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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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