Part 4: Writing to Evaluate Mortimer's Style Quiz

The purpose of adding relevant evidence to a paragraph is to

support a point.

To analyze an author's style, which elements should the reader identify? Check all that apply.

-point of view -tone -word choice

Before writing her essay, Larissa asked herself the following question. What is my goal for writing? Larissa was considering her

purpose.

Read the literary analysis of The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. In The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England, Mortimer helps readers relate to how deadly the plague was. He uses specific, clear examples to make his points, such as in the following example. Which is the best evidence to add to the passage to support the writer's point?

An estimated 250,000 people died during the epidemic.

Read the literary analysis paragraph. Shakespeare's writing style reveals information about attitudes toward the landscape. His precise word choice provides detailed descriptions of the outdoors. In Titus Andronicus, he uses words like "ruthless," "vast," and "gloomy" to describe forests. Although he is known as the "playwright's playwright," Shakespeare could have been a travel guide. Which sentence from the paragraph contains the best use of domain-specific vocabulary?

His precise word choice provides detailed descriptions of the outdoors.

At what point should a writer introduce evidence in a paragraph?

after making a point

Read the passage from The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England. Perhaps the most difficult thing to come to terms with is the scale of death. Influenza, for example, is an affliction which you no doubt have come across. However, you have never encountered anything like Elizabethan flu. It arrives in December 1557 and lasts for eighteen months. In the ten-month period August 1558 to May 1559 the annual death rate almost trebles to 7.2 percent (normally it is 2.5 percent). More than 150,000 people die from it—5 percent of the population. This is proportionally much worse than the great influenza pandemic of 1918-19 (0.53 percent mortality). The evidence in the passage is strong because it

is relevant to the topic.

Read the sentence. The playwright created a tragedy with nice characterizations. Which underlined word would be the best to replace in order to create more precise wording?

nice