English 3-comparing texts
Because of his journalistic background, Ernest Hemingway's diction tends to be
-a combo of formal & informal
Read the excerpt from Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. The road was crowded and there were screens of corn-stalk and straw matting on both sides and matting over the top so that it was like the entrance at a circus or a native village. Keeping in mind Hemingway's iceberg principle, what feeling is he trying to convey by describing the scene as an "entrance to a circus or a native village"?
a feeling of unease as the narrator is driving into a peculiar and alien location
Which incident taken from O'Connor's "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" is the best example of irony?
Mrs. Crater thinks she is gaining a son-in-law, when in fact Mr. Shiftlet takes her car, her money, and abandons her daughter at a diner.
Which strategy is the best way to improve the written expression in a redundant sentence?
remove unnecessary modifiers
Read the excerpt from "In Response to Executive Order 9066." I tell her she's going bald. She tells me I copy on tests. We're best friends. Read the excerpt from "Mericans." "Girl. We can't play with a girl." Girl. It's my brother's favorite insult now instead of "sissy." "You girl," they yell at each other. "You throw that ball like a girl." Which theme best describes the two passages?
-In all cultures, children taunt each other.
Read the excerpt from Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The silhouette of a moving cat wavered across the moonlight, and turning my head to watch it, I saw that I was not alone—fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor's mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens. The appearance of Gatsby from the shadows suggests that
-man of mystery and secrets
Read the excerpt from the interview with E.Y. (Yip) Harburg. I was relieved when the Crash came. I was released. Being in business was something I detested. When I found that I could sell a song or a poem, I became me, I became alive. Other people didn't see it that way. They were throwing themselves out of windows. Harburg was relieved when the crash occurred because
-opportunity to develop and profit from his creativity
Read the excerpt from The Great Gatsby. Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay, jut out into the most domesticated body of salt water in the Western hemisphere, the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound. They were not perfect ovals—like the egg in the Columbus story, they are both crushed flat at the contact end—but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual confusion to the gulls that fly overhead. To the wingless a more arresting phenomenon is their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size. I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. The use of words such as "fashionable," "superficial," "bizarre," and "sinister" provide
-sense of artificially in the world the narrator finds himself in
Read the excerpt from Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. "Tenente," Passini said. "We understand you let us talk. Listen. There is nothing as bad as war. We in the auto-ambulance cannot even realize at all how bad it is. When people realize how bad it is they cannot do anything to stop it because they go crazy. There are some people who never realize. There are people who are afraid of their officers. It is with them the war is made." "I know it is bad but we must finish it." "It doesn't finish. There is no finish to a war." "Yes there is." Passini shook his head. "War is not won by victory. What if we take San Gabriele? What if we take the Carso and Monfalcome and Trieste? Where are we then? Did you see all the far mountains to-day? Do you think we could take all them too? Only if the Austrians stop fighting. One side must stop fighting. Why don't we stop fighting? If they come down into Italy they will get tired and go away. They have their own country. But no, instead there is a war." Which best describes the effect of Passini's long pieces of dialogue?
-they indicate that he's passionate about his beliefs
Read the sentence. In chapter three, Joseph feels confused about the way things happened at the court house. Which is the best revision of this sentence using academic vocabulary?
In chapter three, the reader learns that Joseph feels confused about the events that occurred at the court house.
Which excerpt from The Great Gatsby best indicates that Nick is not fully content with his life?
Instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe—so I decided to go East and learn the bond business.
Which of the following sentences is written correctly?
The drum major performed badly because she forgot the routine.
Read the sentence. The speaker of Okita's poem tries to present herself in ways that have little to do with her customs. Which is the best revision of this sentence using academic vocabulary?
The speaker of Okita's poem attempts to characterize herself in ways that have little to do with her heritage.
Read the excerpt from the interview with E.Y. (Yip) Harburg. Everybody picked the song up in '30 and '31. Bands were playing it and records were made. When Roosevelt was a candidate for President, the Republicans got pretty worried about it. Some of the network radio people were told to lay low on the song. In some cases, they tried to ban it from the air. But it was too late. The song had already done its damage. From the content of the excerpt, it can be inferred that
the song and its message struck a chord with the American public.
In order to write a strong essay that links together related ideas and sentences, the writer must employ
transitions
