Advanced Reading 7 Flashcards
6 cards from real PARCC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Advanced Reading 7 flashcards as text
A student reads an article in which the author systematically concedes a counterargument before refuting it in each paragraph. What is the most likely purpose of this structural choice?
Answer: To demonstrate that the author has considered opposing views and strengthen the overall argument's credibility
Acknowledging and then refuting counterarguments is a classic rhetorical strategy called concession and rebuttal; it shows intellectual honesty and preempts objections, making the author's position appear more thoughtful and credible.
A poem uses the image of a crumbling stone wall to describe an aging friendship throughout all six stanzas. This repeated image is best described as:
Answer: An extended metaphor that develops the poem's central theme
When a single figurative comparison is sustained and developed across an entire text rather than used once, it is called an extended metaphor; the wall's gradual decay mirrors the friendship's deterioration over all six stanzas.
A nonfiction author writes: 'The council voted unanimously — every single member raised a hand — to approve the budget.' What is the most precise reason the author includes the parenthetical clarification?
Answer: To provide emphasis and ensure readers understand the full significance of 'unanimously'
The parenthetical 'every single member raised a hand' restates 'unanimously' in concrete, visual terms; this emphasis technique ensures readers fully grasp the scope of the agreement rather than glossing over an abstract adverb.
Two editorial writers respond to the same new education policy. Writer A uses personal interviews with teachers; Writer B uses nationwide standardized test score data. A reader who wants to evaluate the policy's broad measurable impact should prioritize:
Answer: Writer B's account, because large-scale quantitative data better reflects systemic trends across the population
When the goal is assessing broad, measurable impact across a large population, large-scale quantitative data (standardized test scores nationwide) is more appropriate than a limited set of personal interviews, which reflect individual experiences rather than system-wide patterns.
A reader notices that a science article aimed at the general public uses the phrase 'heart attack' while a cardiology journal article on the same topic uses 'myocardial infarction.' What does this difference most directly reveal?
Answer: Both authors are adapting their diction to suit their intended audience's level of familiarity
Diction — word choice — is one of the key ways authors signal and respond to their intended audience; 'heart attack' is accessible to general readers while 'myocardial infarction' assumes specialized medical knowledge, showing each author tailored language to their readership.
In a memoir, an author recounts a childhood argument with her mother in vivid sensory detail, then immediately follows it with the line: 'I understand now what she was trying to protect.' What narrative technique does this shift most clearly illustrate?
Answer: Retrospective insight, because the adult narrator interprets a past event with knowledge gained over time
When a narrator looks back on a past event and assigns meaning to it using understanding gained through later experience, this is retrospective insight (also called retrospective narration); the adult perspective reframes what the child experienced, creating a gap between the two vantage points.