AP Composition Vocabulary 1

Allegory

• consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. This can give the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account.

• Figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed, usually through parallel structure; a contrasting of opposing ideas in adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences. It creates a definite and systematic relationship between ideas.

• The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to

  the literal meaning. The meaning usually deals with moral truth or a generalization about human existence.

• A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. It can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something more familiar

Abstract

• A short summary of a larger work for the purpose of condensing the argument, conclusions, and/or results into a paragraph.

• A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction,

  such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer.

• A terse statement of know authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle.

• A figure of speech in which two successive phrases or clauses are parallel in

  syntax, but reverse the order of the analogous words.

literary style and rhetoric, the syntactic reversal of the normal order of the words and phrases in a sentence (An excellent example would be the way that Yoda speaks in the 'Star Wars' movie series.)

• Inversion

• Anastrophe

• Antecedent

• Antithesis

This word refers to a misleading, or false, clue. It is a common literary device used in mysteries and thrillers that can lead readers down a false path or otherwise distract them from what's really going on in the plot.

• Juxtaposition

• Juggernaut

• Coinage

• Red herring

The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonants in two or more neighboring words (as in “she

sells sea shells).

• Allusion

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Alliteration

Literal or metaphorical force regarded as merciless, destructive, and unstoppable.

• Juggernaut

• Coinage

• Chiasmus

• Aphorism

Use of informal words or phrases in writing or speech that are usually defined in geographical terms, meaning that they are often defined by their use within a dialect,

• Aphorism

• Antithesis

• Juggernaut

• Colloquial Expressions

To invent a new word or expression, or to use one in a particular way for the first time

• Coinage

• Colloquial Expression

• Dialect

• Epistrophe

A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. This can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical.

• Illusion

• Allusion

• Analogy

• Anecdote

A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. It can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something more familiar.

• Analogy

• Oxymoron

• Ambiguity

• Antithesis