English Language and Composition Exam AP English Language and Composition Metaphor and Simile 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following best defines an implied metaphor?
- A comparison suggested without directly stating both terms being compared. (Correct answer)
- A metaphor that uses 'like' or 'as' to draw a comparison.
- A metaphor that extends across an entire essay or speech.
- A comparison between two objects from the same category.
Correct answer: A comparison suggested without directly stating both terms being compared.
An implied metaphor suggests the comparison without naming both terms explicitly, as in 'he barked his orders' (implying he is like a dog).
Question 2: In Frederick Douglass's narrative, comparing his longing for freedom to watching ships sail freely on the Chesapeake Bay functions primarily as:
- An extended simile that makes his desire for freedom vivid and emotionally powerful. (Correct answer)
- A literal description of his work duties near the water.
- A metaphor comparing Douglass to a sailor.
- Personification of the ships as fellow sufferers.
Correct answer: An extended simile that makes his desire for freedom vivid and emotionally powerful.
Douglass uses the free-sailing ships as an extended simile for his own enslaved condition, making his longing viscerally tangible.
Question 3: Which of the following is NOT a simile?
- 'The fog of war clouded every decision.' (Correct answer)
- 'He fought like a cornered animal.'
- 'She moved as silently as a shadow.'
- 'The room smelled like fresh bread.'
Correct answer: 'The fog of war clouded every decision.'
'The fog of war' is a metaphor because it directly equates war's confusion with fog without using 'like' or 'as.'
Question 4: In rhetoric, how can a well-chosen simile strengthen a logical argument (logos)?
- By clarifying an abstract concept through a concrete, familiar comparison that the audience can reason from. (Correct answer)
- By appealing exclusively to the audience's emotions.
- By replacing statistical evidence with vivid imagery.
- By establishing the speaker's moral character and authority.
Correct answer: By clarifying an abstract concept through a concrete, familiar comparison that the audience can reason from.
A simile that maps an unfamiliar concept onto something familiar helps the audience follow logical reasoning more easily.
Question 5: The metaphor 'bureaucracy is a labyrinth' most likely aims to persuade readers that bureaucracy is:
- Confusing, difficult to navigate, and designed to frustrate those within it. (Correct answer)
- Efficient and well-organized like an architectural wonder.
- Ancient and historically significant like Greek mythology.
- Dangerous and life-threatening to those who encounter it.
Correct answer: Confusing, difficult to navigate, and designed to frustrate those within it.
A labyrinth connotes confusion, entrapment, and purposeless complexity, which the metaphor transfers to bureaucracy.
Question 6: Which AP writing principle applies when a student overuses similes in a rhetorical analysis essay?
- Figurative language in student writing should be purposeful; excessive use weakens analytical clarity. (Correct answer)
- More similes always improve the score on the AP rubric.
- Similes are forbidden in formal academic essays.
- Students should match the exact figurative language used by the author they are analyzing.
Correct answer: Figurative language in student writing should be purposeful; excessive use weakens analytical clarity.
AP readers reward precise, purposeful prose; overloading an analysis with similes can obscure the student's argument.
Question 7: The phrase 'justice is blind' is an example of:
- A dead metaphor that has become a cultural idiom conveying impartiality. (Correct answer)
- A simile comparing justice to a blind person.
- An extended metaphor developed across a legal argument.
- Personification with no metaphorical component.
Correct answer: A dead metaphor that has become a cultural idiom conveying impartiality.
'Justice is blind' is a dead metaphor so ingrained in culture that it functions as an idiom meaning justice is impartial.
English Language and Composition Exam AP English Language and Composition Metaphor and Simile 4
Which of the following best defines an implied metaphor?