Skills for AP English

Skills For AP English

Close Reading Grammar Composition Reading Strategies Mechanics Types/Modes

Annotation Capitalization Descriptive Determining Audience Punctuation Expository Determining Author’s Purpose Spelling Analytical Determining Fact and Opinion Cause/Effect (7) Determining Main Idea Usage Classification (8) Generalization Comparison/contrast Direct/Indirect Objects Definition Inference: opinion with evidence to Predicate Nominatives/Adjectives Illustration (8) support Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement Process Subject/Verb Agreement Research based (7) Paraphrase Use of Subjective and Objective documentation (8) Prediction Pronouns Narrative Seminar/Discussion Persuasive (argumentative) Summary Parts of Speech Challenge Deductive/inductive reasoning Literary Elements Phrases (8) Defend Archetype--an original pattern or Absolute (10): are made of nouns or Persuasive appeals model from which all other things of pronouns followed by a participle and Emotional the same kind are made any modifiers of the noun or pronoun Ethical (8) (ie: his hair blowing). They phrases Logical Character contain a subject (unlike participial Qualify (10) Journey of the hero (8) phrases), and no predicate. They Request Setting serve to modify an entire sentence. Character Multiple Mode Antagonist/Protagonist (hero) Appositive (7): rename noun phrases and are usually placed beside what Expressive Dynamic (changing)/static they rename . Imaginative (stays the same) (8): Personal Gerund (8): verbal in which a verb is Epiphany (8): sudden used as a noun and any of its The Process of Composition realization; the light bulb modifiers. It can be used as a moment subject, direct object, object of the Prewriting preposition,, etc. Consideration of audience Flat/round (no depth/depth and Determination of purpose complexity) Infinitive: will begin with an Generation of ideas infinitive [to + simple form of the Organization of ideas Foil (9): character’s opposite verb] and include objects and/or Selection of topic modifiers Drafting Motivation: what drives a Extended time character on Timed Participial (8): includes the Revision of multiple drafts Stock (9) participle(verb used as an adjective) Concision (8) and the object Content Detail: details included for a purpose of the participle or any words Organization modified by or related to the Precise diction Diction Word choice participle Sentence variety Unity Anticlimax (12) Prepositional: includes a preposition Editing and the object of the preposition. It Mechanics Connotation: feeling word shows relationship, direction, or Sentence Structure gives you location. Usage

Denotation: dictionary Clauses Structural Elements definition Dependent/Subordinate clause: Introduction Dialect: vocabulary that is clause contains a subject and a verb, Thesis characteristic of a specific group AND it can stand alone Body of people Independent clause: clause contains Incorporation of quotes (7) a subject and a verb, but it is Topic sentence Colloquial (10): informal characterized as beginning with a Use of commentary spoken language or dependent marker word (ie: although, Use of evidence conversation despite, while, because, etc.) and Conclusion therefore cannot stand by itself as a Slang (10): non-standard complete sentence. Organization use of words Sentences Patterns (spatial, order of Vernacular (10): Purpose importance, chronological, etc.) characteristic language of a Declarative: the kind of Transitions particular group sentence that makes a statement or “declares” Style/Voice Euphemism (8): A mild word something of phrase which substitutes for Active/Passive Voice (9) another which would be Exclamatory a more Conscious Manipulation of Sentence undesirable because it is too forceful version of a Patterns (9) direct, unpleasant, or offensive declarative sentence, marked Coordination/Subordination (9) at the end with an Deliberate Manipulation of Point of Idiom: a manner of speaking exclamation mark View (10) that is natural to native speakers Experimentation with Original Forms of a language Imperative gives a direct and Structures (7) command to someone Experimentation with Sentence Invective (12): abusive or Variety venomous language used to Interrogative asks a direct Imitation of Stylistic Models (beyond express blame or censure or question sentences) (8) bitter deep-seated ill will Moving away from formulaic writing Structure by mid-year (9) Vocabulary Antithetical (10): just Less/No formulaic writing (10) another way of saying Selection of detail Imagery: words that appeal to the 5 parallel but opposing. Selection of vocabulary senses Tone Shifts (10) Balanced (10): parallel Use of Figures of Speech Mood: the feeling invoked in the structure on either side of Use of Literary Elements (8) reader the conjunction, semi-colon, Use of Literary Techniques (8) etc. Use of Sound Devices Plot Use of Various Sentence Openings Exposition: background info Complex: A sentence with Rising action an independent clause and at Use of Technology Climax least one dependent clause Falling action Denouement: resolution Compound: A sentence consisting of two or more Conflict (internal/external) coordinate independent clauses Flashback

Foreshadowing: hints to what is to Compound-complex: A come sentence consisting of at least two coordinate Suspense: building of tension independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. Point of View Person Persona (12) Perspective Shift (10) Loose/cumulative (7): a complex sentence in which Rhetorical Shift: shift in attitude the main clause comes first and the subordinate clause Setting follows

Style Periodic (7): a complex sentence in which the main Theme: what an author believes to be clause comes last and is true on a subject presented in the preceded by the subordinate work. clause

Tone: speaker’s attitude towards his Simple: having no subject coordinate or subordinate clauses Tone determined through diction, imagery detail (7), point Sentence Variety of view (9) and syntax (10) Tone shift (9) Sentence beginnings Multiple tones (9) Sentence combining Vocabulary associated with tone (7) Syntax Techniques

Figures of Speech (figurative Antithesis (9): placement of direct language) opposites

Apostrophe (8): addressing Coherence (11) something as if they were present Epithet (11): An epithet (Greek Metaphor: figurative language epitheton) is a descriptive word or comparing two unlike phrase, often metaphoric, that is things essentially a reduced or condensed appositive. Epithets are sometimes Extended/Controlling (8) attached to a person's name, such as Richard the Lionheart or Alexander Metonymy (10): type of metaphor in the Great. In contemporary usage, which a word or phrase is substituted epithet often means an abusive or for something closely associated with defamatory phrase. it. Juxtaposition (9) placing things Oxymoron (7): a paradox in two side side-by-side for effect by side words. Omission Paradox (8): a contradictory Asyndeton (8): absence of any statement that turns out to be true conjunctions

Personification: applying human Ellipsis (9): leaving words out attributes to something not human Parallelism (8) Pun (9): play on words Polysyndeton (8): using unnecessary Simile: figurative language conjunctions comparing two unlike things using like or as Repetition repeating for effect

Epic (Homeric) (9) Anadiplosis (10): repeating the last word of one phrase, clause, Symbol: something representing or sentence at or very near the something else beginning of the next

Synaesthesia (10): describing one Anaphora (9): repeating words sense in terms of another. at the beginning of a sentence

Synecdoche (10): figurative language Epanalepsis (10): word or phrase using the part to represent the whole. is repeated after intervening matter Sound Devices Epistrophe (9): the counterpart Alliteration: repetition of the initial of anaphora, because the consonant sound repetition of the same word or words comes at the end of Assonance (7): repetition of vowel successive phrases, clauses or sounds sentences Blank Verse (12): unrhymed iambic pentameter Reversal Antimetabole (10): Reversal of Cacophony (12): a sound which is the order of repeated words or harsh or discordant phrases (a loosely chiastic structure, AB-BA) Cadence (12): rhythm Inversion (7): changing the Consonance (7): repetition of normal order of syntax consonant sounds within words Chiasmus (10): A crossing Euphony (12): a sound which is parallelism, where the second pleasant part of a grammatical construction is balanced or Dissonance (12): A combination of paralleled by the first part, only harsh or jarring sounds, especially in in reverse order. Instead of an Poetry A,B structure (eg, "learned unwillingly") paralleled by Meter (8) another A,B structure ("forgotten Anapest: U U / gladly"), the A,B will be followed by B,A ("gladly Foot: the unit poetic meter is forgotten"). So instead of writing measured in "What is learned unwillingly is forgotten gladly," you could Free verse: no rhyme or meter write, "What is learned unwillingly is gladly forgotten." Iamb: U / Similarly, the parallel sentence, "What is now great was at first Dimeter: 2 feet per line little," could be written chiastically as, "What is now Trimeter: 3 feet per line great was little at first."

Tetrameter: 4 feet per line Rhetorical Fragment (10): fragment for a specific purpose Pentameter: 5 feet per line Rhetorical Question (10): question Hexameter: 6 feet per line with no answer intended

Scansion: A close, critical Stichomythia (11): a technique in reading of a poem, examining drama or poetry, in which alternating the work for meter lines, or half-lines, are given to alternating characters, voices, or Spondee: // entities.

Stress: the syllable that is Analysis of a Text emphasized Meaning and effect related to parts of Trochee: / U speech, phrases, (clauses, sentences, 7) and syntax (9) Onomatopoeia: the sound of a word Rhetorical analysis focused on syntax echoes the sound it represents (10)

Rhyme End (12): at the end of the line

External (12) Feminine (12): A stressed syllable rhyme followed by an unstressed syllable. Example: carrot and garret, sever and never.

Internal (12): Rhyme that occurs within a line or passage

Masculine (12) Has a single stressed syllable rhyme. Example: fight and tight, stove and trove

Perfect (Rhyme in which the final accented vowel and all succeeding consonants or syllables are identical, while the preceding consonants are different ) /Imperfect (the rhymes are close but not perfect(12): Rhythm

Literary Techniques

Allusion: reference to another lit. work or historic event

Historical (8) Literary (7) Mythological (7)

Anachronism (10): out of place in time

Anecdote (10): short account of an incident

Antithesis (9) direct opposites

Argumentation Cause/effect Classification Comparison/contrast Deductive/inductive reasoning (8): Reasoning in which one tries to determine whether some statement follows logically from certain premises, as in the analysis of syllogisms. Whole to part logic. This is in contrast with inductive reasoning in which one observes a number of particular instances and tries to determine a general rule that covers them all.

Emotional appeals Ethical appeals (8) Fallacies (11) Ad hominem fallacy: Criticising a position by calling attention to irrelevant personal characteristics of someone who holds it Ad populum fallacy: the bandwagon fallacy; appealing to popularity

Begging the question: a situation that results when the writer or speaker constructs an argument on an assumption/premise that the audience does not accept.

Circular reasoning: the practice of assuming something, in order to prove the very thing that you assumed

Either/or reasoning

Hasty generalization

Non sequitur something that just does not follow

Pedantry

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc after this therefore because of this

Propaganda: information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause

Logical appeals

Characterization

Direct (8): something about the character is stated directly Indirect (8): personality traits about the character are implied through dialogue or actions.

Dialogue: when 2 people are speaking to each other

Hyperbole (7): exaggeration

Irony Dramatic (9): when the reader knows things the characters don’t Situational (7): when the opposite happens from what you expect Verbal (sarcasm): saying one thing and meaning another Motif (10): recurring idea

Satire (10): Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (individuals, organizations, states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change

Symbolism

Understatement (9) Litotes (10): A figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating its opposite. Some examples of litotes: no small victory, not a bad idea, not unhappy. Litotes is the opposite of hyperbole.

Literary Forms

Allegory (11): A story illustrating an idea or a moral principle in which objects take on symbolic meanings.

Anecdote (9)

Aphorism (10): a short, witty saying, expressing a truth about life

Diary: journal or log

Discourse Argumentation Description

Exposition: Writing intended to explain the nature of an idea, thing, or theme. Expository writing is often combined with description, narration, or argument

Narration Drama Aristotle’s rules for tragedy (9) Catharsis: purging of emotions

Dramatic unities

Hamartia: In tragedy, the event or act that leads to the hero's or heroine's downfall

Hubris: Excessive pride

Recognition Reversal Act Comedy: it’s funny; duh Comic relief: comic scene amid a tragedy to ease tensions

Dues ex machine: god from a machine

In medias res: beginning in the middle of the action (in the middle of things)

Monologue: an excessive speech by one speaker

Soliloquy: character speaking his thoughts while on stage alone

Tragedy: something horrible happens at the end; duh

Tragic Flaw: the flaw that leads to the hero’s downfall

Essay: Essay, a short work that treats of a topic from an author's personal point of view, often taking into account subjective experiences and personal reflections upon them

Formal Humorous Informal

Fable: a short moral story (often with animal characters)

Genre: A category of literary work

Novel Prologue: An introductory section of a literary work

Epigram (1: a poem or quote at the beginning of a chapter

Epilogue: A concluding statement or section of a literary work

Stream-of-Consciousness (12): A writing technique used by some modern authors in which the narration consists of a character's continuous interior monologue of thoughts and feelings

Subplot: minor plot Novella: A prose fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel

Parable: A brief story, told or written in order to teach a moral lesson

Prose: not poetry

Verse: poetry Ballad: a simple narrative verse which tells a story to be sung or recited

Concrete poetry: shape reflects the theme of the poem

Dirge: poem about death

Dramatic monologue: a lyric poem with a silent but identifiable listener in which the speaker tells about a dramatic moment in his life, and in doing so, reveals character.

Elegy: a poem of lament, meditating on the death of an individual.

End-stopped line (12): This is when the natural pause in the sense of the words comes at the end of the line

Enjambment (12): term used to describe a line of poetry which is not end-stopped, in which the sentence continues into the next line without any pause or punctuation mark

Epic: long narrative poem which gives an account of a hero important to his nation or race.

Epitaph: an inscription on a gravestone or a commemorative poem written as if it were for that purpose.

Lyric poetry: subjective, reflective poetry with regular rhyme scheme and meter which reveals the poet’s thoughts and feelings to create a single, unique impression.

Narrative poetry: non- dramatic, objective verse with regular rhyme scheme and meter which relates a story or narrative Sonnet (12): 14 lines of iambic pentameter Shakespearean/English: 3 quatrains and a couplet. Rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. 1st quatrain states a theme, 2nd and 3rd echo that theme, and the couplet summarizes or reverses it. Spenserian: like Shakespearean, but with linking rhyme abab bcbc cdcd ee Petrarchan/Italian: consists of an octave and a sestet. Rhyme scheme is abba abba then a combo of c,d,e Octave states a problem or question and sestet usually answers it.

Villanelle: French verse form strictly calculated to appear simple and spontaneous; 5 tercets and a final quatrain, rhyming aba aba aba aba aba abaa. Lines 1,6,12, 18 and 3, 9, 15, 19 are refrain.

Divisions of poetry: Caesura: A pause in a line of Poetry, usually occurring near the middle

Couplet: 2 consecutive lines of poetry

Heroic couplet: couplet of iambic pentmeter

Octave: 8 lines of poetry

Quatrain: 4 lines of poetry

Sestet: 6 lines of poetry

Stanza: a unit within a larger poem

Elements of Research Ethics of research Evaluation of sources (8) Reading of literary criticism Introductory level (9) Use of print sources Use of internet