AP Intermediate English (BIEAP) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Main idea

The central claim that the entire passage develops and supports; it must cover all paragraphs, unlike a detail that explains only one part.

Inference

A conclusion the reader draws that the text strongly implies but does not state directly; it must be supported by specific evidence in the passage.

Tone versus mood

Tone is the writer's attitude toward the subject, shown through word choice; mood is the feeling the text creates in the reader.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that states one thing is another without using like or as, as in time is a thief, implying a shared quality.

Volta

The turn or shift in a poem's argument or feeling, often at line nine of a Petrarchan sonnet or before the final couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet.

Present perfect tense

Formed with has or have plus the past participle; it links a past action to the present moment and cannot be used with finished time markers like yesterday.

Passive voice

A construction of be plus the past participle in which the object of the action becomes the grammatical subject, as in the letter was written by her.

Reported speech backshift

When a reporting verb is in the past, the reported verb usually moves back one tense: present to past, will to would, can to could.

Comma splice

An error in which two independent clauses are joined by a comma alone, with no coordinating conjunction or other punctuation.

Third conditional

A sentence pattern of if plus past perfect followed by would have plus past participle, describing an unreal past situation and its imagined result.

Gradable antonyms

Opposites on a scale that permits degrees and comparison, such as hot and cold, where warm lies between them.

Prefix mis-

A negative prefix meaning wrongly or badly, as in misinterpret, misjudge, and misplace; it changes meaning rather than word class.

Separable phrasal verb

A verb plus particle whose object may sit between them, as in turn the light off or turn it off; pronouns must take the middle position.

Once in a blue moon

An idiom meaning very rarely or almost never; it describes the low frequency of an event, not an astronomical phenomenon.

Context clue by contrast

A meaning hint supplied by a signal word such as but, unlike, or whereas, which shows the unfamiliar word means the opposite of something nearby.

Topic sentence

The sentence that states a paragraph's controlling idea, usually placed first, which the remaining sentences develop and support.

Precis writing

A compressed restatement of a passage in the writer's own words, in the third person and indirect form, keeping the central idea at about one-third length.

Yours faithfully

The complimentary close used in a formal letter when the recipient is unnamed, as in Dear Sir or Madam; a named recipient takes Yours sincerely.

Thesis statement

A single sentence in an essay's introduction that states the central claim the body paragraphs will argue and support with evidence.

Cohesive devices

Linking words, pronoun reference, and repeated key terms that connect sentences so readers can follow the logical relations between ideas.

Soliloquy

A speech delivered by a character alone on stage, revealing private thoughts to the audience rather than to other characters in the play.

Dramatic irony

A situation in drama where the audience knows something a character does not, so the character's words carry meaning they cannot perceive.

Hamartia

The protagonist's error or flaw of judgment that triggers the tragic reversal; it is a mistake, not simply misfortune or villainy.

Shakespearean sonnet

A fourteen-line poem in three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg, with the turn often before the couplet.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words, as in wild and windy weather, used to create rhythm and emphasis.

Indirect characterization

Revealing a character's traits through actions, speech, appearance, and others' reactions, rather than by direct statement from the narrator.

Notice format

A short impersonal announcement headed NOTICE, giving the issuing body, date, capitalized subject, brief factual body, and the writer's name and designation.

Terms of reference

The section of a report stating who commissioned it, why, and what its scope and purpose are, usually placed before the procedure.

BCC

Blind carbon copy; recipients listed here receive the email without their addresses being visible to the other recipients.

Reported question word order

In indirect questions the subject precedes the verb and no question mark is used, as in she asked where the station was.

Hedging in dialogue

Using softeners such as I'm afraid, perhaps, or it seems to make requests and disagreements polite and less face-threatening.

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Persuasive text using imperative verbs, superlatives, and short slogans to prompt action; it is opinion-driven rather than factual reporting.