English 11AP: Lang & Comp
Woebel
Tropes & Schemes Glossary
Abstract Language
Dealing in intangibles, as opposed to concrete.
 Honesty
 Sweetness
 Robert is nice
 We’re going away
Alliteration
Repetition of the same sound beginning several words in
sequence.
 Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.
 She sells seashells by the seashore.
 One wide whale waddled in waves with his wife.
Allusion
Brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or factitious, or
to a work of art.
 He is as old as Methuselah
 The teddy bear was named for Theodore Roosevelt
 The Underground Railroad, led by Harriet Tubman,
was a way for slaves to escape and gain their freedom.
 “All that David Copperfield kind of crap.” (Holden)
Anaphora
Repetition, in which the same expression (word or words) is
repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or
sentences.
 We cannot dedicate --- we cannot consecrate --- we
cannot hallow… (Lincoln)
 We live, we laugh, we love
Ambiguity
The multiple meanings – either intentional or unintentional –
of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.
Antecedent
A word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.
 Sally raised her hand. (her refers to Sally)
Aphorism
A wise and witty saying that teaches a lesson.
 Early to bed, early to rise, makes the Willowbrook
student healthy, wealthy, and wise.
 “I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.” –
Albert Einstein
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Apostrophe
Not the mark of punctuation – A figure of speech in which
someone (usually not present) or some abstract quality, is
directly address as though present.
 “O, pardon me, thou bleeding earth” (Julius Caesar)
 “O rose, thou art sick”
 O’ Brother, where art thou?
 Lord give me the strength!
Antithesis
Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a balanced or
parallel form/construction.
 Man proposes, God disposes
 To err is human, to forgive divine
Archaic Diction
Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words
 Thrice
 Whilst
Asyndeton
Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses,
or words. (conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
 “And I want you to feel it – the wind coming off the
river, the waves, the silence, the wooded frontier.”
Conceit
An extended metaphor (a lengthy comparison that usually runs
several lines to a paragraph.)
Concrete language
Descriptions that include tangible images with details a reader
can visualize.
 He is untidy and unclean (abstract)
 Paul leaves his dirty dishes on the counter (concrete)
Cumulative Sentence
(Loose Sentence)
Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the
sentence, and then builds and adds on. Note the independent
clause at the beginning of the sentence.
 Education has no equal in opening minds, instilling
values, and creating opportunities.
Diction
Word Choice
Ellipsis
The omission of one or more words that, while essential to a
grammatical structure, are easily supplied; marks to indicate
omission of a word or words.
 Histories make men wise, the poets subtle
 The boats sailed to the east, the submarines west.
 It was the best of times…times
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Euphemism
The use of a “kinder” term for the blunt one; uses indirection
rather than offend; a polite or nice way to say something.
 The gentleman has been over-served (instead of he is
drunk).
 The woman looks very healthy (instead of fat)
 My aunt passed (instead of died)
Hortative Sentence
Sentence that exhorts, advises, or calls to action
 You are talented and must persevere!
Juxtaposition
Placement of two ideas/words/concepts closely together to
emphasize comparisons or contrasts.
 The atheist cries there is no God while the Christian
cries there must be.
 Make love, not war.
Metonymy:
A trope in which one thing is represented by another that is
commonly, and often physically, associated with it.
 Calling a monarch/royalty “the crown.” The crown is a
physical symbol of royalty.
 Referring to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Centers as “9-11.” The date represents the experience that
happened in the United States.
 You can't fight “city hall.”
Metaphor
Figure of speech that says one thing is another in order to
explain by comparison.
 Life is a rollercoaster
 Jungle of suspicion
Oxymoron
Paradoxical juxtaposition
 Jumbo shrimp
 Living deaths
 Working vacation
 Deafening silence
Paradox
A statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to
common sense yet may be true.
 The coach considered this a good loss.
 The first will come last and the last will come first
 Can an all-powerful being create something greater
than itself?
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Parallelism
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words,
phrases, or clauses.
 The end of a theoretical science is truth, but the end of
a practical science is performance – Aristotle
 The pilot walked down the aisle, through the door, and
into the cockpit.
 I bought a can of fruit, a bottle of milk, and a bag of
candy.
Periodic Sentences
Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.
 If the class size were smaller, the teachers were better,
and the degree was nationally recognized, I would be
willing to pay more for tuition.
 Because the nights were cold, and because the
monsoons were wet, each carried a green plastic
poncho…
Personification
Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or idea.
 The trees danced in the wind.
Polysyndeton
The repetition of conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
 “All my aunts and uncles were there, and Abraham
Lincoln, and Saint George, and a nine-year-old girl
named Linda…and a blind poet, and LBJ, and..”
Rhetoric
The art of persuasion through speech and writing.
Rhetorical Question
Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical
effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.
 Will you join in that historic effort?
 Would you bite the hand that feeds you?
Synecdoche:
A trope where a PART of something represents the WHOLE.
It is a form of metonymy (some rhetoricians do not even
distinguish the difference between the two).
 Referring to your boat as “the sail”
 The “ABCs” instead of saying the alphabet
 If I had some “wheels,” I'd put on my best “threads” and
ask for Jane's hand in marriage.
Syntax
Sentence Structure
Understatement
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The ironic minimization of fact; opposite of hyperbole
 Be sure to study a little bit for the AP exam. – Meaning you
should study A LOT! 