FREE AP English Language and Composition Rhetorical Analysis Practice Test Question and Answer

Question 1

What one of the following statements best supports the speaker's claim that death "has no parallel" (line 3)?

Accepted Answer

Outdoes all other accidents (line 3)

Answer

Lays a regular siege (line 5)

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Leaps suddenly (line 3)

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Changes . . . are . . .terrible and melancholy (lines 1-2)

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Changes . . . are . . . sharp (line 1)

Question 2

The phrase "There are... at night" (line 8) serves primarily as a rhetorical device to show

Accepted Answer

Illustrate a generalization made in the previous sentence.

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Discuss the connotation of words to be used later in the passage.

Answer

Contradict an assertion made in the first sentence of the paragraph.

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Prove the validity of the passage's opening sentence.

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Provide a brief digression from the main idea of the passage.

Question 3

Except for one, all of the following are found in the two statements on lines 4–7.

Accepted Answer

Dramatic irony.

Answer

Metaphor.

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Personification.

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Unifying repetition.

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Simile.

Question 4

The speaker's main objective in the opening paragraph is to

Accepted Answer

Discuss the gravity and after-effects of death.

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Ridicule the social customs associated with dying.

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Propose a hypothesis about humankind's fear of death.

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Convince readers that death is a topic that must be discussed openly

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Comfort readers who have recently lost friends or loved ones.

Question 5

"It" refers to in line 5

Accepted Answer

The thing (line 2).

Answer

Earth (line 3).

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A Thug (line 4).

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Man's experience (lines 2-3).

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No parallel (line 3).

Question 6

In line 11, the speaker refers to "a full chapter of sights and customs striking to the mind"

Accepted Answer

Physical reminders of death.

Answer

Inevitable thoughts about one's own death.

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Lost friends.

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Hired undertakers.

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Mourners.

Question 7

ALL of the following are found in lines 17–18, EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

An extended analogy.

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A paradoxical idea.

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A complex sentence.

Answer

Parallel syntax

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A subordinate clause.

Question 8

"Serenades and suppers and much gallantry among the myrtles" in lines 22–23 most obviously refers to

Accepted Answer

Gardens in . . . England (lines 21-22).

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Mortal conditions (line 21).

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Conduct under healthy circumstances (line 18).

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Solemnity (line 21).

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Fearful whisperings (line 17).

Question 9

In lines 22–25 ("There are serenades... in the dust"), which rhetorical tactic is most prominently used?

Accepted Answer

Fantasy

Answer

Overdone sentimentality

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Alliteration

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Deductive reasoning

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Antithesis

Question 10

The purpose of lines 22–25 ("There are serenades... in the dust") could be best summarized as

Accepted Answer

Developing in more detail the main ideas of the previous sentence.

Answer

Citing two examples of natural perils.

Answer

Contrasting man's weaknesses and nature's power.

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Presenting a problem and offering an immediate solution.

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Balancing an overstatement and an understatement.