AP Language Terms questions and answers
with solutions 2025
Abstract Diction - ANSWER Language that denotes ideas, emotions, conditions, or concepts that are
intangible-impenetrable, incredible, inscrutable, inconceivable, unfathomable
ad hominem - ANSWER Latin for "against the man."
Attacking the person instead of the argument proposed by that individual.
An argument directed to the personality, prejudices, previous words and actions of an opponent rather
than an appeal to pure reason.
Example: "Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot," writes left-wing comedian Al Franken.
adverbial phrases - ANSWER First, let's define an adverb: word that modifies a verb, verb form, adjective
or another adverb.
Thus, an adverbial phrases is a group of words that modifies, as a single unit, a verb, verb form, adjective
or another adverb.
Example: He lost the first game due to carelessness.
allegory - ANSWER A fiction or nonfiction narrative, in which characters, things, and events represent
qualities, moral values, or concepts.
Playing out of the narrative is designed to reveal an abstraction or truth.
Characters and other elements may be symbolic of the ideas referred to in the allegory.
Example: The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan or A Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Alliteration - ANSWER The repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of words.
For example, "Five miles meandering with a mazy motion" Kubla Khan by S.T. Coleridge
allusion - ANSWER A reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place, or event, or to another literary
work or passage.
Generally speaking, the writer assumes the educated reader will recognize the reference.
Often humorous, but not always.
Establishes a connection between writer and reader, or to make a subtle point.
,Example: "In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings."
Ambiguity - ANSWER Use of language where the meaning is unclear or has two or more possible
interpretations or meanings. It could be created through a weakness in the way the writer has expressed
himself or herself, but often it is used by writers quite deliberately to create layers of meaning in the
mind of the reader.
Ambivalence - ANSWER This indicates more than one possible attitude is being displayed by the writer
towards a character, theme, or idea, etc.
Anachronism - ANSWER Something that is historically inaccurate, for example the reference to a clock
chiming in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Anadiplosis - ANSWER Last word of one line is the first word of the next line
analogy - ANSWER A comparison to a directly parallel case, arguing that a claim reasonable for one case
is reasonable for the analogous case.
A comparison made between two things that may initially seem to have little in common but can offer
fresh insights when compared.
Used for illustration and/or argument.
Example: "We advance in years somewhat in the manner of an invading army in a barren land; the
age that we have reached, as the phrase goes, we but hold with an outpost, and still keep open our
communications with the extreme rear and first beginnings of the march." -Robert Louis
Stevenson, "On Marriage."
anaphora - ANSWER Repetition of a word, phrase or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in
a row.
Deliberate form of repetition to reinforce point or to make it more coherent.
Example: In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson places the subject, "He," at the
beginning of twenty accusations in a row, each as a single paragraph, to put the weight of responsibility
for the problems with King George III, whom Jefferson refers to in the third person.
Anastrophe (Inversion) - ANSWER Inversion of the normal syntactical structure of a sentence. Ex. "Ready
are you?"
,Antecedent - ANSWER The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun
Anthropomorphism - ANSWER The endowment of something that is not human with human
characteristics.
anticlimax - ANSWER In writing, denotes a writer's intentional drop from the serious and elevated to the
trivial and lowly, in order to achieve a comic or satiric effect.
An event (as at the end of a series) that is strikingly less important than what has preceded it.
The transition towards this ending.
Antimetabole - ANSWER A sentence strategy in which the arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a
reversal o the first; it adds power to the sentence.
antithesis - ANSWER A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases or clauses.
Example: ". . .one seeing more where the other sees less, one seeing black where the other sees white,
one seeing big where the other sees small. . . ."
Example: Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I, Scene I, Line 11: "Fair is foul and foul is fair."
Oxymoron: rhetorical antithesis, juxtaposing two contradictory terms like "wise fool" or "eloquent
silent."
anecdote - ANSWER A brief recounting of a relevant episode.
Used in fiction and nonfiction.
Develops point or injects humor.
Commonly used as an illustration for an abstract point being made.
Example: Mark Twain is famous for his short anecdotes about growing up in Missouri intertwined with
humor and an abstract truth about human nature.
Aphorism - ANSWER A terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth or moral
principle
, Apostrophe - ANSWER An interruption in a poem or narrative so that the speaker or writer can address a
dead or absent person or particular audience or notion directly. "Oh Time thou must untangle this not I"
Viola in Twelfth Night
appositive - ANSWER Nonessential word groups (phrases and clauses) that follow nouns and identify or
explain them.
Example: My aunt, who lives in Montana, is taking surfing lessons in Hawaii.
The sentence above is a "nonrestrictive clause," because it is not necessary to the meaning of the
sentence and it can easily be put in another sentence and still make sense. Thus, it is set off by commas.
A restrictive clause also follows a noun but is necessary to the meaning of the sentence. It is not an
appositive. Thus, no commas. "That" always signals restrictive.
Example: People who can speak more than one language are multilingual.
Example: Please repair all the windows that are broken.
Archaic - ANSWER Language that is old-fashioned -not completely obsolete but no longer in current use.
archetype - ANSWER Meaning: model, example, standard, original, classic.
Elemental patterns of ritual, mythology and folklore that recur in the legends, ceremonies and stories of
the most diverse cultures.
In literature, applies to narrative designs, character types, or images which are said to be identifiable in a
wide variety of works of literature, as well as myths, and even ritualized modes of social behavior.
Example: Over 300 different versions of the Cinderella tale exist from around the world, and all of them
have certain archetypal characteristics: wicked step-mother, mean sisters, handsome prince who rescues
the girl. These common characteristics are qualities that strike a strong emotional reaction in all who
own the story.
assonance - ANSWER Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words, usually with different
consonant sounds either before or after the same vowel sounds.
Example: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary," Edgar Allan Poe's "The
Raven."
Example: "Thou foster child of silence and slow time," John Keat's "Ode on a Grecian Urn."
with solutions 2025
Abstract Diction - ANSWER Language that denotes ideas, emotions, conditions, or concepts that are
intangible-impenetrable, incredible, inscrutable, inconceivable, unfathomable
ad hominem - ANSWER Latin for "against the man."
Attacking the person instead of the argument proposed by that individual.
An argument directed to the personality, prejudices, previous words and actions of an opponent rather
than an appeal to pure reason.
Example: "Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot," writes left-wing comedian Al Franken.
adverbial phrases - ANSWER First, let's define an adverb: word that modifies a verb, verb form, adjective
or another adverb.
Thus, an adverbial phrases is a group of words that modifies, as a single unit, a verb, verb form, adjective
or another adverb.
Example: He lost the first game due to carelessness.
allegory - ANSWER A fiction or nonfiction narrative, in which characters, things, and events represent
qualities, moral values, or concepts.
Playing out of the narrative is designed to reveal an abstraction or truth.
Characters and other elements may be symbolic of the ideas referred to in the allegory.
Example: The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan or A Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Alliteration - ANSWER The repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of words.
For example, "Five miles meandering with a mazy motion" Kubla Khan by S.T. Coleridge
allusion - ANSWER A reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place, or event, or to another literary
work or passage.
Generally speaking, the writer assumes the educated reader will recognize the reference.
Often humorous, but not always.
Establishes a connection between writer and reader, or to make a subtle point.
,Example: "In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings."
Ambiguity - ANSWER Use of language where the meaning is unclear or has two or more possible
interpretations or meanings. It could be created through a weakness in the way the writer has expressed
himself or herself, but often it is used by writers quite deliberately to create layers of meaning in the
mind of the reader.
Ambivalence - ANSWER This indicates more than one possible attitude is being displayed by the writer
towards a character, theme, or idea, etc.
Anachronism - ANSWER Something that is historically inaccurate, for example the reference to a clock
chiming in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Anadiplosis - ANSWER Last word of one line is the first word of the next line
analogy - ANSWER A comparison to a directly parallel case, arguing that a claim reasonable for one case
is reasonable for the analogous case.
A comparison made between two things that may initially seem to have little in common but can offer
fresh insights when compared.
Used for illustration and/or argument.
Example: "We advance in years somewhat in the manner of an invading army in a barren land; the
age that we have reached, as the phrase goes, we but hold with an outpost, and still keep open our
communications with the extreme rear and first beginnings of the march." -Robert Louis
Stevenson, "On Marriage."
anaphora - ANSWER Repetition of a word, phrase or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in
a row.
Deliberate form of repetition to reinforce point or to make it more coherent.
Example: In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson places the subject, "He," at the
beginning of twenty accusations in a row, each as a single paragraph, to put the weight of responsibility
for the problems with King George III, whom Jefferson refers to in the third person.
Anastrophe (Inversion) - ANSWER Inversion of the normal syntactical structure of a sentence. Ex. "Ready
are you?"
,Antecedent - ANSWER The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun
Anthropomorphism - ANSWER The endowment of something that is not human with human
characteristics.
anticlimax - ANSWER In writing, denotes a writer's intentional drop from the serious and elevated to the
trivial and lowly, in order to achieve a comic or satiric effect.
An event (as at the end of a series) that is strikingly less important than what has preceded it.
The transition towards this ending.
Antimetabole - ANSWER A sentence strategy in which the arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a
reversal o the first; it adds power to the sentence.
antithesis - ANSWER A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases or clauses.
Example: ". . .one seeing more where the other sees less, one seeing black where the other sees white,
one seeing big where the other sees small. . . ."
Example: Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I, Scene I, Line 11: "Fair is foul and foul is fair."
Oxymoron: rhetorical antithesis, juxtaposing two contradictory terms like "wise fool" or "eloquent
silent."
anecdote - ANSWER A brief recounting of a relevant episode.
Used in fiction and nonfiction.
Develops point or injects humor.
Commonly used as an illustration for an abstract point being made.
Example: Mark Twain is famous for his short anecdotes about growing up in Missouri intertwined with
humor and an abstract truth about human nature.
Aphorism - ANSWER A terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth or moral
principle
, Apostrophe - ANSWER An interruption in a poem or narrative so that the speaker or writer can address a
dead or absent person or particular audience or notion directly. "Oh Time thou must untangle this not I"
Viola in Twelfth Night
appositive - ANSWER Nonessential word groups (phrases and clauses) that follow nouns and identify or
explain them.
Example: My aunt, who lives in Montana, is taking surfing lessons in Hawaii.
The sentence above is a "nonrestrictive clause," because it is not necessary to the meaning of the
sentence and it can easily be put in another sentence and still make sense. Thus, it is set off by commas.
A restrictive clause also follows a noun but is necessary to the meaning of the sentence. It is not an
appositive. Thus, no commas. "That" always signals restrictive.
Example: People who can speak more than one language are multilingual.
Example: Please repair all the windows that are broken.
Archaic - ANSWER Language that is old-fashioned -not completely obsolete but no longer in current use.
archetype - ANSWER Meaning: model, example, standard, original, classic.
Elemental patterns of ritual, mythology and folklore that recur in the legends, ceremonies and stories of
the most diverse cultures.
In literature, applies to narrative designs, character types, or images which are said to be identifiable in a
wide variety of works of literature, as well as myths, and even ritualized modes of social behavior.
Example: Over 300 different versions of the Cinderella tale exist from around the world, and all of them
have certain archetypal characteristics: wicked step-mother, mean sisters, handsome prince who rescues
the girl. These common characteristics are qualities that strike a strong emotional reaction in all who
own the story.
assonance - ANSWER Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words, usually with different
consonant sounds either before or after the same vowel sounds.
Example: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary," Edgar Allan Poe's "The
Raven."
Example: "Thou foster child of silence and slow time," John Keat's "Ode on a Grecian Urn."
