MC AP Lang

Which technique does the author employ to focus the reader's attention on the specific topic of the passage?

• A. use of parallel structure

• B. identifying herself with her audience

• C. beginning each paragraph with the same subject

• D. use of passive voice

• E. use of anecdote

Answer explanation

C Each paragraph opens with the words “the essay.” With this repetition, Dillard guarantees that the reader’s focus does not waver. It also provides the organizational framework of the passage. There is no passive voice present. (By the way, the previous sentence is an example of passive voice.) The author relates no personal narrative and does not identify herself with her audience.

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2. Based on a careful reading of the first paragraph, the reader can conclude that the author blames the death of the "novel of idea" on

• A. real life and situations

• B. simplicity

• C. appeal to philosophy

• D. reliance on historical data

• E. artificiality

Answer explanation

E In the first two sentences, the author blames “contrived entrances” for killing “the novel of idea.” She supports this in the next to the last sentence in paragraph 1 by criticizing “fabricated dramatic occasions.” Both of these examples point to the artificial construct of fiction.

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3. The primary rhetorical strategy the author uses to develop the first paragraph is

• A. process

• B. narration

• C. description

• D. cause and effect

• E. definition

Answer explanation

D The first paragraph contains two major cause-and-effect situations. The first is found in sentences 1–3, and the second is found in the last two sentences.

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4. Near the end of the third paragraph, Dillard states, "The essayist does what we do with our lives; the essayist thinks about actual things. He can make sense of them analytically or artistically." The most probable reason for the author choosing to write two separate sentences rather than constructing a single, longer sentence using a listing, is

• A. to reinforce cause and effect

• B. both subjects are of equal importance, although separate processes

• C. to create a parallel situation

• D. to contrast the two ideas

• E. to highlight the criticism of fictional writing

Answer explanation

B The first of the two sentences states what the essayist does: he thinks. The second sentence tells the reader how he thinks and writes. By writing two separate sentences, Dillard reinforces the equal importance of each of these points.

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5. In paragraph 3, in the sentence beginning with "The real world …," the word "there" refers to

• A. the fictional world

• B. novels

• C. poetry

• D. the real world

• E. short stories

Answer explanation

D A careful reading of the sentence and a knowledge of how to locate antecedents can only lead the reader to choose “the real world.” Any other choice negates the correct meaning of antecedent/referent.

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6. The primary rhetorical strategy the author uses to develop the second paragraph is

• A. contrast and comparison

• B. narration

• C. argument

• D. description

• E. analogy

Answer explanation

A The second paragraph clearly develops its point through a contrast and comparison between prose and poetry. None of the other strategies is present in the paragraph.

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7. In terms of her position on her subject, the author can best be categorized as

• A. an adversary

• B. a critic

• C. an advocate

• D. an innovator

• E. an artist

Answer explanation

C Dillard’s subject is the essay. Her position is one of unswerving allegiance to its form and function. Nowhere does she criticize the essay or the essayist, and nowhere does she discuss innovations or the changing of its form. Dillard is an artist. This classification, however, does not reveal her stance on the essay form.

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8. An example of parallel structure is found in which of the following lines taken from the passage?

• A. But eschewing it served to limit fiction's materials a little further, and likely contributed to our being left with the short story of scant idea.

• B. The essay may deal in metaphor better than the poem can, in some ways, because prose may expand what the lyric poem must compress.

• C. The elements in any nonfiction should be true not only artistically—the connections must hold at base …

• D. … that is the convention and the covenant between the nonfiction writer and his reader.

• E. In either case he renders the real world coherent and meaningful; even if only bits of it, and even if that coherence and meaning reside only inside small texts.

Answer explanation

E Knowing the definition of parallel structure and being able to recognize it makes the choice of E an easy one. (“Even if … even if …”)

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9. The contrast between the short story writer and the essayist is based on which of the following?

• A. reflection

• B. presentation

• C. fundamental reality

• D. content

• E. clarity of purpose

Answer explanation

C Look carefully at sentences 1–3 of paragraph 3 and notice the author’s use of the words “connections,” “covenant,” “veracity,” and “truth.” With this specific diction, the only appropriate choice is C.

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10. The tone of the passage can best be described as

• A. impartial and critical

• B. condescending and formal

• C. candid and colloquial

• D. clinical and moralistic

• E. confident and informative

Answer explanation

E The only choice that contains two adjectives that are BOTH applicable to the author’s tone in this passage is E. The purpose of the essay is to inform/explain the function of the essay and the essayist. This, in itself, is the support for choosing E. The confidence is apparent in the writer’s discussion of the other forms of literature.

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