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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.

Language:
English Language

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 ]

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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