Amy Tan
In her essay, "Mother Tongue," Tan claims that she spends a great deal of her time thinking about THIS aspect of language.
The power of language.
"The afternoon sun penetrated the mass of honeysuckle that covered the porch and fell upon my face..."
This sentence contains visual imagery and what other type of imagery?
Tactile (olfactory is fine too)
When it comes to French, Sadary considers himself "a true debutant" or THIS.
A neophyte. A Newbie. A true beginner
Lamott uses THIS metaphor to explain the process of writing a draft.
A Polaroid
Mairs' tone can best be described as:
a) cold
b) blunt
c) deadpanned
d) humorous
b) blunt
In the essay, Tan alludes to this book, which might be her seminal work.
The Joy Luck Club
Keller writes, "Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me continually..." This phrase contains this type of imagery.
Organic imagery
If she meant to be funny, Sadaris' French teacher's humor can be best described as THIS.
Sarcastic
Lamott writes: "The film emerges from the camera with a grayish green murkiness that gradually becomes clearer and clearer." In this sentence, Lamott uses THIS type of imagery.
Visual imagery (kinetic is fine too)
Unlike Tan and Keller, Mairs complained that language is becoming THIS.
Diluted and euphemistic
Tan's story about her adolescent self calling a stockbroker pretending to be her mother illustrates THIS rhetorical device.
Anecdote
Keller's essay seeks to convey THIS aspect of language.
Its mystery (paragraph 7) and its revelatory power.
Interestingly, Sedaris' first day of class was nerve-racking because he had to do THIS, the same thing Mr. Leonard discussed on the first day of school.
To "perform."
Lamott writes, "They lumped and careened along, one man making a snail-slow break for the stands." This sentence contains these 3 rhetorical devices.
- Onomatopoeia
- Oxymoron
- Kinesthetic imagery (auditory is fine too)
Quoting George Orwell, Mairs writes, "The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts." Slovenliness means THIS.
Messy, untidy, sloppy.
Tan distinguishes her "personal opinions on the English Language" from the academic knowledge of English that this type of person might have.
A scholar of English or literature.
If Tan's argument is that language can constrain us, Keller argues that language does THIS to us.
It liberates us.
Taking a page from Tan, Sedaris employs these 2 rhetorical techniques in his writing.
Anecdotes and dialogues (that convey diction and syntax.)
Lamott described THIS as "excruciating." Talk about diction!
The slow speed at which the girl was running.
Mairs writes, "I live propped by the acceptance and the assistance ... of those around me." The wordplay in this sentence is an example of this rhetorical technique.
What is a pun?
Tan claims that immigrant families are more "insular," which means they are THIS.
Isolated or excluded.
According to Keller, "a deep languor has succeeded this passionate struggle." In this context, the word "languor" best means
Sluggishness, exhaustion
Sedaris' tone illustrates this type of humor.
Self-deprecating humor.
Lamott writes, "She was a girl of about sixteen with a normal-looking face above a wracked and emaciated body." Emaciated means this.
Abnormally thin or skeletal.
Mairs emphatic statement, "I am not a disease," illustrates a social problem caused by language, which THIS author also addressed.
Amy Tan.