WorksheetsMC AP Lang
Total questions: 15
Worksheet time: 15mins
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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?
Does any other writer even come close?
A. (As it is now)
B. But was Shakespeare actually the author of these works?
C. Who hasn’t at least heard of the great William Shakespeare?
D. How many schools still teach plays from that era other than Shakespeare’s?
E. Would anyone think Shakespeare tried to pass his work off as someone else’s?
The writer wants to replace the underlined text in sentence 12 (reproduced below) with a more formal and precise phrase.
Moreover, once Shakespeare moved to London as a young man, he would have been exposed to a wealth of ideas and knowledge, which, good for us, he used to create some of the greatest works of literature the world has ever known.
Which of the following phrases would best accomplish this goal?
A. I’m happy to say
B. terrifically for everyone
C. fortunately for posterity
D. thank goodness
E. hooray for later generations
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?
A. In sentence 1, adding “English author” after “than”
B. In sentence 4, changing “the Victorian era” to “Queen Victoria’s reign”
C. In sentence 6, changing “skeptics” to “challengers”
D. In sentence 10, deleting “in Latin, the classics, and rhetoric”
E. 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.
This argument, like others made by the Anti-Stratfordians (for example, their claim that Shakespeare’s authorship is discredited by irregularities in the spelling of his name that were quite common at the time) is completely unconvincing.
Which of the following choices best accomplishes this goal?
A. Moreover,
B. Similarly,
C. Above all,
D. By contrast,
E. However,
Which of the following sentences, if added after sentence 10, would be most effective in acknowledging the viewpoint of the Anti-Stratfordians regarding Shakespeare’s education?
A. It is true that no student registers from this period in the school’s history have survived.
B. When Shakespeare was a boy, the population of Stratford-upon-Avon was probably less than 2,000.
C. Sadly, the value placed on rhetoric is far less today than it was during Shakespeare’s time.
D. Surprisingly, the school Shakespeare probably attended did not admit girls until as recently as 2013.
E. In the 1570s, when Shakespeare was a student, the curriculum may or may not have included Greek.
