You need to be familiar with the following terms by Tuesday,
September 6th. There will be a quiz on
these words next week. You need to know
what they mean and examples for each.
Allegory -- The device of using character and/or story
elements symbolically to represent an abstraction or idea (like freedom or
peace) in addition to the literal meaning.
In some allegories, for example, an author may intend the characters to
personify an abstraction like hope or freedom.
The allegorical meaning usually deals with moral truth or a
generalization about human existence.
Animal Farm is an example of an allegory dealing with communism.
Alliteration -- The repetition of sounds, especially initial
consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words (as in "she sells sea
shells"). Although the term is not
used in the multiple-choice section of the AP exam, you can look for
alliteration in any essay passage. The
effect of this repetition can reinforce meaning, unify ideas, and/or supply a
musical sound to a piece of literature.
Allusion -- A direct or indirect reference to something
which is presumably commonly known, such as a well known event, book, myth, the
bible, place, or work of art. Allusions
can be historical, literary, religious, or mythical. There are of course, many more possibilities, and a work may
simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion.
Ambiguity -- The multiple meanings, either intentional or
unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. Ambiguity allows multiple interpretations of
literature, and it is often linked with an author's wit and style when done
intentionally.
Analogy -- A similarity or comparison between two different
things or the relationship between them.
An analogy can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or
pointing out its similarity to something more familiar. Analogies can also make writing more vivid,
imaginative, or intellectually engaging.
Antecedent -- The word, phrase, or clause, referred to by a
pronoun. The AP Language exam
occasionally asks for the antecedent of a given pronoun in a long, complex
sentence or in a group of sentences.
Aphorism -- A terse statement of known authorship which
expresses a general truth or a moral principle.
(If the authorship is unknown, the statement is generally considered to
be a folk proverb). An aphorism can be a
memorable summation of the author's point.
Apostrophe -- A figure of speech that directly addresses an
absent or imaginary person, or personified abstraction, such as liberty or
love. The effect may add familiarity or
emotional intensity. William Wordsworth
addresses John Milton as he writes: "Milton, thou shouldst be living at
this hour: England hath need of thee."
Atmosphere -- The emotional mood created by the entirety of
a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's
choice of objects that are described.
Even such elements as a description of the weather can contribute to the
atmosphere. Frequently, atmosphere
foreshadows events.
Clause -- A grammatical unit (a group of words) that
contains both a subject and a verb. An
independent, or main, clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone
as its own sentence. A dependent, or
subordinate, clause cannot stand alone as a sentence and must be accompanied by
an independent clause. Examine this
sample sentence: "Because I practice diligently, my AP scores were
high." In this sentence, the
independent clause is "my AP scores were high," and the dependent
clause is "Because I practiced diligently."
