AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE—2015 SUMMER ASSIGNMENT
AP English Language and Composition Terms for Glossary: For each of the words on the attached list, including
bold words, provide the definition in your own words. Definitions that are copied verbatim or that are cut and
pasted from another source will not be accepted! Be sure to consult the resources listed below for your
definitions. You are expected to have a basic knowledge of these terms at the beginning of the school year; of
course, we will build upon this understanding through the year. Please leave a space or two to fill in examples as
the year continues, and we review the terms.
Diction:
Syntax & Syntactical Features:
Rhetorical Modes:
Apostrophe
Anaphora
Description
Colloquialism
Antithesis
Expository
Connotation
Asyndeton
Compare/Contrast
Denotation
Chiasmus
Cause/Effect
Dialect
Epistrophe
Classification/Division
Invective
Inversion
Example
Jargon
Juxtaposition
Analogy
Slang
Polysyndeton
Definition
Zeugma
Process Analysis
Declarative
Narrative
Imperative
Persuasion
Interrogative
Persuasion:
Exclamatory
General:
Ethos
Rhetorical Question
Rhetoric
Logos
Simple
Tone/Mood/Attitude
Pathos
Compound
Point of View:
Logical Fallacy
Complex
1st Person
Parody
Compound-Complex
1st Person Stream of Consciousness
Persona
Loose
3rd Person Limited
Pun
Periodic
Rhetorical Triangle
Sarcasm
Balanced
Voice
Sardonic
Cumulative
Speaker
Satire
Hortative
Syllogism
Didactic
First Hand Evidence:
Wit
Pedantic
Personal Experience
Inductive
Anecdote
Deductive
Current Events
Stereotype
Second Hand Evidence:
Historical Information
Expert Opinion
Quantitative Data
Fallacies of Relevance:
Fallacies of Accuracy:
Fallacies of Insufficiency:
Red Herring
Straw man
Circular Reasoning
Ad Hominem
Either/or
Hasty Generalization
Faulty Analogy
Figurative Language:
Allegory
Alliteration
Assonance
Allusion
Analogy
Cacophony/Euphony
Cliché
Consonance
Hyperbole/Overstatement
Idiom
Paradox
Imagery
Personification
Irony: Situational, dramatic, verbal
Litotes
Simile
Metaphor
Synecdoche
Metonymy
Understatement
Onomatopoeia
Oxymoron
Parable
Sources for consideration:
Springboard Level Five: Glossary of Terms (Back of 10th grade Springboard)
http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm
http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm
http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, ed. Chris Baldick (Oxford, 1990)