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ACT Reading Prose Fiction Drill 1, Problem 1. Which of the following best describes the overall purpose of this passage?
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AP® English Language and Composition: Comprehension Drill 1, Problem 1. The speaker would agree with all of the following statements except what?
Figure Out the Primary Rhetorical Function of the Quote 261 Views
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Description:
He or she that answereth this question shall...answereth it. And hopefully feel kind of accomplished. Hit play and figure out the primary rhetorical function of the quote.
- Reading Assessment / Rhetorical Strategies and Use of Evidence
- Conventions / Apply knowledge of language to make effective choices for meaning or style
- Conventions / Apply knowledge of language to make effective choices for meaning or style
- Conventions / Apply knowledge of language to make effective choices for meaning or style
- Rhetorical Function, Strategy, and Purpose / Rhetorical Function
Transcript
- 00:00
[ musical flourish ]
- 00:03
And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by argumentation.
- 00:07
Because sometimes, conflict resolution is for chumps.
- 00:10
We've seen it. That's what happens.
- 00:12
All right.
Full Transcript
- 00:13
Check out the passage. We've read this how many times now?
- 00:15
[ mumbles ]
- 00:21
[ mumbling continues ]
- 00:30
All right, we're done.
- 00:31
The primary rhetorical function of the quotes in lines
- 00:35
23 through 24 - right here -
- 00:38
is to what?
- 00:39
All right, and here are the potential answers. Hmm.
- 00:41
[ mumbles ]
- 00:46
All right, well, "he that loveth his life shall lose it."
- 00:50
This lovely yet very depressing quote supports the speaker's argument
- 00:55
which is that it's dangerous to think that we have control over our lives.
- 00:59
This idea supports the larger argument,
- 01:01
the one that says that humans are wrong to think that we can totally understand the world.
- 01:05
All of this then ties into the thesis, or main argument, about
- 01:09
how we oughta separate ethical beliefs from philosophy.
- 01:13
Is it us or is this guy doing a lot of arguing?
- 01:16
All right, well, we can see why option A might make sense.
- 01:19
However, the quote doesn't go as far as actually reiterating, or restating,
- 01:23
the speaker's thesis.
- 01:24
The quote's simply lending a helping hand, not hitting us
- 01:27
over the head with the thesis one more time.
- 01:29
It's always welcome to try, though. We brought a helmet.
- 01:32
Option E is sort of right.
- 01:34
It's the only quote in the passage, so it does change up the structure a bit.
- 01:38
We're all for changing up structures.
- 01:41
Yeah, kind of like that.
- 01:42
Option C is a definite no.
- 01:44
We already said that the speaker is using the quote to support
- 01:47
his views, not to contradict them.
- 01:49
This might make option B look like a good answer,
- 01:52
but it's not.
- 01:53
Including a quote that sounds a hundred years old can be impressive,
- 01:56
but this quote has bigger fish to fry.
- 01:58
The correct answer is D. It's the only answer that gets
- 02:02
how the quote supports an argument...
- 02:04
that supports a bigger argument... that supports an even bigger argument.
- 02:07
It's like one building block
- 02:09
in the massive Lego masterpiece we spent our entire
- 02:12
adolescence working on.
- 02:13
[ singing ] Cause everything is awesome...
- 02:16
[ umm... ]
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