Rhetoric Exam

I.              Multiple choice (10*2’)

1.     Alliteration is figure of speech in which _____ or stressed syllables are repeated.(a)

a. consonants  b. words     c. capital letter   d. vowels

2. Inversion, in English, mainly refers to the reversal of the usual order of the subject and the ______ in a sentence.(c)

a. object      b. adjective   c.predicate      d. adverb

3. _____ is the sharpest satire. (d)

a. Irony       b. Innuendo  c. Euphemism   d. Ridicule

4. Which rhetorical figure is used in this sentence? “ I am told several pickpockets are here. Let them remember that the eye of God is on them, and also that there are a number of policemen in the hoouse. ” (b)

a. climax      b. anticlimax c. pun          d.metaphor

5.______ is widely used in English, especially in modern novels , such as the novels of stream of consciousness. (c)

a. Repetition   b. Metonymy c. Ellipsis       d.Hypallage

6. The most distinguished opinion about metaphor of ______ is the metaphorical instinct of language. (a)

a. Richards    b. Odgen    c. Moore        d. Russell

7. The author of “ Counter-statement” is ________.(b)

a. I.A. Richards b. Kenneth Burke  c. Richard M. Weaver  d. Chain Pevelman

8. Politically spekaing, Richard M. Weaver was an eminent _______.(d)

a. idealist      b. rationalist        c. radical    d. conservative

9. Weaver explained the ______ of Rhetoric in detail. (b)

a. origin       b. importance       c. development d. use

10. _______ made the greatest contribution to explaining the relationship between Rhetoric and human in 20^th Century. (a)

a. Chaim Perelman b. I.A. Richards   c. Kenneth Burke  d. Richard M. Weaver

II.              Blank Filling (10*2’)

1.     Euphemism is often used out of _______ or consideration for other people’s feeling. (courtesy)

2.     A ______ is figure of speech in which two quite different things are compared because they appear to be similar in at least one characteristic. (simile)

3.     According to their structure, metaphors can be divided into two categories, the ____ and the ____.(visible, invisible)

4.     ________ is sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to anther modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualiation of a certain colour. (Synaesthesia)

5.     ________ is a figure of speech in which human beings are described as animals, plants, inanimate things, abstract conceptions and so on and so forth. (Zoosemy)

6.     “The Philosophy of Rhetoric” and “ The Meaning of Meaning” are the representative work of _________.(I. A. Richards)

7.     Richards and Ogden have made a deep explanation about ________.(the meaning of word)

8.     Some of Richards’ basic concepts, for example, the aim of discourse, context, the process of abstraction and the importance of metaphor derive from _____________.(“ The Philsophy of Rhetoric”)

9.     _________ is the beginning, continuing and end of Burke’s theory about Rhetoric. (Motivation)

10.  “ Ideas Have Consequences ” is the famous work of _________.(Richard M. Weaver)

III.              Judgement (10*2’)

1.     Personification is a figure in which inanimate objects, abstractions and events are compared to human beings, and human qualities and abilities are attributed to them.(T)

2.     Represented speech is usually used to quote a character’s remarks.(F)

3.     Pun is a play on words, which involves an amusing use of expressions with a double meaning or the same sound but different meanings.(T)

4.     Irony is the sharpest satire. (F)

5.     Rhetorical question is an effective rhetorical device which may be only used to achieve emphasis. (F)

6.     The relationship between symbol and object is conventional. (T)

7.     I. A. Richards is the author of “ A Grammar of Motives” (F)

8.     The theory of Chaim Pevelman puts the strongest emphasis on the relationship between Rhetoric and Philosophy. (T)

9.     Like Aristotle, Richards believed the close connections between dialectics and rhetoric. (F)

10.   Weaver is a loyally platonic idealist. (T)

IV.              Analysis (2*10’)

1.     “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife.”

                              ----J. Austen: Pride and Prejudice

  (This is the sentence with which Jane Austen begins her Pride and Prejudice. At the first sight, the readers may think the wrier will declare in earnest a universal truth, but at the end of the sentence, they find the so-called “ a truth universally acknowledged” is only the vulgar awareness of the philistinism. The author shows ingenuity in leading the readers’ expectancy by the last world lowers this expectancy to the bottom. Therefore, the author is successful in producing a satirical and memorable effect, giving one much food for thought.)

2.     “Some people really like chili, apparently, but nobody can agree how the stuff should be made. C.V. Wood, twice winner at terlingua, uses flank steak, pork chops, chicken, and green chili. My friend Hughes Rudd, who imported five hundred pounds of chili powder into Russia as a condition of accepting employment as Moscow correspondent, favors coarseground beef. He had some trouble finding the beef in Moscow, though. He sometimes had to scour all the markets and wait in long lines. For any American used to overstocked supermarkets and department stores, Russia can be quite a shock.”

 

(The first sentence is the topic sentence of the whole paragraph. Followed by examples, the idea of the topic sentence is further explained in way of evidence which makes it more pursuasive. However, in the following four sentences, the idea actually has nothing to do with main idea of this paragraph, so the last four sentences are out of the point which leads to the lack of unity of the whole paragraph.)

V.              Questions (2*10’)

1.     What are the differences between simile and metaphor?

(A metaphor is like a simile condensed. In a simile the comparison is explicitly stated with the help of some such words as like or as, whilst in a metaphor the comparison is implied by an identification of the two things compared.)

 

2.     What are the three contributions of I. A. Richards?

1)      He took advantage of the discovery of the modern biology and pilosophy to help himself to explain functions of the rhetorical languages.

2)      He considered metaphor as the important factor of Rhetoric.

3)      He thought the Rhetoric not only as a language but also a part of communication.

 

 

Rhetoric Examination Paper

1. Multiple Choice ( 20' )

(1) Which one is NOT the four types of sentences in English ( C )

A. Simple    B. Compound    C. Parallel    D. Complex

(2) <The Philosophy of Rhetoric> is the representative work of (B)

A. Kenneth Burke   B. I. A. Richards   C. Chaim Perelman   D. Stephen Toulmin

(3) Which one is NOT the masterpiece of Richard M. Weaver ( A )

A. < The Philosophy of Rhetoric >  B. < Composition >  C. < Visions of Order >  D. < Ideas Have Consequences >

(4 ). What kind of relationship between the word and objects (A )

A. Conventional   B. Confidential   C. Confidence   D. Conservative

(5 ).Pun can be classified into the following categories, except (D )

A. Homophonic    B.Antalaclasis    C. Paranomasia  D.Homographs

(6 ).The clues of irony have three characteristics, except (C )

A. The form does not agree with the content, or the surface meaning makes a sharp contrast with real meaning

B. The is a contrast between the tone and the content.

C. It conveys a meaning slyly by hinting, usually because it is unpleasant.

D. Sometimes, the abnormal collocation of words is involved in irony

(7 ). Which one following is the definition of Allegory (B )

A. A literary genre in which ridicule is thrown upon something by stressing its worst features, often by the use of irony, thus assuming or affirming a norm by which aberrations are judged.

B. A story in verse or prose with a double meaning; a primary or surface meaning; and a secondary or under-the-surface meaning.

C. A figure of speech of speech in which moderate and allusive words and tone are used to make comments or pass criticisms upon things.

D. A short statement that conveys much meaning in a few words which may be complimentary, satiric or aphoristic.

(8 ). "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true of you in your private heart is true of all men-that is genius." is (B )

A. Loose sentence

B. Periodic sentence

C. Long sentence

D. Short sentence

(9 ). Which one below is tongue twisters (A )

A. She sells ea-shells on the sea-shore.

B. Brelin had a puff and huff too many.

C. How the pretty ladies talk-Tittle tattle, tittle tattle!

D. When Danny stirred, there were ohs! And ahs! Of delight.

(10 ).Which one below is a kind of figure in which and initial comparison is made and then developed by many different expressions so as to expand the author's idea.(D)

A. sustained metaphor   B.dead metaphor   C. Mixed metaphor   D.extend metaphor

 

2. Blank Filling ( 20' )

(1 ).Rhetoric, is the art and science of communication in words.

(2 ).English rhetoric may be sub-divided into communicative rhetoric and aesthetic rhetoric.

(3 ).Western rhetorics origins from classical rhetoric.

(4 ).The most contributor in the history of western rhetoric is Aristotle.

(5 ). I.A.Richards and C.K.Ogden had a deep explanation of words.

(6 ). Motivation is about the beginning, continueing and ending of rhetorical theories.

(7 ).Pun is a witticism involving the playful use of a word in different senses or of words which differ in meaning but sound alike.

(8).Climax refers to the arrangement of a series of ideas, which go from the least important to the most important with steady strengthening of emotion and tone.

(9).The opposition of climax is anticlimax.

(10).Irony is a figure of speech in which the meaning literally expressed is the direct opposite of the meaning intended and which aims at ridicule, humour or sarcasm to make one's remarks forceful.

 

3. True or False (20' )

(1) Western rhetoric origins from ancient Greek at 6 B.C ( F )

(2) In the classical period, Aristotle considered the content of western rhetoric consist of purpose, audience, process argument arrangement and style. ( T )

(3) In "The Oxford Movement is a spent wave", "Oxford Movement" is the vehicle while "spent wave" is tenor ( F )

(4) The forms of text can be divided into four parts which are exposition, explanation, narration and description ( T )

(5) If the irony in a single word, it is termed antiphrasis (T )

(6) Simile always involving two things (F )

(7) Present-day Western rhetoric consists of two sub-branches, namely, rhetoric and stylistics.(T )

(8) Stylistics is the income of the new development of literary style. (F )

(9) Combination of the present with the ancient is one of the features of present-day Western rhetoric (T)

(10) The man is "as fat as a pig". Here the figure employed is therefore called a closed simile (T)

 

4. Analysis ( 40' )

Read the following passage and fulfill the following two tasks.

 

Section A : Analyse the rhetorical devices and their functions in the passage.

 

"I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaitance in London that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, baked, or boiled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee,or a ragout."---------J. Swift: A Modest Proposal

Answer: Here author uses satire. As a rhetoric device, it often uses sharp and acrimonious words an tone to expose and mock at people's faults, stupidity or ugliness, etc. Swift's aim was to keep the civilization and culture intact by ridiculing and bringing scorn upon those who threatened to impair it, and satirical writing is therefore didactic;it sets out to teach the reader to have better ideas.

‚"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife."-----J. Austen, Pride and Prejudice.

Answer: This is the sentence with which Jane Austen begins her Pride and Prejudice. At the first sight, the readers may think the writer will declare in earnest a universal truth, but at the end of the sentece, they find the so-called "a truth universally acknowledge" is only the vulgar awareness of the philistinism. The author shows ingenuity in leading the readers' expectancy to the peak in a solemn and elegant way, and the vulgar content represented by the last word lowers this expectancy to the bottom. Therefore, the author is successful in producing a satirical and memorable effect, giving one much food for thought.

 

Section B : Analyse the text features of this passage.

Readers look for the topics of sentences to tell them what a whole passage is" about." If they feel that its sequence of topics focuses on a limited set of related topics, then they will feel they are moving through that passage from a cumulatively coherent point of view. But if topics seem to shift randomly, then readers have to begin each sentence from no coherent point of view, and when that happens, readers feel dislocated, disoriented, and the passage seems out of focus.

Answer: from above passage, we can find that the whole topic is focus on two concept which is " topics" and "readers". It can be regarded as an emphasis on theme and in coherence to the theme.

 

5.Questions

(1 ). What's the difference between syllepsis and zeugma?

In nature, syllepsis is different from zeugma. Syllepsis is a figure of speech in which a word(usually a verb, an adjective, or a preposition) brings together two or more than two construction, each with a different meaning in connection with the yoking work. It takes advantage of the polysemous words, collocating with more than two words. In the collocations the key word has different meanings.

While zeugma is the yoking two words to a single word that does not apply equally to both, that is, the key word can only collocate with one noun naturally, and it cannot collocate with the other noun normally.