Language and Composition Stem #1: Vocabulary (5/50)

Language and Composition Stem #1: Vocabulary (5/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify a synonym for a specified word used in the passage.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #2: Vocabulary (5/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify which of the following phrases in the answer and distracters illustrates what she meant by "___"?

Language and Composition Stem #3: SOAP (3/50) Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose

Design a question that requires the reader to identify the speaker's perspective in the passage.

Some choices could include: an acquaintance of ___ , a chronicler of past events, an impartial observer, an uninvolved eyewitness, a commentator on social trends, a defender of an unpopular figure, critical of ___, concerned about ___, defensive about ___ , skeptical of ___, respectful of__ , a fascinated bystander, a cynical commentator, an argumentative apologist , a bemused visitor.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #4: SOAP (3/50) Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose

Design a question that requires the reader to identify the purpose of the narration in a certain set of lines.

Some answer and distracters could include: to document the speaker's sketch of the character, to illustrate the character's influence over __ , to characterize the simplicity of life in ___, to provide evidence of __'s philanthropy, to enliven the speaker's descriptions with present tense commentary, describe a series of unprecedented events, to characterize an idyllic era , to portray an unusual character, to depict an inequitable situation , to comment on a popular assumption, to assert her own qualifications, to develop an argument for _____, to create an elaborate analogy, to introduce a new topic for consideration, to establish an hypothetical situation for analysis, to propose a change, to describe a process, to explain an idea, to criticize the taste of readers, to praise a work of literature, to report events as objectively as possible, to display knowledge of a different subject, to discover meaning in apparent confusion, to understand the basic humanity of the participants, to confirm previous prejudices.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with
modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #5: SOAP (3/50) Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose

Design a question that requires the reader to identify how a certain passage describes the speaker as a person.

Some answer and distracters could include (As a person who): is committed to___ , is actually more interested in ___, has talent as both a ___ and a ___, s motivated very differently from the ___, aspires to greatness but knows she will never achieve it, is aware that his motives include ___, is torn between two confusing alternatives , is eager to mollify her critics , is courageous in the face of fear , ambivalent about the quality of her writing.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #6: Pronoun Reference (1/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify the antecedent of a pronoun. Which of the following is the grammatical antecedent of "it" (line __)?

Language and Composition Stem #7: Meaning (17/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify the function of a paradox (or irony, or ambiguity, or satire) created by the author in a certain segment of the passage. A model stem would be something like: "The paradox caused by the fact that ______in lines ___-___ creates which of the following effects?"

Language and Composition Stem #8: Meaning (17/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify a distinction that the speaker draws between two things.

Some answer and distracters could include: obvious invective and indirect satire, esoteric knowledge and common understanding, coarse speaking and inferior painting, speaking and writing, wit and humor.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #9: Meaning (17/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify how a contrast drawn between two people (like the witty man and the fool) (lines 11-13) emphasizes characteristics of each.

Some answer and distracters could include: ____'s self-confidence and ____'s lack of self-knowledge, ____'s appreciation and ____'s lack of comprehension , ____'s justified anger and ____'s innocence , ____'s sense of humor and ____'s resentment, ____'s ability to retaliate and ____'s lack of wit.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #10: Meaning (17/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify a characteristic displayed by a certain person (or shared by a set of people) in the passage.

Some answer and distracters could include: an ability to identify with others, an intense application of a single activity, a concern more with individuality than with tradition, an ambivalent feeling about their roles in life, a desire for popular approval, the pain of one who succumbs to temptation, restrained behavior driven by moral compunctions, the unjustified suffering of an innocent victim, admirable behavior that has gone unrecognized, the effect of an empty stomach on one's conscience.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with
modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #11: Meaning (17/50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify the purpose of a specific portion of the passage or the purpose of the passage as a whole.

Some answer and distracters could include: to enlarge one's deep sympathy with truth, to teach one how to recognize good literature, to give instruction about the nature of ____ , to speak to one's discursive understanding , both to inform and to inspire.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #12: The Function of Style (5-50)

Design a question that requires the reader to identify the stylistic strategy used in a specific segment of the passage by defining its function.

Some answer and distracters could include: making an abstraction concrete by use of analogy, counterbalancing a possible weakness with a greater virtue, a massing of factual information to impress the reader, a contradiction of the speaker's argument, an apology for the speaker's ideas.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #13: Stylistic Devices (5-50)

Design a question that requires the reader to name the stylistic strategy used in a specific segment of the passage.

Some answer and distracters that have been included on past tests are: analogical comparisons, direct comparison, a dramatic monologue, a melodramatic episode, an evocation of a place, an objective historical commentary, an allegorical fable, impressionistic and descriptive writing, the use of anecdote, onomatopoeia, euphemism, allusions to members of the character's family, ambiguous reference to ___, authorial aside directed at___, deliberately puzzling paradox, dramatic incident, elaborately structured metaphors, exaggerations of ___'s later accomplishments, personifications of the inordinate blessings of a child, sarcastic interpretation of _____, satire, similes, ironic understatements, understatement, hyperbole, an allegory, an analogy.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #14: Rhetorical Devices (5-50)
Logos--Identifying the Argument

Design a question that requires the reader to identify the assertion that the writer is trying to justify in the argument.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible definitions of an argument. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #15: Rhetorical Devices (5-50)
Logos--Evaluating Logical Appeals

Design a question that requires the reader to identify various ways in which the persuader represents the important opposing arguments fairly EXCEPT:

Some answers that have been included on past tests are: distinguishing an explanation of a timeworn idea from a common occurrence, raising an objection and then overriding it with an assertion, presenting a dilemma and then explaining its difficulties, offering a contrasting example and then dismissing it, citing then minimizing an exaggeration, making a sound generalization based on a great deal of evidence, making citations from well-known authorities, extending a metaphor to close an argument, reducing the argument to an acceptable paradox, marshaling facts to support the central idea, appeals to authority, appeals to authority, an extended example, a balanced antithesis of the speaker's concluding words, a step in the author's logic leading up to the final assertion, argument by analogy, specific examples, detailed description, quotations from authorities, facts, statistics, and amplification (widening of perspectives through analogies, comparisons or other aspects of experience) adequately support the point being made, creating tightly reasoned syllogisms. See Stem #16 for Illogical Fallacies

Write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. Be sure your answers are sensible definitions of ways in which the persuader represents the important opposing arguments fairly. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support how one choice exhibits ways in which the opposition is not treated fairly.

Language and Composition Stem #16: Rhetorical Devices (5-50)
Logos--Evaluating Illogical Fallacies

Design a question that requires the reader to identify ways that the speaker misuses the evidence or sabotages or distorts the argument by doing all of the following EXCEPT:

Some answers could include: making an unsubstantiated conclusion, refusing to back up a disputed claim by simply saying or implying "That's just the way it is," making a bare assertion, or making a hasty generalization, attempting to convince the audience that all members of a certain group share certain characteristics just because they are members of that group (stereotyping), assuming that just because one event preceded another, the first event caused the second event (Cause-and-Effect Fallacy), boiling the dispute down to an "Only Cause Fallacy," using weak or farfetched examples that confuses the message (False Analogy), making a conclusion that does not logically follow from the premise, restating or rephrasing the same position instead of listing several specific reasons to back up an opinion (Circular Reasoning), expecting the reader to accept a position just because everyone else accepts it (Begging the Question), overstatement, generalization, Ad Hominem argument, abstract generalizations, See Stem #15 for Logical Appeals

Write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. Be sure your answers are sensible definitions of ways in which the persuader makes honest emotional appeals. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support how one choice exhibits a dishonest use of emotions.

Language and Composition Stem #17: Rhetorical Devices (5-50)
Pathos--Evaluating Emotional Appeals

Design a question that requires the reader to identify various ways in which the speaker honestly appeals to the reader's emotions.

Some answers could include: arousing desires useful to the persuader's purpose, demonstrating how these desires can be satisfied by acceptance of the persuaderís assertion, arousing an indignation for the opponentís view, arousing a sympathy for the speaker's view. See Stem #18 for Emotional Fallacies.

Write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. Be sure your answers are sensible definitions of ways in which the persuader misuses the evidence or sabotages or distorts the argument. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support how one choice exhibits an honest use of evidence.

Language and Composition Stem #18:
Rhetorical Devices (5-50) Pathos--Evaluating Emotional Fallacies

Design a question that requires the reader to identify ways that the speaker misuses emotional appeals by using all of the following EXCEPT:

Some answers could include the names of some of the following dishonest emotional strategies: loaded words, slanted words, glittering generalities, band wagon technique, appeals to popular sentiment, snob appeal, plain-folks appeal.

Some others choice could be a definition of the dishonest emotional strategy, such as: choosing words that have strong negative or positive connotations to affect the audience, choosing words because of their persuasive emotional charge, expecting expects the audience to reach a decision based solely on diction, associating himself (herself) with beautiful, wealthy, or special people, pretending to be just like all common people.

Write 4 reasonable distracters and one answer or write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter. If you choose to write 4 answers and one reasonable distracter, the stem should include the phrase "ALL of the following EXCEPT." You may use some of the choices above with modifications that fit your passage. Be sure your answer(s) and distracter(s) are sensible. Make all these choices parallel. Be sure to support your answer.

Language and Composition Stem #19:
Rhetorical Devices (5-50) Ethos--Evaluating the Ethics of the Speaker

Design a question that requires the reader to identify ways that the speaker represents himself (herself) fairly.

Some answers could include: using a reasonable tone, treating the opponent with respect by avoiding such things as illogical statements or inflammatory language, reveal some relevant experience with the issue, making an attempt to embody some evidence of personal knowledge of the subject, illustrating good will toward the reader/audience, showing good sense, revealing an insightful perspective on the subject, displaying good taste in judgment, making an apparently objective defense of ___, using a tone that reflects confidence, making respectful responses to anticipated criticism them making concessions to those opposing viewpoints. See Stem #20 for Ethical Fallacies.