MC Practice: What an Essay Can Do- Annie Dillard

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

• use of parallel structure

• identifying herself with her audience

• beginning each paragraph with the same subject

• use of passive voice

• use of anecdote

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.6

CCSS.RI.11-12.6

CCSS.RL.11-12.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.6

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

• real life and situations

• simplicity

• appeal to philosophy

• reliance on historical data

• artificiality

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

• process

• narration

• description

• cause and effect

• definition

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

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...

• to reinforce cause and effect

• both subjects are of equal importance, although separate processes

• to create a parallel situation

• to contrast the two ideas

• to highlight the criticism of fictional writing

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

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

• the fictional world

• novels

• poetry

• "the real world"

• short stories

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

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

• contrast and comparison

• narration

• argument

• description

• analogy

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

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

• an adversary

• a critic

• an advocate

• an innovator

• an artist

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.6

CCSS.RI.11-12.6

CCSS.RL.11-12.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.6

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

• "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."

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

• "The elements in any nonfiction should be true not only artistically--the connections must hold at base..."

• "...that is the convention and the convenant between the nonfiction writer and his reader."

• "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."

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

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

• reflection

• presentation

• fundamental reality

• content

• clarity of purpose

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.7

CCSS.RI.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.7

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

• impartial and critical

• condescending and formal

• candid and colloquial

• clinical and moralistic

• confident and informative

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4