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AP English Language and Composition: Passage Drill 2, Problem 3. The subject of the passage can best be described as what?
Take a look at this shmoopy AP English Language and Composition question and see if you can figure out which answer best describes the development...
AP English Language and Composition 4.6 Passage Drill 230 Views
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Description:
Take a look at this shmoopy question and see if you can figure out which device the speaker employs the most.
Transcript
- 00:00
[ musical flourish ]
- 00:03
And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by literary devices.
- 00:06
Like our toaster that can't get enough Joyce.
- 00:11
All right, we're reading. Shakespeare. Handel. Odyssey. Jane Austen.
- 00:14
[ mumbles ]
Full Transcript
- 00:22
[ mumbling continues ]
- 00:36
Okay, yep, we're done.
- 00:37
Which device does the speaker employ most?
- 00:40
And here are the potential answers.
- 00:42
[ goat sound ] [ mumbles ]
- 00:48
All right, well, we need a strong grasp on the whole passage for this one.
- 00:51
If we don't have one, it might be a good idea to skim through the passage again
- 00:54
with all these options in mind. And do it quickly, because these tests time you.
- 00:58
Option D thinks the speaker is being ironic the whole time.
- 01:01
If that were so, the speaker would be saying the opposite of what he means to make the point.
- 01:05
And ironic speech
- 01:07
is sort of a wink, wink, nudge, nudge situation.
- 01:12
As far as we can tell, the speaker is saying exactly what he means.
- 01:15
We declare this speech irony-free. Yep.
- 01:17
Answer B says the speaker uses a lot of alliteration,
- 01:21
or words that begin with the same consonant sound.
- 01:25
If this were true, the speaker's speech might sound like this:
- 01:28
The quota of questions makes me quiver, quack, and quake.
- 01:32
Queally.
- 01:33
Luckily, the speech sounds nothing like that.
- 01:35
We're gonna have to say no to choice A.
- 01:37
The speaker doesn't seem all that into understatement.
- 01:40
Where does he purposely downplay anything?
- 01:42
Well, nowhere that we can see. If anything, he's an exaggeration fiend.
- 01:46
[ shout ]
- 01:48
E claims the speaker is sweet on similes,
- 01:50
but the speaker doesn't use many besides
- 01:53
the Facebook status-worthy simile about the violin.
- 01:57
If you wanna make that quote your Facebook status, well, we won't judge.
- 02:00
Option C gets it right.
- 02:02
All sorts of tricks are pulled out of a hat, but
- 02:04
metaphor is the speaker's favorite.
- 02:06
For example,
- 02:07
the whole immortality/sunrise/infancy
- 02:10
bit is a metaphor with a capital "M."
- 02:12
And as we all know, capitalized metaphors are way
- 02:15
better than the ones in lowercase.
- 02:21
[ shout ]
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