A Plague of Tics by David Sedaris

Sedaris includes much dialogue in his essay. Each of the following statements is intended by its speaker to be humorous except

• "Would you like me to come over to your house and put my tongue on your light switches?" (par. 3)

• "I'd like to have a word with your mother." (par. 12)

• "You do have one, don't you?" (par. 12)

• "You just can't get enough of this place, can you?" (par. 13)

• "That's what the rest of us do, and it seems to work for us." (par. 17)

Which of the following pairs of adjectives best characterizes Miss Chestnut's tone?

• thoughtful and concerned

• pedantic and dispassionate

• authoritative and hortatory

• didactic and critical

• maudlin and caustic

Each of the following verbs in paragraph 17 has the same subject except:

• would touch

• wiped

• proceeded

• was commanded

• would align

In paragraph 17, which of the following depends on irony for its humorous effect?

• "I had completed the first leg of that bitter-tasting journey to my bedroom

• "a task made more difficult if there was someone else around"

• "there were switches and doorstops to be acknowledged"

• "After kissing the fourth, eighth, and twelfth carpeted stair"

• "rocking back and forth and thinking of what an odd woman she was"

The speaker suggests that

• his tics originated from a feeling of inadequacy among his peers

• everyone shares the same compulsions and obsessions that he had as a child

• his obsessive behavior was exacerbated by his family's move

• he developed tics and obsessions in response to the poor quality of his teachers

• the behavior exhibited by his college roommate was as outrageous as his own

The speaker uses italics for each of the following purposes except to

• suggest an unstated counterargument

• criticize language use

• emphasize the importance of a word or phrase

• deliver his interior thought

• quote imagined dialogue

The speaker makes a distinction between each of the following except

• hitting and tapping

• north and south

• pleasure and necessity

• present and past

• right and wrong

Which of the following sentences contains humorous understatement ?

• "I tried to picture her in action, but my shoe was calling." (par. 4)

• "I guessed that it was not." (par. 11)

• "What I really hated, of course, was my mind." (par. 14)

• "My bedroom was right there off the hallway, but first I had business to attend to." (par. 17)

• "Maybe she was drunk." (par. 17)

The speaker's tone in this passage might be best characterized as

• colloquial and whimsical

• humorous and sarcastic

• nostalgic and sardonic

• self-deprecating and cynical

• incredulous and facetious