ALL AP TERMS DEFINED

Allusion-in literature, an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part of another text.

Antithesis- An opposition or contrast of words or sentiments occurring in the same sentence; as, "The prodigal robs his heir; the miser robs himself." Opposition; contrast.

Aphorism- a terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation, as “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).

Connotation- the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning: A possible connotation of “home” is “a place of warmth, comfort, and affection.”

Diction- style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words

Euphemism- the expression so substituted: “To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die.”

Flashback- narrative technique of interrupting the chronological sequence of events to interject events of earlier occurrence. The earlier events often take the form of reminiscence.

Imagery- The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas

Oxymoron- a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”

Rhetoric- A style of speaking or writing, especially the language of a particular subject: fiery political rhetoric. (double-check)

Alliteration- The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences"

Allegory- a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.

Assonance- Also called vowel rhyme. Prosody. rhyme in which the same vowel sounds are used with different consonants in the stressed syllables of the rhyming words, as in penitent and reticence.

Claim- to demand by or as by virtue of a right; demand as a right or as due: to claim an estate by inheritance.

Colloquial- involving or using conversation.

Consonance- the correspondence of consonants, esp. those at the end of a word, in a passage of prose or verse.

Jargon- Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning. ;; unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish.

Litotes- understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary); "saying 'I was not a little upset' when you mean 'I was very upset' is an example of litotes"

Onomatopoeia- the formation of a word, as cuckoo or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.

Prose- the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse. ;;; matter-of-fact, commonplace, or dull expression, quality, discourse, etc.

Begging the question- assuming the conclusion to prove the conclusion.
Example:
Suppose Paul is not lying when he speaks.
Paul is speaking.
Therefore, Paul is telling the truth.

Canon- the works of an author that have been accepted as authentic: There are 37 plays in the Shakespeare canon.

Convention- A widely used and accepted device or technique, as in drama, literature, or painting: the theatrical convention of the aside.

Deuctive reasoning- The process of reasoning that starts from statements accepted as true and applied to a new situation to reach a conclusion (e.g., if 5+4 = 9, and 6+3 = 9, then 5+4 = 6+3).

Ethos- the moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character's action rather than his or her thought or emotion.

Inductive reasoning- A system of reasoning based on observation and measurement.

Parallel structure- the repeating of phrases and sentences that are syntactically similar (eg, phrases all starting with verbs, same tense)

Paradox- any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.

Pathos- the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.

Rebuttal/refutation- Something, such as an argument, that refutes someone or something.

attitude- manner, disposition, feeling, position

apostrophe- to indicate the omission of one or more letters in a word

didactic- teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson

elegy- a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem

eulogy- a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing,

epitaph- a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary

homily- a sermon, usually on a Biblical topic and usually of a nondoctrinal nature.

juxtaposition- an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.

metonymy- A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated

satire- a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.

Anaphora - The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs; for example, "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,

Asyndeton- the omission of conjunctions, as in “He has provided the poor with jobs, with opportunity, with self-respect.”

Zuegma- a figure of speech describing the joining of two or more parts of a sentence with a single common verb or noun. A zeugma employs both ellipsis, the omission of words which are easily understood, and parallelism, the balance of several words or phrases. The result is a series of similar phrases joined or yoked together by a common and implied noun or verb.

Conceit- the use of such metaphors as a literary characteristic, esp. in poetry.

Chiasmus- a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in “He went to the country, to the town went she.”

Epistrophe- the repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences, as in “I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong. …”

Isolcolon- a figure of speech in which parallelism is reinforced by members that are of the same length. A well-known example of this is Julius Caesar's "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came; I saw; I conquered),

Loose sentence- a type of sentence in which the main idea (independent clause) comes first, followed by dependent grammatical units such as phrases and clauses. The meaning of a loose sentence can be easily understood in the very beginning of the sentence

Mode of discourse- The way in which information is presented in written or spoken form. T

Periodic sentence- a complex sentence in which the main clause comes last and is preceded by the subordinate clause