AP English Language summer reading - Lynch (pdf)

11 AP Language
M. Lynch
Summer Assignment
Welcome to AP Language! Our goal this year is to prepare you for the AP Language and
Composition exam in May so that you can pass the exam and potentially receive college
credits for the hard work you put in. In order to achieve our goal, we will focus on
expository, analytical, and argumentative writing, as both writers and readers, and cover a
wide range of prose styles and genres. What will make this class different from the other
English classes you’ve taken is the focus on rhetoric, which will require us to primarily
read nonfiction. Among other things, we’ll be discussing the author’s purpose and the
audience’s expectations, so please keep these things in mind as you read the summer
selections.
Here’s your assignment, which is due on the first day of school:
1 – Read: The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer
2- Write a dialectical journal for each of the three books. (sample page included)
Consider anything that helps you understand the author’s purpose and what he does as the
writer to achieve this purpose. Each journal should be typed and should have a
minimum of fifteen entries, which include the entirety of the text, from the beginning,
middle, and end of each book. Please number each entry and include page numbers for
the quotes.
3- Write an essay, based on the following essay prompt:
“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would
have lain dormant.” - Horace
Consider this quotation about adversity from the Roman poet Horace. Then write an
essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies Horace’s assertion about the role that
adversity (financial or political hardship, danger, misfortune, etc.) plays in developing a
person’s character. Support your argument with appropriate evidence from your reading,
observation, or experience.
(The College Board 2009)
4 – Define the literary terms. (list included)

Students are advised to buy their own copies of the books so that they can mark up
passages; taking notes and highlighting are highly recommended. The three dialectical
journals are due on the first day of school, and the summer readings will be the basis for
our discussions and writing assignments for the first month of school. Announced tests
on the three books may be given once we’re back at school.
Plagiarism:
“Plagiarism refers to a form of cheating that has been defined as ‘the false assumptions of
authorship; the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and
presenting it as one’s own. To use another person’s ideas pr expressions in your writing
without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize. Plagiarism, then, constitutes
intellectual theft.’” (MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Fifth Edition, pg.
30). Any plagiarized paper will receive a failing grade of zero.
I hope you like the three reading selections that have been chosen. We will pair up
Into the Wild with some transcendental writing that you might be familiar with from
your American Lit. class, and we’ll discuss Fast Food Nation along with The Jungle.
I know our tendency seems to be to leave these kinds of assignments until the very
last second, but I think that you’ll get more out of them if you can start them earlier
and not feel too rushed when reading.
Have a great summer!
I’m looking forward to next year-
Ms. Lynch

Literary Terms
Using this list, create a dictionary for yourself by defining each of the following words.
You’ll use this for reference throughout the year, and we’ll also be adding to it. I
recommend that you type the definitions. You’ll be using these terms in essays
throughout the year, and quizzes will be given intermittently. (Due the first day of
school, September 2nd)
1. abstract 39. jargon
2. allegory 40. logical appeal/logos
3. anecdote 41. lyrical
4. annotation 42. mode
5. antithesis 43. mood
6. aphorism 44. narration
7. apostrophe 45. objectivity
8. argumentation 46. oversimplification
9. cacophony/dissonance 47. oxymoron
10. caricature 48. pacing
11. colloquialism 59. parable
12. coherence/unity 60. paradox
13. concrete language 61. parallelism
14. connotation 62. parody
15. consonance 63. pathetic appeal/pathos
16. conundrum 64. pedantic
17. deduction 65. persuasion
18. denotation 66. regionalism
19. description 67. repetition
20. diction 68. rhetorical modes
21. didactic 69. rhetorical question
22. discourse 70. sarcasm
23. emotional appeal/pathos 71. satire
24. epigraph 72. speaker
25. ethical appeal/ethos 73. stereotype
26. euphemism 74. style
27. euphony 75. style
28. example 76. subjectivity
29. explication 77. syllogism
30. exposition 78. synecdoche
31. generalization 79. syntactic fluency
32. genre 80. syntactic permutation
33. humor 81. syntax
34. hyperbole 82. theme
35. image 83. thesis
36. induction 84. tone
37. inference 85. transition
38. inversion 86. understatement 87. voice