  the free health care, the cheap tuition fees, the
  low crime rate, and the comprehensive social
  programs.

5
Periodic Sentence

• Definition The opposite of loose sentence, a
  sentence that presents its central meaning in a
  main clause at the end. This independent clause
  is preceded by phrases or clauses that cannot
  stand alone. The effect of a periodic sentence
  is to add emphasis and structural variety as well
  as to build suspense.
• Examples
• After a long, bumpy flight and multiple delays,
  I arrived at the San Diego airport.
• "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and
  understand all mysteries, and all knowledge and
  though I have all faith, so that I could remove
  mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
  (The King James Bible, I Corinthians 13)

6
Zeugma

• Definition the (often faulty) ellipsis of a
  verb or a noun used to join two or more parts of
  a sentence. The meaning is mostly parallel, not
  startlingly out of place like in syllepsis,
  although nowadays the distinction between zeugma
  and syllepsis is almost nonexistent.
• Examples
• Lust conquered shame, boldness fear, madness
  reason.
• As Virgil guided Dante through Inferno, the
  Sibyl Aeneas Avernus.
• Alexander conquered the world I, Minneapolis.

7
Tricolon

• Definition three parallel elements of the same
  length occurring in a series
• Examples
• "You are talking to a man who has laughed in the
  face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at
  catastrophe. (The Wizard of Oz, 1939)
• "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember.
  Involve me and I learn."(attributed to Benjamin
  Franklin)

8
Apposition

• Definition placing side by side two coordinate
  elements, the second of which serves as an
  explanation or renaming of the first
• Examples
• "This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm
  where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills
  and grotesque gardens (The Great Gatsby, F.
  Scott Fitzgerald)
• "Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn, grew lean while
  he assailed the seasons. (E.A. Robinson,
  "Miniver Cheevy")

9
Parallel Structure

• Definition a similarity of grammatical
  structure in a pair or series of related words,
  phrases, or clauses
• Examples
• "It is by logic we prove, but by intuition we
  discover. (Leonardo da Vinci)
• "Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not
  because it has been sober, responsible, and
  cautious, but because it has been playful,
  rebellious, and immature. (Tom Robbins, author)

10
Asyndeton

• Definition the deliberate omission of
  conjunctions between a series of related clauses
• Examples
• Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered)
  (Julius Caesar)
• Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses,
  scarcely better splashed to their very blinkers.
  Foot passengers, jostling one anothers umbrellas
  in a general infection of ill-temper (from
  Bleak House, Charles Dickens)

11
Syllepsis

• Definition a kind of zeugma in which the
  clauses, which are usually added as a pun, do not
  stick to the sentence grammatically and
  ideologically. You can remember it as a union of
  incongruous elements. Syllepsis is mostly used
  to lend a comic or a satiric effect.
• Examples
• He carried a strobe light and the responsibility
  for the lives of his men. (from The Things They
  Carried, Tim OBrien)
• Cecily Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss
  Fairfax, as people are in London. (from The
  Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde)
• The ink, like our pig, keeps running out of the
  pen.