Level 1
The major category into which a literary work fits
What is genre?
A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Can be historical, literary, religious, or mythical.
What is allusion?
The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant, or the difference between what appears to be and what is actually true
What are rhetorical modes?
the writer’s word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.
What is diction?
for example, formal or informal, ornate or plain) and understand the ways in which diction can complement the author’s purpose. Diction, combined with syntax, figurative language, literary devices, etc., creates an author’s style.
The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words
What is alliteration?
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
What is an antecedent?
The AP language exam occasionally asks for the antecedent of a given pronoun in a long, complex sentence or in a group of sentences. A question from the 2001 AP test as an example follows:
“But it is the grandeur of all truth which can occupy a very high place in human interests that it is never absolutely novel to the meanest of minds; it exists eternally, by way of germ of latent principle, in the lowest as in the highest, needing to be developed but never to be planted.”
The antecedent of “it” (bolded) is...? [answer: “all truth”]
An evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other
literary devices.
What is style?
deliberate exaggeration or overstatement
What is hyperbole?
describes the author’s attitude toward his material, the audience, or both
The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, imagery uses terms related to the five senses
What is imagery?
A word or phrase that links different ideas.
What is a transition?
The branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words, their historical and psychological development, their connotations, and their relation to one another.
What is semantics?
A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity
What is paradox?
anything that represents itself and stands for something else
What is a symbol?
figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words.
What is onomatopoeia?
To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented
What is an inference?
The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning. Connotations may involve ideas, emotions, or attitudes.
a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part
What is synecdoche?
The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life.
What is theme?
The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern.
What is repetition?
one of the major divisions of genre, prose refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms.
What is prose?
the sentence or group of sentences that directly expresses the author’s opinion, purpose, meaning, or position.
What is a thesis?
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.
What is apostrophe?
The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.
What is syntax?