AP Vocab 1

Ad Hominem Argument: Attacks the opposing speaker or another person

rather than addressing the issues at hand
Allegory: Fictional work in which the characters represent ideas or concepts
Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of
words
Allusion: A reference, usually oblique or faint, to another thing, idea, or
person
Ambiguity: Uncertain or indefinite; subject to more than one interpretation
Analogy: The correspondence or resemblance between two things that are
essentially different
Anecdote: A short tory used to illustrate a point the author is making
Antecedent: Every pronoun refers back to the previous noun or pronoun
Antithesis: An opposition or contrast of ideas that is often expressed in
balanced phrases or clauses
Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which an absent person or personified
object is addressed by a speaker
Appositive: A word or phrase that follow a noun or pronoun for emphasis or
clarity
Assonance: A type of internal rhyming in which vowel sounds are repeated
Asyndeton: When the conjunctions (such as and or but) that would
normally connect a string of words, phrases, or clauses are omitted from a
sentence
Atmosphere: The emotional feeling or mood of a place, scene, or event
Attitude: The feelings of a particular speaker or piece of writing toward a
subject, person, or idea.
Contrast: Oppositions
Colloquial Language: Slang or common language that is informal
Connotative: The interpretive level of a word based on associated images
rather than the literal meaning
Deductive Argument: The process of moving from a general rule to a specific
example

Diction: An authors choice of words

Didactic: Writing which has the purpose of teaching or instructing
Elegy: A work that expressed sorrow
Ellipses: Indicated by a series of three periods; shows that words have been
omitted
Ethos: Refers to generally ethics, or values
Euphemism: A mild or pleasant sounding expression that substitutes for a
harsh, indelicate, or simply less pleasant idea
Exposition: Writing or speech that is organized to explain
Figurative Language: All uses of language that imply an imaginative
comparison
Foreshadowing: A purposeful hint placed in a work of literature to suggest
what may occur later in the narrative
Hyperbole: A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used to achieve
emphasis
Imagery: A mental picture that is conjured by specific words and associations
Inductive Argument: Creating a case by providing specific examples and
drawing a conclusion based on the evidence they provide
Irony: When a situation produces and outcome that is the opposite of what is
expected
Juxtaposition: When two contrasting things are placed next to each other for
comparison
Logos: The use of reason as a controlling principle in an argument
Metaphor: A figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared
directly
Metonymy: A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the
name of something that is associated with it
Mood: The prevailing or dominant feeling of a work, scene, or event
Onomatopoeia: An effect created by words that have sounds that reinforce
their meaning
Oxymoron: Two contradictory words in one expression