AP Lang Rhetorical Choices

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.

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

• process

• narration

• description

• cause and effect

• 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.

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

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.

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

• contrast and comparison

• narration

• argument

• description

• 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.

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 …”)

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

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.

Which of the following versions of sentence 3 (reproduced below) would both engage the audience’s interest and provide the most effective introduction to the main topic of the passage?

• (As it is now)

• But was Shakespeare actually the author of these works?

• Who hasn’t at least heard of the great William Shakespeare?

• How many schools still teach plays from that era other than Shakespeare’s?

• Would anyone think Shakespeare tried to pass his work off as someone else’s?

The writer wants to alter the passage for an audience that is unfamiliar with the historical period of Shakespeare’s time. Which of the following changes best accomplishes this goal?

• In sentence 1, adding “English author” after “than”

• In sentence 4, changing “the Victorian era” to “Queen Victoria’s reign”

• In sentence 6, changing “skeptics” to “challengers”

• In sentence 10, deleting “in Latin, the classics, and rhetoric”

• In sentence 11, adding “(equivalent to a modern-day mayor)” after “bailiff”

The writer wants to add a word or phrase to the beginning of sentence 9 (reproduced below), adjusting the capitalization as needed, to introduce the argument in a way that demonstrates how it relates to the ideas presented in the previous paragraph. Which of the following choices best accomplishes this goal?

• A. Moreover,

• B. Similarly,

• C. Above all,

• D. By contrast,

• E. However,

When referencing the moves that a writer makes in a text, it is important to do what?

• Show why the writer made that choice and how it builds their argument.

• Add a ton of commentary.

• Discuss as many choices as you can.

• Show how you can do it too.