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AP English Language and Composition: Passage Drill Drill 1, Problem 2. What is the speaker's primary purpose in using onomatopoeia in line four?
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AP English Language and Composition 3.8 Passage Drill 225 Views
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Description:
Wishing upon a star may help you pass your AP English Language and Composition test, but answering this question would be a safer bet.
Transcript
- 00:00
[ musical flourish ]
- 00:03
And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by star navigation.
- 00:07
It's like GPS,
- 00:09
but without the nagging voice.
- 00:14
All right.
Full Transcript
- 00:15
[ mumbles ]
- 00:23
Huxley...
- 00:25
[ mumbles ] Chessboard... chessboard...
- 00:30
All right, which of the following most accurately rephrases
- 00:33
Helps' observation about stars,
- 00:35
"Ah... elsewhere"?
- 00:37
Yeah, lines 34 through 38.
- 00:39
All right, and here are the potential answers.
- 00:41
Yeah, you can just read it for yourself.
- 00:42
We're not gonna mumble.
- 00:44
Okay, let's get to it.
- 00:45
Well, in the preceding sentence, the author explains
- 00:47
how contemplating the universe can give us
- 00:49
a more reasonable perspective on a terrible, horrible, no-good,
- 00:53
very bad day.
- 00:54
In the following sentence, the author says that
- 00:55
the stars' knack for therapy is a bigger deal than
- 00:58
their ability to guide ships.
- 01:00
Well, this is obviously a person who's never been lost at sea.
- 01:03
Choice A definitely does not get it.
- 01:06
Helps' main point isn't that the stars' morale boosting power is
- 01:10
lesser known than their power to help us navigate.
- 01:13
He's simply saying that the whole morale-boosting thing is more important.
- 01:17
Option D is a nice thought.
- 01:18
It'd be swell if everybody in the world would look up at
- 01:21
the stars and all be magically unified.
- 01:24
That's not what Helps is saying, though.
- 01:26
Even he is more of a pessimist than that.
- 01:28
Choice B and E are the closest we've had yet, but they take
- 01:31
the story too far.
- 01:33
They both seem to think that the stars have some kind of mind control
- 01:36
powers over human beings. Scary prospect.
- 01:38
Just imagine what they might make us do.
- 01:41
Actually, don't imagine that.
- 01:43
All right, in the end, choice C is the best answer.
- 01:45
"Navigation, shmavigation," says Helps.
- 01:48
The important thing is that the stars help us see that
- 01:51
our everyday concerns are nothing in the face of
- 01:53
the great, big everything that's all around us.
- 01:56
We bet if Helps were lost and starving at sea, he might
- 01:58
be a little less into deep thoughts
- 02:00
and a little more into finding the nearest port with fresh water
- 02:04
and a Denny's.
- 02:06
[ noise ]
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