AP Language and Composition Vocabulary 1 to 20

The central claim and overall purpose of a work

• thesis

• bias

• Call to action

• Anecdote

a predisposition or subjective opinion

• call to action

• Anecdote

• Analogy

• bias

: Writing that urges readers to action or promote a change

• Idiom

• call to action

• tone

• mood

A short account of an interesting or humorous incident, intended to illustrate or support a point

• generalization

• allusion

• antithesis

• anecdote

A comparison to a directly parallel case; the process of drawing a comparison between two things based on a partial similarity of like features.

• anticipating audience response

• euphemism

• analogy

• juxtaposition

An expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.

• idiom

• paradox

• motif

• persona

the voice and attitude the writer has chosen to project

• cliche

• irony

• tone

• oxymoron

The overall atmosphere of a work and the mood is how that atmosphere makes a reader feel.

• mood

• logos

• ethos

• pathos

A contrast in language to bring out a contrast in ideas.

• antithesis

• aphorism

• description

• definition

a brief reference to a person, event, or place - real or fictitious - or to a work of art

• warrant

• allusion

• persona

• grounds