AP English Language & Composition Multiple Choice Walkthrough, Part 1

Multiple Choice Walkthrough, Part 1

• Where to Find the Questions
• This lesson will cover the second and third passages in the College Board’s 2008 multiple-choice section (it’s available in the Course Description on the College Board website). (The link is here: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap-english-course-description.pdf)
• The questions begin on page 23 of the PDF (it says page 17 in the lower right corner, but it’s really page 23).
• The first passage was covered in the Multiple Choice Practice lesson.
• Reading the Passages
• Read for the big picture!
• Try to get the main ideas
• Look for the overall structure
• Pay attention to the author’s goal, tone, and point of view.
• Passage 2
• There are twelve questions associated with this passage.
• Question 11: big picture
• Questions 12-17: details
• Question 18: big picture
• Questions 19-20: details
• Questions 21-22: big picture
• Big-Picture Questions
• Question 11:How might you describe the speaker?
• Choice A is promising; nothing in the passage conflicts with it.
• You can eliminate Choices B and C; the speaker never admits to any musical ability or interest.
• Eliminate D; the author identifies with the jazz musicians’ motivations.
• Eliminate E; the speaker never mentions such despair.
• Answer: A
• Question 18:What is the speaker’s attitude?
• Choice A sounds promising, but it’s an extreme answer. Does the speaker really worshipthe musicians?
• Choice B is a less extreme version of Choice A. It may be a better option.
• Eliminate Choice C; there is nothing feigned about the speaker’s attitude.
• Eliminate D and E; the speaker never seems to qualify his or her statements, and there is little appeal to reason.
• Answer: B
• Question 21:What do these three figures have in common?
• Choice A is extreme, and unlikely; artists can usually identify with others to some extent.
• Choice B is promising; this passage is all about intense focus.
• Eliminate C and D; they’re more or less off-topic.
• Eliminate E; these people don’t seem overly concerned with popular approval.
• Answer: B
• Question 22:What is the style of the passage?
• Eliminate A; this passage is anything but abstract.
• Eliminate B; this passage flows too well to be “disjointed” and the speaker is hardly “effusive,” or enthusiastic, about his noisy neighbors.
• C is promising; the passage is certainly very descriptive, and while it’s a little formal for today’s language, it fits right in with the mid-twentieth century.
• Eliminate D and E; this passage is neither pedantic nor terse.
• Answer: C
• Detail Questions
• Question 12:How is the situation ironic?
• Remember the definition of irony—what is said or what occurs is the opposite of what might be expected.
• Choice A looks good, but it’s questionable; do we know the drunk acted deliberately?
• Eliminate B and C; they’re off-topic.
• Eliminate D; there’s no irony there.
• Choice E is both accurate and ironic.
• Answer: E
• Question 13:How were the speaker and the drunk both “victims” in the same way?
• Eliminate Choice A; there’s no evidence the speaker has lost control.
• Eliminate Choices B through D; neither friends’ support nor failure nor an inability to feel guilt are mentioned in the passage.
• Choice E is promising, as it might describe the singer.
• Answer: E
• Question 14:What does this word mean in context?
• Go back and read the context! Don’t be fooled by the simple definition!
• Eliminate Choices A and B; these are positive descriptions of a negative influence
• Choice C is promising; it certainly describes the singer.
• Eliminate Choices D and E; once again, these descriptions do not match the character of the singer.
• Answer: C
• Question 15:What do the examples do?.
• Eliminate Choices A and B; there are no references in the passage to violent scenes or to annoying audiences.
• Similarly, Choice C is out; there is no reference to the caliber of their performances.
• Choice D is promising—the works are used as examples of unforgettable things.
• Choice E is also promising, but it’s so general as to be almost meaningless.
• Answer: D
• Question 16:How does the description contribute to the passage?
• Go back and read the context!
• Choice A has merit; certainly the jazz musicians and the neighborhood are portrayed as sharp contrasts.
• Eliminate B and C; the description of the jazz musicians contrasts sharply with either the singer or the drunk.
• Choice D has possibilities, but it describes the musicians’ goal rather than the objective nature of reality.
• Eliminate E; there is no indication of satire.
• Answer: A
• Question 17:What don’tthe jazz musicians do?
• Read the description of the musicians. Your job is to eliminate any choices that they’re described as performing.
• Eliminate Choices A and C; the writer describes their technical mastery at great length.
• Choices D and E both merit long meditations as well.
• Choice B sounds like something the musicians did, but there is no mention of what specific musical forms they adapted into jazz.
• Answer: B
• Question 19:What do the jazz musicians do?
• Your answer to the previous question may give you a clue here.
• Eliminate A and B; they’re far off-topic.
• Eliminate C; there’s no mention of irony.
• D is promising; these musicians seem much concerned with extracting order from chaos.
• E sounds good, but these musicians are too concerned with beauty for truth to trump it entirely.
• Answer: D
• Question 20:What technique does the speaker notuse?
• Go back and read the sentence!
• Eliminate A; the speaker uses plenty of concrete diction.
• Eliminate B and C; much of the sentence consists of parallel similes.
• D is promising; the speaker is not prone to understatement here.
• Eliminate E; there’s plenty of onomatopoeia in this sentence
• Answer: D
• Passage 3
• There are eleven questions associated with this passage.
• Question 23: big picture
• Questions 24-32: details
• Question 33: big picture
• Big-Picture Questions
• Question 23:What is the principal contrast of the passage?
• Eliminate Choice A; this passage is all about the past.
• Eliminate B; the author makes no judgment about whether the Chinese and European attitudes were wise or foolish.
• C is a strong candidate; the passage does compare Imperial China and Europe.
• D is promising, but the contrast between civilization and barbarism is the Chinese perspective—not necessarily the author’s perspective.
• Eliminate E; it’s off-topic.
• Answer: C
• Question 33:What is the tone of the passage?
• Eliminate A and B; they’re two extreme answers (at opposite ends of the spectrum), and this is not an extreme passage.
• C holds some promise; the author might be described as cynical, but perhaps not acerbic (which means acid-tempered or bitterly sarcastic).
• D is very promising; the author does seem serious about the topic, but there is a faint tone of something in the description of people’s attitudes—it could be condescension.
• Eliminate E; it’s extreme, and the passage is not irate.
• Answer: D
• Detail Questions
• Question 24:What rhetorical device is used?
• Now might be a good time for a mental review of your rhetorical modes.
• Eliminate Choice A; there is no reference to authority.
• B is promising; there are certainly a lot of facts here.
• Eliminate C and D; this is not an abstract passage, and the tone of the descriptions is objective, not impressionistic.
• Choice E is inaccurate; there is an anecdote in the paragraph, but it’s not the primary rhetorical device.
• Answer: B
• Question 25:What is the rhetorical function of these lines?
• Choice A is promising; these lines could certainly support the original thesis.
• Eliminate Choices B and C; there isn’t a strong contrast or challenge to the ideas in this passage.
• Eliminate D; this section is very detailed, so it’s not a generalization.
• Eliminate E; there are no objections raised.
• Answer: A
• Question 26:What rhetorical device is used in these lines?
• Eliminate A; there isn’t much of a metaphor here.
• Choice B has merit; this long list of facts is written in parallel.
• Eliminate Choices C and D; there is more than one sentence here, and each has only a single subject.
• Eliminate E; there are no subordinate clauses.
• Answer: B
• Question 27:Which word is parallel in function to “inventor”?
• Look at “inventor.” It’s a noun, the subject of a prepositional phrase, and the start of a list.
• Eliminate A; it’s the object of a preposition.
• B has promise, but it’s a pronoun, not a noun.
• C has a lot going for it—it’s even a similar word.
• Eliminate D; it’s in the wrong part of the sentence.
• Eliminate E; it’s a possessive noun, and therefore doing the job of an adjective.
• Answer: C
• Question 28:What word does “bearing” modify?
• Bearing is a verb, so it can be said to modify either its subject or its object—in this case, probably the subject. (Remember, you can replace “bearing” with adjectives here, which would onlymodify the subject.)
• Of all the choices, only the subject— “strangers”– appears as an option. It is choice B. Therefore, you can eliminate all other choices.
• Answer: B
• Question 29:What point of view do these lines express?
• Reread the lines in question. Note the language strongly biased against Europeans. Who might have such a bias?
• Eliminate Choices A and B; the author appears to be trying to stay neutral, and it’s bad form for modern historians to express such a bias.
• Choice C makes no sense; why would the British be prejudiced against themselves?
• Choice D is promising; we know the 18^th-century Chinese had a low opinion of Europeans.
• Choice E is off-topic; modern Chinese don’t come into this passage.
• Answer: D
• Question 30:What word reinforces “importunate”?
• You might know what “importunate” means, but even if you don’t, the context suggests it means something like “rude.”
• Eliminate A and B; they have nothing to do with rudeness.
• C is promising; certainly knocking loudly on a door can be considered rude.
• D is overly courteous; eliminate it.
• E is a result of rudeness, not a symptom of it. Eliminate it.
• Answer: C
• Question 31:How would you describe this sentence?
• A is promising; the sentence does seem to describe the author’s interpretive stance.
• Eliminate B; this sentence is not about Europe’s point of view.
• Eliminate C through E; this sentence isn’t really in dialogue with any other part of the passage.
• Answer: A
• Question 32:What characteristics are emphasized in paragraph 4?
• Eliminate A; if Britain were adaptable, its representatives would kowtow.
• B is promising; “aloof and insular” is a good phrase to describe the Chinese attitude of the time.
• Eliminate C; the author says nothing about the wisdom of China’s actions.
• Eliminate D; we know the British wanted trade with China, but there’s no evidence they were desperate.
• E is off-topic; eliminate it.
• Answer: B