Ms.

Shutt
AP Language and Composition
Language Cards
The literary terms and language terms below are the ones you will need to define, provide an
example for, and explain the terms potential effects on the audience/reader. All terms will be done in
a spiraled note card holder, which will be turned in, graded, and returned to the student to complete
the next set of words. The words definitions can be found in the packet I have provided for you. Use
those meanings and not ones that you found elsewhere. Put one word per card. You may write on the
back of the card if needed.

1. Anaphora, anecdote 12. Loose sentence, metonymy

2. Academic writing, analogy 13. Narration, objectivity
3. Antithesis, aphorism 14. Oxymoron, parallelism
4. Atmosphere, bombast 15. Paradox, parody
5. Chiasmus, cacophony 16. Parenthetical sentence pathos
6. Caricature, colloquialism 17. Parable, periodic sentence
7. Connotation, denotation 18. Persona, rhetorical question
8. Diction, dissonance 19. Segue, stereotype
9. Doggerel, epigram 20. Subjectivity, synecdoche
10. Exposition, euphemism 21. Theme, thesis
11. Inversion, litotes 22. Tone, travesty, utopia

FORMAT
Term: Definition of the literary or language device

Example: quotation that illustrates the term, an example of the term, an explanation of the term

Potential Effect: Discussion of the authors purpose in employing this language resource at this
point in the writing. How could this device enhance what the author wants to convey? What is the
purpose of using this kind of language style? How can it help the writer convey his or her meaning?

SAMPLE CARD
Parallelism: refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or
paragraphs to give structural similarity. This can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of a
grammatical element such as a preposition or a verbal phrase.

Example: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the
age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. -Charles Dickens, A
Tale of Two Cities

Function: Parallelism acts as an organizing force to attract the readers attention, add emphasis and
organization, or simply provide a musical rhythm to the writing.