AP Lang Full-Length MC
The remark of the Greek epigrammatist (Paragraph 1) is best interpreted as which of the following?
A. Cynical commentary
Which statement best sums up the central argument of the passage?
A. Genres defined as feminine gave women the chance to assert their influence and express themselves.
Which of the following sentences, if added after sentence 10, would be most effective in acknowledging the viewpoint of the Anti-Stratfordians regarding Shakespeare's education?
A. It is true that no student registers from this period in the school's history have survived.
Which of the following versions of sentence 3 (reproduced below) would both engage the audience's interest and provide the most effective introduction to the main topic of the passage? "Does any other writer even come close?"
B. But was Shakespeare actually the author of these works?
The final paragraph functions as
C. an authorial judgment about a preceding discussion
Which of the following best describes the images in the last sentence of the passage (Paragraph 2)?
D. A series of increasingly detailed and implausible events
The writer understands that the audience for this passage is very familiar with the structure of the solar system. Which of the following revisions should the writer make, adjusting punctuation as needed, to account for the audience's expertise?
D. In sentence 5, deleting the parenthetical phrase "a theoretical sphere of icy debris at the outer edge of the solar system"
"They" in Paragraph 2 of the passage refers to people who
D. have reservations about Franklin's values
In the context of the passage, the author probably intends the reader to find the words of Jack Ketch's wife
D. humorous
In context, the phrase "unparalleled generosity" (Paragraph 1) serves as
D. hyperbolic sarcasm
The phrase "elysian prospects" (Paragraph 2) suggests the
E. sublime pleasures of planning
Paragraph 2 ("like a man ... is dead") exemplify
E. the inefficacy of truth in limiting lies' effects
The principal contrast in the passage is between
A. planning and acting
The statement "although ... survived" (Paragraph 1) is an admission that
B. some tornadoes are so powerful that scientists cannot quantify them precisely
The writer wants to replace the underlined text in sentence 12 (reproduced below) with a more formal and precise phrase. Moreover, once Shakespeare moved to London as a young man, he would have been exposed to a wealth of ideas and knowledge, which, good for us, he used to create some of the greatest works of literature the world has ever known. Which of the following phrases would best accomplish this goal?
C. fortunately for posterity
In the fourth sentence of the passage, the author uses the modifiers "more agreeable" and "more pathetic" in order to
D. emphasize the contrast between the imagined and actual experiences of emigration
In sentence 7 (reproduced below), the writer wants to provide another piece of relevant evidence to elaborate on the claim made in the previous sentence about how subsequent research seemed to confirm the Nemesis theory. And in 2003, when astronomers discovered a dwarf planet in the outer reaches of the solar system, far from the Sun, they were surprised. Which of the following versions of the underlined text would best accomplish this goal?
E. they concluded that its huge, elliptical orbit might well be attributable to the gravitational pull of an unseen twin
The writer is working on a new version of the passage and wants to include an explicit statement of the passage's thesis. Which of the following would best serve as a thesis statement for the passage?
C. While the theory was initially promising, the existence of Nemesis (a supposed companion star to the Sun) and its effect on extinction events on Earth, is highly doubtful.
The passage implies that unlike hurricanes, tornadoes are not given human names because
C. they last too short a time
The misunderstanding discussed in Paragraph 3 is that many who study Franklin
B. confuse Franklin's public statements with his private beliefs
In the fourth sentence of the final paragraph, the author uses the word "calamity" primarily to
B. emphasize that economic downturns can be devastating to those affected by them
The writer wants to alter the passage for an audience that is unfamiliar with the historical period of Shakespeare's time. Which of the following changes best accomplishes this goal?
E. In sentence 11, adding "(equivalent to a modern-day mayor)" after "bailiff"
Toward the middle of the second paragraph, the author uses the phrase "hawk-like features" in order to
B. emphasize the ambitious character that he imagined emigrants possessed
Which of the following sentences best represents the author's main point in the passage?
A. "Franklin has a particular resonance in twenty-first century America." (Paragraph 1).
Which of the following best describes the speaker's professed attitude toward the reputation of Jack Ketch?
A. Admiration verging on envy
What is the primary function of the statement "Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it" (Paragraph 2)
C. It creates a visual contrast to emphasize the power of lies.
The second sentence (Paragraph 1) implies which of the following conclusions?
C. Lasting happiness will always elude us.
Which of the following is true of the voice of the passage?
E. It conveys a sense of confidence and authority.
The passage ends on a note of
E. lighthearted irony
Which of the following best describes the effect of the series in Paragraph 5?
E. The use of parallelism heightens the sense of disillusionment.
In sentence 10 (reproduced below), the writer is considering deleting the underlined parenthetical text. And while the Sun may well have had a twin at some point (a 2017 study of the Perseus molecular cloud suggests that most stars like the Sun were formed with companions), most experts now agree that if Nemesis ever existed, it broke free of the solar system early in the Sun's history, long before there was life on Earth, and thus could not have figured in any extinctions. Should the writer keep or delete this text?
C. Keep it, because it provides direct support for the concession made earlier in the sentence.
What is the effect of putting the word "presumably" (Paragraph 2) in parentheses?
C. To raise doubts about whether an assumption is warranted
The author's attitude in describing "a certain great man" (Paragraph 1) is best characterized as
C. mockingly contemptuous
Toward the end of the final paragraph, the author begins a sentence with "Yet it must not be supposed" in order to
C. signal a shift in his perspective on his fellow emigrants
The writer wants to add a word or phrase to the beginning of sentence 9 (reproduced below), adjusting the capitalization as needed, to introduce the argument in a way that demonstrates how it relates to the ideas presented in the previous paragraph. This argument, like others made by the Anti-Stratfordians (for example, their claim that Shakespeare's authorship is discredited by irregularities in the spelling of his name that were quite common at the time) is completely unconvincing. Which of the following choices best accomplishes this goal?
E. However,
The rhetorical purpose of Paragraph 1 ("And we ... values") is to
E. prompt the reader to feel kinship with Franklin on the basis of the challenges he faced
In the sentence "If . . . place" (sentence 8), the author does which of the following?
B. Raises an objection and then overrides it with an assertion.
Paragraph 5 ("We proceed ... vain") can best be described as
B. a pessimistic explanation of human motivation
The contrast drawn between the witty man and the fool (sentence 6) emphasizes the witty man's
B. appreciation and the fool's lack of comprehension
The second paragraph of the passage relies especially on the use of
B. colorful anecdotes
The "talent" mentioned in Paragraph 1 refers most nearly to a
B. flexibility of conviction
The sentence "Neither . . . offensive" (sentence 5) does which of the following?
C. Answers a possible objection.
Which of the following best describes the rhetorical function of the last sentence of the second paragraph ("Perhaps ... 1870s")?
C. It ironically acknowledges the perceptiveness of "critics" while implicitly criticizing their efforts to regulate female conduct.
The third paragraph asserts that letter writing was significant because it
A. provided women with a means of exercising power as individuals
The author's overall tone is best described as
C. assured and informative