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Literary Terminology
AP Language Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| mono-syllabic | one syllable |
| poly-syllabic | multi-syllable |
| euphonious | pleasant sounding |
| cacophonous | harsh sounding |
| literal | accurate without embellishment |
| figurative | fresh language to create pictorial effect |
| denotative | exact meaning (dictionary definition) |
| connotative | suggested, emotional meaning (+, -) |
| objective | impersonal, unemotional, unbiased language |
| subjective | personal, emotional language |
| active | states action |
| passive | states being |
| concrete | specific, tangible |
| abstract | conceptual, not quantifiable |
| hyperbole | deliberate exaggeration of facts |
| understatement | deliberate misrepresentation as less |
| pedestrian | layman's terms |
| pedantic | boorish, inflated language |
| vulgarity | language deficient in taste and refinement; coarse, base |
| slang | vernacular speech, sometimes humousous, exaggerated or shortened for effect |
| colloquial | regional and provincial; differs from pronunciations, usage |
| jargon | specific to a field or profession |
| cliche | language used so often it has lost its freshness |
| informal/standard | correct but converstional |
| formal (literate) | appropriate for more formal occasions; often more abstract |
| assonance | repetition of similar vowel sounds in closely associated words (half rhyme) |
| consonance | repetition of similar consonant sound in closely associated words |
| alliteration | repetition of initial consonent sound in closely associated words |
| onomatopoeia | words whose pronunciation suggests meaning |
| phrase | a sequence of two or more words that does not have a finite verb and its subject |
| clause | contains a subject and a predicate and forms part of a sentence or a whole sentence |
| subordinate clause | a clause introduced by a subordinating conjuction that makes it gramatically dependent on another clause |
| independent clause | a clause that may be, but not need be, part of a larger sentence |
| simple | a sentence that does not contain another sentence |
| compound | multiclausal sentence consisting of two independent clauses |
| complex | a multiclausal sentence consisting of one or more dependent clauses and an independent clause |
| compound complex | a complex sentence coordinated with an independent clause |
| declarative | a sentence that makes a statement |
| imperative | a sentence that issues a command |
| exclamatory | a forceful utterance; an outcry |
| interrogative | a sentance that asks a question |
| rhetorical | a question that does not require an answer |
| inverted | placing the complement or direct object before the verb |
| loose | a sentence in which the main clause comes first, with the subordinated clause following |
| periodic | a sentence in which the main clause occurs last, with the subordinate clause preceding |
| interrupted | placing modifiers in between the subject and verb and verb and object or complement |
| parallel | like structure or function in coordinated elements |
| isocolon | a symmetrical repetition of sounds and words in phrases of equal lengh, a type of parallelism |
| balanced | neatly divided between two parallel structures; for example two independent clauses in a compound sentence |
| antithesis | a statement that takes an arguable position opposite from another (the thesis of another) |
| juxtaposition | the palcing of two contrasting ideas side by side for comparison/contrast |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech, with a seeming self contradiciont |
| paradox | any person, thing, or situation that is apparently self contradicting |
| transition | a link between ideas |
| ellipsis | three spaced periods used to indicate the omission of a word or words from a quotation |
| asyndeton | suppressing all coordinating conjuctions in a parallel series |
| apposition (appositive) | a noun phrase, set off by commas, which specifies a preceding noun or noun phrase |
| parenthesis | sets of nonessential information in a sentence |
| polysyndeton | inserting many coordinating conjuctions |
| anaphora | repetition of same word at beginning of successive phrases/clauses/sentences |
| epistrophe | repetition of same word at tend of successive phrases/clauses/sentences |
| anadiplosis | repetition of last word in phrases/clauses/sentences as the first word in the next phrases/clauses/sentences |
| epanalepsis | repetition of word at beginning and end of same phrases/clauses/sentences |
| antimetabole | repetition of words in reverse order |
| chiasmus | repetition of grammatical structures first phrase/clause in reverse order in second phrase/clause |
| rhetoric | the study of effective speaking and writing |
| anecdote | a short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature, often biographical |
| digression | a passage that deviates from the central theme in speech or writing |
| concession | an acknowledgement or admission |
| apostrophe | an address to someone not present, or to a personified objector idea |
| aside | words spoken so as not to be heard by others present (acting) or a temporary departure from a main theme or topic; especially a parenthetical |
| analogy | a comparison of apparently dissimilar things in order to show similarities |
| metaphor | a comparison made by referring to one thing as another |
| simile | a direct comparison using "like" "as" "resembles" |
| personification | inanimate objects of abstractions are endowed with human qualitites or are represented as possessing human for also known as prosopopeia |
| synecdoche | a whole is represented by naming one of its parts |
| metonymy | reference to something or someone by naming one of its attributes |
| euphemism | substituting a more favorable for pejorative or socially delicate term |
| pun | the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning, a play on words |
| allusion | an indirect reference to something the author expects you to be familiar with |
| images | any words that appeal to one or more of the five senses |
| details | to mention on by one; specific; list |
| symbol | anything that represents something else |
| motif | a recurring subject, theme, idea etc. especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work |
| archetype | the original pattern that things are copied from or based; a model or first form, prototype |
| tone | authors attitude toward the subject he or she is writing about |
| style | encompasses diction, rhetorical terms, and syntax |
| mood/atmosphere | feeling that is eboked by the piece |
| shift | change in purpose, tone, point of view, or any number of other things |
Created by:
anna_banana_2010
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