Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

The principal contrast in this passage is between ...

• the mother's expectations and the daughter's responses

• Chinese and American conceptions of family obligations

• the daughter's attitude as a child and as an adult

• the way ideas are stated and the substance of the ideas

• the differences between written and spoken language

The function of the sentence "Lately, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks" (par. 8) is to...

• provide a transition from the mother's point of view to the daughter's

• offer additional evidence to support the point made in the previous paragraph

• appeal to the emotions of the readers

• introduce examples that will illustrate a central point the author is making

• analyze an exception to a general belief

What figure of speech is Tan using when she refers to her mother's "impeccable broken English" (par. 13)?

• metonymy

• personification

• oxymoron

• pun

• simile

In this passage, the author uses all of the following techniques EXCEPT...

• anecdotes

• factual data

• irony

• dialogue

• expert testimony

In both the example of the stockbroker and the anecdote about the CAT scan, the speaker emphasizes...

• her mother's stubborness

• her own gullibilty

• her mother's ignorance

• the insensitivity of people in authority

• society's gender bias

The author's attitude toward her mother in this passage can be best described as...

• remorseful but angry

• concerned and admiring

• censorious yet understanding

• condenscending and critical

• sentimental yet loving

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

It can be inferred that the author's primary purpose in this passage in this passage is to...

• expunge her own critical guilt for misjudging her mother

• criticize the business and medical worlds immigrants faced

• plead for more understanding of the difficulties

• record her personal journey toward self-acceptance