Answer+Key


 * 1. A** The line compares the author to a toad using "as".


 * 2. D** The author mentions several times that the colonist lose when they conquer other countries. Although racism is mentioned, it's not the tyranny of the British Empire that is the issue.


 * 3. A** Orwell doesn't make any sarcastic remarks, nor is he taking the elephant lightly; he's quite stressed about it. The language isn't particularly emotional or depressing. If it had been, he would have brooded over the random man's death and his decision to kill for much longer.


 * 4. E** The author has violent feelings towards the natives, but also wants them to gain independence. These two attitudes oppose each other, suggesting ambivalence.


 * 5. C** The author doesn't want to kill the elephant. "A" could be right, but the dilemma isn't bothering him for a moral reason. He isn't worried about the possibility of the crowd killing him for not shooting the elephant, but it does influence his decision at the end.


 * 6. D** D is right because Orwell doesn't like being oppressed by the natives he has to police over and he would prefer that the British Empire leave them alone. He doesn't mention being ruled by idiots, nor anything about voting or setting up a more authoritarian government.


 * 7. B** "A" is incorrect because you do not lose mass upon becoming a corpse. "C" is wrong because there is nothing that suggests that death by elephant involves tyranny. "D" is wrong because it's obviously wrong, and "E" is incorrect because it doesn't substitute into the sentence as well as choice B.


 * 8. B** Orwell is pressured by the mob to shoot the elephant. He doesn't care what happens to them exactly, he isn't scared by them, except in the social sense, and he isn't distracted by them as he can still aim properly.


 * 9. B** Although imperialism is bad for the locals, the writer focuses on how it affects himself and the ruling party. He's burdened with the task of appeasing the mob and has to shoot an elephant that he doesn't want to shoot.


 * 10. A** The paragraph uses an analogy, but the rest of it is about how he deals with non-stutterers. There's not enough emo-ness in the passage for it to be "B." Hoagland doesn't contrast people and doesn't go into coping methods yet.


 * 11. E** In paragraph one, it states that stutterers aren't always nervous. The writer doesn't sound like he hates others or expects the worst from them. Although he does get frustrated, he's learned to deal with his stutter. "E" is correct since he has had to be careful about choosing what to say and recognizing good and bad people.


 * 12. C** In grammar, the antecedent is a word or phrase that decides what the pronoun will be. "It" refers to encumbrance.


 * 13. C** The line is not being literal. It's not vague or about responsibility either. In the company of friends, when someone would feel most at ease, he rarely stutters, implying that confidence leads to less stuttering

By referring to a group, Hoagland gives the reader the sense that the experiences he has aren't just products of his paranoid mind, but what it's like for everyone who stutters.
 * 14.** **D**


 * 15. B** The author has found ways to cope with his impediment and get through life despite it, so it could be said that he's accustomed to it.


 * 16. E** The author doesn't try to get rid of his stutter, so "B" is wrong. He doesn't have self-confidence or anger issues, though he does admit that some stutterers do. He explains at the end of the passage how he deliberates


 * 17. B** Sedaris says beforehand that he doesn't understand what his teacher is saying, so the italics represent words he doesn't know. If they had been foreign words, the entire sentence would have been in italics. If the words had been swears, the class would have been much more shocked.


 * 18. E** Sedaris makes no punnery, nor any jokes that involve dark topics, unless you consider a cartoon stegosaurus eating a sandwich morbid. He makes no commentary on political issues. While his humour can be farcical at times, most of the jokes fall into the dry humour category because of the casual observation manner in which he makes them.


 * 19. D** All of the following were either metaphors or similes, except choice D, which was just a case of disturbing anthropomorphism.


 * 20. E** Sedaris doesn't find living in Paris hard, nor does he say anything about stupidity. Although choice A and choice B are mentioned, the core of the passage is about the difficulty of learning French, since he moved to Paris for this reason and is surprised to discover that he doesn't understand his teacher that well, setting the future conflict.


 * 21. B** The author is out-of-place among his peers because they are all better than him in some way. This leads to him feeling lower than them, inferior, but not necessarily wanting to be like them.


 * 22. D** "A" and "D" both seem like good words to describe the teacher, but being stern has to do more with rules and discipline, which the teacher isn't obsessed with. Therefore, choice D is correct.


 * 23. A** The subject is what's doing the action. "I" is moving to Paris and learning the language.


 * 24. C** Nothing about the statement is contradictory, so it's not "A". "D" and "E" are incorrect because of the lack of exaggeration and strange word order. Although irony could work if the student had a reason to love mosquitoes or if the teacher was being sincere, the teacher is actually mocking the student with sarcasm.


 * 25. A** The first two paragraphs have no action or acid-trippy quality, unless you count going to school as action-filled or bizarre. Sedaris gives no story on his life before going to France, only information on why he's in Paris and who he sees in his class, introducing the setting and characters. The story is chronological, so it's not in Media Res.