AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION KEY WORDS abstract language: describes ideas or things that lack physical form alliteration:

: repetition of initial sound in a series of words allusion: direct reference to literature or other art work within a text amplification: heightened description used to create effect analogy: comparison between two apparently dissimilar things anaphora: parallelism in which a word or phrase is repeated in successive phrases or lines anecdote: story used to illustrate or provide evidence antiphrasis: use of words opposite to their expected meaning antithesis: a contrast of ideas or words used to rhetorical effect aphorism: maxim; concise statement of principle apostrophe: exclamatory address, often towards missing or dead person or thing appositive (apposition): parallel syntax archaic diction: old fashioned word choice used deliberately for effect assertion: statement that presents claim assonance: repetition of vowels sounds within a line or sentence assumption: assumed idea underlying claim-reason pair; unstated assertion chiasmus (inversion): parallel structure in which the second element is an inverted version of the first. claim: what an argument or part of an argument asserts. eg thesis claim

claim of fact: a claim that asserts the factual reality of something claim of policy: a claim that asserts the steps that should be followed to find a solution to a problem claim of value: a claim that or evaluates something or asserts a belief or action is right climax: the culmination of a scene, novel, dramatic work, or argument complex sentence: at least one independent and one dependent clause compound sentence: at least two independent clauses conceit: an especially elaborate or reaching figure of speech or literary image concession: rhetorical move that grants the truth of part of an opposing argument concrete: language that describes physical objects, sense experience, and things with substance connotation: subjective or implied meaning of a word consonance: repetition of consonant sound in any part of two or more succeeding words. Alliteration is an example of consonance, where the repeated consonants are all at the beginning of words. context: the meaning surrounding a text. A poem, for example, might have a historical context that informs its meaning deduction: conclusion reached by working from general principle to specific case denotation: dictionary or objective definition of a word diction: word choice direct address: when the author speaks to the reader dramatic irony: irony in words or actions that the audience grasps but the characters do not epistrophe: repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses

epithet: a term or phrase describing a characteristic of a person (can be positive or negative) ethos: in rhetoric, the character of the author as expressed in the argument expository: a piece of writing that explains, interprets, or comments on euphony: pleasant sound in language extended metaphor: metaphor that runs longer than a phrase or sentence, often for several paragraphs farce: extravagant or far-fetched comedy figurative language: all non-literal devices and conceits. eg metaphors, similes first-hand evidence: evidence collected directly through recording or experiment fragment: a sentence lacking subject or verb hortative sentence: a sentences that exhorts; a call for action or motion hyperbole: deliberate overstatement hypotaxis: compound sentence usually using subordinate clauses imperative sentence: a sentence that makes a demand or command induction: logical reasoning that derives theory or principle from specific examples juxtaposition: the placement of two elements next to each other for comparison or contrast litotes: ironic understatement; positive expressed through negative or the reverse. logos: the logical appeal of an argument; expressed through close reasoning malapropism: deliberate use of the wrong word or misspelled/mispronounced word (often ironically) metaphor: a figure of speech making direct comparison: eg the sun is a yolk.

metonymy: when a thing is referred to by a name associated with it. eg Washington to mean US Government neologism: a newly created word that the author may define and promote as part of an argument non sequitor: an out-of-sequence point; a random jump of idea onomatopoeia: words that mimic sounds. eg splat oxymoron: figure of speech using apparently contradictory terms eg gentle giant parable: a device in which an idea is expressed through an apparently unrelated story; often the meaning is moral or ethical paradox: apparently absurd or contradictory statement that contains a hidden truth parallelism: use of equally weighted terms or syntactical units in sequence parataxis: short, simple sentences lacking subordinate clauses parenthesis: use of an aside or additional information to rhetorical effect parody: criticism through mocking over-inflation of personal characteristics or writing style pathetic fallacy: a form of personification attributing human emotions to animals or inanimate objects pathos: emotional appeals used to rhetorical effect period (periodic sentence): a complete sentence persona: the character of the author expressed in a given writing personification: attribution of human characteristics to non-human things or animals polemic: an argument designed to refute, often denying any validity in the target position posit: to state a position; put forward as a basis of argument

propaganda: writing, film, advertising and other messages designed to create or sway public opinion pun: wordplay dependent on double meanings rebuttal: formal response to an opposing position refutation: argument against another position that seeks to show its problems, inaccuracies rhetoric: writing or speech designed to convinced rhetorical question: a question in which the implied answer is clear and unstated; used to make a point less directly than by stating it sarcasm: a bitter or wounding irony satire: critical mimicry or misrepresentation used for effect sententia: rhetorical use of aphorism or witty saying to sum up an argument simile: comparison using like or as stance: speakers or writers attitude toward audience syllogism: reasoning in which a conclusion is deduced from two premises synecdoche: figure of speech in which a part is used for a whole or whole for a part syntax: word order synthesia: use of one sense to describe another sense: eg the yellow texture the bright smell synthesize: substantial combination of ideas to form new position tone: the inflection and emphasis put on language to show the authors thoughts and feelings toward the statements or subject matter transition: movement from point to point; the sentence that achieves that movement trope: figurative or metaphorical use of a word

understatement: discussing an important or pressing point in less amplified manner for rhetorical effect; the contrast makes the point verbal irony: familiar type of irony in which what is said or written is opposite from or different than what is meant warrant: underlying assumption linking a claim / reason pair. zeugma: a form of parallelism in which a word is used twice but with two different meanings

Types of logical fallacy ad hominem: an argument that attacks an opposing position by attacking the person who made it rather than the argument itself. ad populum (bandwagon appeals): suggests that because everybody believes an idea it must be true. appeals to false authority: misleading move in an argument that attributes a type of authority to a person who is not in fact an authority in order to back up an argument. eg advertising often does this when it has a person famous for sports promoting a financial service. They may be good at hitting, but do they know how to evaluate stocks? begging the question: circular logic in which the initial premise is falsely granted. circular argument: a central premise is assumed to be true rather than proven. eg the chicken crosses the road because it is a chicken. either/or (false dilemma): suggests that there are only two sides to the argument in order to promote one of the sides. in reality, there are other options. equivocation: in rhetoric, the use of a key term in an argument or syllogism with more than one meaning. eg the night sky is dark. dark chocolate is dark. therefore the night sky is dark chocolate. faulty analogy: assumes that because two things are similar in one respect that they are similar in other respects.

faulty causality - post hoc ergo propter hoc genetic fallacy: a claim that rests exclusively on the origins of someone or something when, logically, the present situation may have changed. hasty generalization: induction from scanty evidence moral equivalence: compares small moral failing to large ones slippery slope: argues that a small concession will lead to a complete failing