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Playlist AP® English Literature and Composition: Diction and Syntax 10 videos

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AP English Literature and Composition 1.10 Passage Drill 1
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.10 Passage Drill 1. The speaker's diction in this passage serves to characterize him as which of the f...

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AP English Literature and Composition 1.3 Passage Drill 1
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.3 Passage Drill 1. In the context of the passage, what does the word "compass" in line 15 mean?

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AP English Literature and Composition 1.5 Passage Drill 2
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.5 Passage Drill 2. What is the grammatical referent of the word "it" in the phrase "that it should hav...

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AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 4 215 Views


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Description:

AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 4. The word "overwrought" in line 42 acts as which of the following?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Urns. They're all Grecian to us.

00:16

The word "overwrought" in line 42 acts as which of the following?

00:21

And here are the potential answers...

00:24

All right, so we need to look at line 42 and determine what the word "overwrought" is doing there.

00:29

First... it would be good to know what the word means in the first place...

00:33

It looks something like "overweight," but we somehow doubt the writer is talking about

00:37

portly maidens here.

00:39

The urn is only so big...

00:41

The "over" prefix generally accentuates the word it's attached to... so overwrought means very... something.

00:48

We've probably seen the word "wrought" in "wrought iron"... which is iron that's been

00:52

beaten, shaped... basically, it's been through the ringer.

00:55

So if the word overwrought is assigned to a person... it's saying something like...

01:01

that person is very agitated or stressed.

01:04

But... is that what it means HERE? Or are they trying to pull one over on us?

01:09

If we look at line 42:

01:11

Of marble men and maidens overwrought,

01:14

We COULD be talking about men and maidens who are stressed out. They certainly don't

01:18

appear to have much hair left...

01:21

But look at the next line:

01:22

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

01:26

So these maidens are "overwrought"... with forest branches and weeds.

01:30

In other words... they're "over-decorated" with their various... twigs and whatnot.

01:35

Either way, it's definitely an adjective and not a verb...

01:38

...so we can nix options D and E for sure.

01:41

And we already established that it's the men and maidens the word is describing...

01:45

...so it looks like B is our answer.

01:47

So yeah... apparently people liked to dress in shrubbery back then.

01:51

There's no accounting for taste.

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