AP English Language and Composition 3.10 Passage Drill

And how many times have we skimmed this?

[ mumbles ]

Okay, let's just get to it.

Which of the following devices does the passage

not include? [sound of a baby laughing]

We're not seeing an iPhone 6 here.

[ mumbles ]

Okay, let's get to it.

All right, well, the only thing to do here is go down the list

and root through the passage to see what we find. [Man in the farm, holding a plant root]

Choice B says that the passage doesn't exaggerate.

Huh. Well, the author might agree for the most part because he's just that hardcore about science. [Woman describing the size of a spider to a man]

The bit about water crystallizing into stars is

an exaggeration, though. Like our closest star, the sun,

the other stars out there are fiery balls of exploding atoms.

Like that.

If the author isn't intentionally exaggerating here, well, then Like that.

If the author isn't intentionally exaggerating here, well, then

he doesn't know his science as well as he should.

Option C claims that there aren't any analogies in the passage, [Man disgusted after seeing the spider]

but we have to disagree.

An analogy is a comparison of two things that are somehow similar.

So how about when Professor Huxley equates the necessity of learning about science

to the necessity of learning about chess?

All in a world where our lives depend on winning a game of it. [A professor writing something on the blackboard]

Yep, the Hux gives us a big, whopping analogy, so that makes

C a no-go.

And then we have answer D, which clearly misses the fact

that the passage is chock-full of metaphors.

Our favorite is when "our perturbed minds" are

compared to "dark waters." [image of a brain, dark water and a tornado]

But, maybe that's because we're a little bit twisted.

Yeah, welcome to Shmoop.

All right, choice E tries to convince us that the passage has

no reiteration.

Seriously, E?

This passage is continually repeating itself.

If we really wanted to boil it down, it'd read like this: [image of water boiling]

"Science is awesome. Really awesome.

Science is so, so, really awesome."

All right, well, the best answer is A.

A counterargument is an argument or set of ideas that

opposes another argument or set of ideas.

Using a counterargument in an essay can be a good thing.

Pointing out where the other side may be right gives us a great

chance to show exactly why we're more right [woman arguing with her husband while lying on a sunbed]

than the other side.

However, it seems like nobody ever told the author of this passage [Crackers bursting in the sky]

about the joys of counterarguments.

He never makes the case for why science might lead to bad things. [someone performing an experiment and it explodes]

Guess he never read Frankenstein.