AP Lang notes

leaves out a conjunction between a list for effect

Ex: He was tall, dark, handsome.

it takes an important word in a statement from anywhere in the statement and repeats it again.

Ex. The law destroys the fruits of thirty years of struggle bringing us back to a sadder time. Law should build up not tear down.

intentionally giving a lesser description.

Ex. I did NOTHING at school today.

extreme exaggeration

Ex. This room is as cold as the Ice Age.

contrasting any of the parts of a statement

Ex. The love that was once an oasis is now a barren desert.

asking a question and then answering it

Ex. Why am I putting more police officers on the street? Their presence prevents crime.

asking a question and the answer is implied

Ex. How can we expect a man to give more than we ourselves are willing to give?

stating something and then objecting to the statement as if the speaker anticipates the audience's concerns

Ex. Many experts want to classify Nascar as a sport, but I do not.

a reference to a well-known event, place, or person

Ex. He hammered the ball the way Babe Ruth did

referring to a specific famous person to compare his or her attributes to someone else.

Ex. A modern day Moses, he led his nation to a new beginning.

providing the reader with an example to prove your point

Ex. The U.S. government gives its citizens freedoms; one illustration of this is that we have the right to criticize our leaders.

takes the last word of a sentence or phrase and repeats next to the beginning of the next sentence or phrase.

Ex. In education we find the measure of our own ignorance; in ignorance we find the meaning of wisdom.

a short statement that gives an observation about life

Ex. A stitch in time saves nine

a statement that makes no literal sense but has a meaning you understand

Ex. The old man is over the hill.

Ex. falling in love

a statement that seems self-contradictory but later reveals a truth

Ex. Much madness is the divinest sense

a brief story meant to prove a point

giving things human characteristics

a device a writer uses to express doubt about an idea; it can also be used to show the many sides of an argument.

EX. I'm unsure whether to be in favor of the death penalty or not as the arguments to both sides seem strong.

writers repeat something they just said while adding more detail

EX. It was a cold day, a wicked day, a day of biting winds and bitter frost.

a series of clauses without correct punctuation

Ex. I came, I saw, I conquered.

using a part of something instead of referring to the whole

ex. The rancher boasted about how many head of cattle he had.

ex. The captain needed all hands on deck.

referring to something closely related to the actual object, person, or thing

ex. The White House made a last minute decision.

ex. The brass showed up to take witness statements.

arrange words in a sentence in an unexpected order (word inversion)

ex. Intentions profit nothing; only promises kept matter.

A 19th-century idealistic philosophical and social movement that taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity.

an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1840. The movement valued feeling over reason.

a device in which unexpected items in a sentence are linked together by shared words.

Ex. The runner lost the race and then lost his scholarship.

Ex. He ran hundreds of miles and then ran out of time.

its primary goal is to teach the reader a lesson

ex. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Ex. Paul's letters in the Bible.

type or kind

recurring images, symbols, themes, or characters

a word's literal meaning

the association evoked by words beyond its literal meaning. It reflects broad cultural associations (ethos)

rhetorical appeal focusing on logic

rhetorical appeal focusing on ethics (what is accepted among people who live in same time and place)

rhetorical appeal focusing on emotions

type of narrative that has two levels of meaning: surface and deeper.

result of something being stated in such a way that its meaning cannot be determined definitely.

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

the science of language

a. the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language.

b. the study of the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words.

c. the rules or patterns so studied: English syntax.

as in "of ideas" to scatter; to disperse or spread

language used by a particular group (teachers saying we are giving a TLI or a Chunk Test or referring to an "AYP."

1. thoughts, statements, or dialogue of individuals especially characters in a literary work.

2. the language in which a subject or area of knowledge is discussed.

the emotional effect a drama has on its audience/ the purging of emotions or relieving emotional tensions especially through certain kinds of art like drama and music

insight or revelation gained when one suddenly understands

an inscription on a tomb to commemorate the deceased

fancy term for a quotation of life saying

wise saying

a comparison of the similar characteristics of two unlike things

character who opposes protagonist

addressing or speaking to some abstract quality or non-human entity

story or pattern repeated from generation to generation i.e. searching for the fountain of youth, selling your soul to the devil,

repetition of vowel sounds

language that is informal or familiar to a group of people

where a poet repeats the identical consonant sounds typically in the last syllable of words

a German phrase that asserts that for each person there exists an exact replica, a shadow image.

a poem that reflects upon death

occurs when a poet continues the grammatical sentence into the next line

repetition of the beginning at the end of a clause or sentence

i.e. Blood hath brought blood, and blows have answered blows.

a Greek term that means excessive pride

the placement of items close together often for purposes of contrasting or comparison

attitude author has toward the audience

a figure of speech in which a grammatical structure is repeated but in inverse order/ a reversal of ideas expressed in parallel clauses or phrases.

i.e. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

contrast between what you think will happen and what actually happens

the audience knows something the characters do not

contrast between what is stated and what is meant

overly concerned in one's learning

substitution of words that sound not as harsh (for example-- "passed away" instead of "died."

something or someone not in correct time period (dinging clock in Julius Caesar).

informal speech or expression "I wasn't born yesterday."

insulting or abusive words or expressions

distinguishable

unclear; doubtful

sentimental yearning for the happiness felt in a former time, place or situation.

comparing two things to clarify how they are alike...uses words like or as

comparing two things without using like or as

meant to deter or throw off readers or speakers/ occurs when the writer creates a distraction

Latin word for beginning/ introduction to an essay

brings the essay to a close

assertion or proposition

asserts if something is true or not true

argues if something is good or bad

proposing a change

statement of the main idea of the argument that ALSO previews the major points the writer tends to make

the main idea of an argument but does not list all the points the writer intends to cover

-this statement usually contains an although or a but BEFORE the writer's opinion

ex. Although the Harry Potter series may have some literary merit, its popularity has to do less with storytelling and more with merchandising.

potential weaknesses in an argument

using evidence that is not relevant to the claim

tactic of switching from the topic at hand to attacking the CHARACTER of the other speaker

using inaccurate information (straw man fallacy- using an oversimplified example in order to ridicule an opponent's view

ex. Candidate A wants continue to fund space exploration. Candidate B mocks him for "looking for little green men."

hasty generalizations/ not enough evidence to support/ circular reasoning is repeating bad evidence resulting in no evidence at all

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues in order to raise awareness or to bring about change; ridiculing something in an attempt to bring about change or to raise awareness.

diction, images, details, language, sentence structure

Warrant, Qualifier, Rebuttal, Backing.

the general, hypothetical and often implicit logical statements that serve as bridges between the claim and the data

statements that limit the strengths of the argument or statements that propose the conditions under which the argument is true

counter arguments or statements indicating circumstances when the general argument does not hold true

statements that serve to support the warrants

a logical structure that uses major premise and minor premise to reach a necessary conclusion.

based on the assumption that having a full understanding of an opposing position is essential to refuting it in a way that is accommodating rather than alienating.

(italicize foreign words or underline them when you use them in your writing)

correlation does not imply causation/ incorrect to claim that something is a cause just because it happened earlier

insincere pathos