Effective language use: Style and tone
QUESTION 1 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
The author wants to use understatement as a rhetorical style. Which choice best
accomplishes this goal?
You took my brand-new car without asking, drove it 800 miles, and scraped the entire
front bumper? Yeah, you could say I’m extremely upset!
A) NO CHANGE
B) This makes me so happy!
C) Yeah, you could say I'm a little annoyed!
D) I've never been angrier in my life!
QUESTION 2 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
The author wants to use overstatement in order to emphasize the speaker’s exhaustion.
Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
I’ve been working on legal briefs all day. I’m so exhausted I could sleep for hours!
A) NO CHANGE
B) don't think I can sleep right now!
C) won't be able to sleep for hours!
D) could sleep for years!
QUESTION 3 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
In order to emphasize the contrast between a sunrise and the author’s attitude, the
author wants to use two adjectives that are derived from the same root word. Which
choice best accomplishes this goal?
Sunrises are, I admit, generally very majestic. But usually (if I have my way) anything
that occurs before 8 a.m. is wasted on me. When the sun begins his incredible ascent, I
prefer to be an inglorious huddle of sheets, crusted with sleep and willfully blind.
A) NO CHANGE
B) glorious ascent, I prefer to be an inglorious
C) glorious ascent, I prefer to be a ragged
D) stunning ascent, I prefer to be a pitiful
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QUESTION 4 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
The writer wants to use exaggeration in order to emphasize the relative insignificance of
a mistake. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
My friend Joseph, we are told, has committed the oversight of forgetting to bring his
homework to class. This demonstrates a multitude of failings, personal and academic,
which will forever bar him from the ranks of human society.
A) NO CHANGE
B) committed the grave crime
C) made the inconvenient error
D) unfortunately made the mistake
QUESTION 5 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
For the sake of rhetorical flourish, the author wants to use the same word as two
different parts of speech. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
She did not hate many things, although she disliked the very act of hating things.
A) NO CHANGE
B) although she hated that emotion.
C) except for that very emotion.
D) except for hate itself.
QUESTION 6 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
The author wants to use irony in order to communicate disapproval of the bad weather.
Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
According to the weather station, we should expect rain, hail, and an assortment of
small pets to descend from the sky later this afternoon. Well, isn’t that just
a lovely forecast.
A) NO CHANGE
B) Rocky
C) Fragile
D) Unpromising
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QUESTION 7 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
For the sake of rhetorical effect, the writer wants to maintain the pattern of repeating
words derived from the same root. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
Attain the unattainable, conquer the unconquerable, clasp the unreachable.
A) NO CHANGE
B) grasp what is out of reach.
C) reach what can't be grasped.
D) reach the unreachable.
QUESTION 8 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
Which choice best maintains the intent and pattern of the sentence?
You must be brave without foolhardiness, strong without violence, decisive with
arrogance.
A) NO CHANGE
B) Decisive without arrogance.
C) Arrogant with decisiveness.
D) Arrogant without decisiveness.
QUESTION 9 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
Which choice most effectively maintains the stylistic pattern established earlier in the
paragraph?
We shall wander the cobbled streets of Paris under the glittery moon. We shall swim the
length of the Nile with the hippos and crocodiles. At sunrise, we shall scale Mount Fuji
and pretend we are alone in the world.
A) NO CHANGE
B) Scaling Mount Fuji at sunrise, we shall pretend we are alone in the world.
C) We shall scale Mount Fuji at sunrise and pretend we are alone in the world.
D) To pretend we are alone in the world, we shall scale Mount Fuji at sunrise.
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QUESTION 10 OF - QUESTION TYPE: Style and tone
In order to capture the attention of his audience, the author wants to invest the pie with
human qualities. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
The blackberry pie was exquisite: the flavors danced on Leila’s tongue.
A) NO CHANGE
B) made Leila feel like she was flying.
C) tasted incredible to Leila.
D) almost made Leila cry.
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