AP English Language and Composition

Humor Unit Test

Spring 2016

Form: Hogs

#_____

***DO NOT MARK ON THIS TEST! IT IS PART OF A CLASS SET!***

(AP )

AP English Language and Composition

Humor Unit Test

Spring 2016

Form: Hogs

Humor Terms Identification: Match each example below with the correct type of humor from the box on the right. Answers may be used once, more than once, or not at all. (PunParody MalapropismInnuendo Black Humor AB. AbsurdismAC. SatireAD. SarcasmAE. CaricatureBC. Double Entendre CD. Slapstick)

1. Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half [Actual newspaper headline]

2.

3. Well, I only know the general idea behind chaos theory, but if you ask Stephen Hawking, he can tell you all of the perpendiculars.

4. Shrek: (looking up at Lord Farquaad’s enormous castle) You think maybe he’s compensating for something?

5. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

Multiple Choice: Choose the best of the answer options provided for each question. Make sure you read all of the options before making your final decision. Unless you are specifically told to mark all that apply, you should choose only one answer for each question.

6. The humor in Lederer’s “English is a Crazy Language” comes primarily from

a. irony

c. satire e. innuendo

b. sarcasm

d. parody

7. Lederer’s purpose in “English is a Crazy Language” is primarily to

a. entertain

c. make fun of English speakers

b. to point out a problem with the English language

d. encourage people to start speaking differently

e. compare English to more predictable languages

8. Lederer opens his article

a. with a personal anecdote

d. by describing how widely spoken a

b. with an oxymoron-based pun about language

c. by appealing to the reader’s emotions

language English is

e. with ice-breaking jokes that do not offend the audience as much as the later ones.

9. Lee, the author of the letter to the Honorable Ed Foreman, is actually most concerned about

a. Foreman’s advice for successfully raising hogs

d. how illogical the farm subsidy policy is

b. how he can get money from the government

c. how his friend is making more money than he is

e. the fact that some farmers are getting paid to do

nothing, which is unfair

10. Lee’s use of statistics

a. makes him a more reliable source

d. is flawed because his numbers don’t add up

b. makes what seemed previously reasonable now seem unreasonable

c. is meant to humiliate Foreman

correctly

e. prove just how expensive and unpredictable farming really is

11. Lee and Tvedten both write humorous letters, but Lee uses ______, while Tvedten ______.

a. irony and avoids attacking his reader; uses sarcasm in an attempt to humiliate his reader

d. situational irony to make his letter memorable; ridicules his audience with

b. satire to point out a flaw; uses only lower level humor such as puns and scatological humor

c. absurdism to bring an important issue to his reader’s attention; uses satire to critique the ill informed bureaucracy

scathing verbal irony

e. parody to soften his criticism; uses satire to attempt to correct his audience’s failings

12. Tvedten uses all of the following types of humor in his letter EXCEPT

a. puns

c. satire e. sarcasm

b. scatological humor

d. absurdism

13. Tvedten’s letter was widely circulated on the internet, and became a kind of urban legend. Often the details were altered. Names, dates, and places were changed, although most of the letter remained the same. This phenomenon suggests that

a. the letter was intended as a parody, and others parodied it in turn

c. humor is not always the most effective means of making a point

b. internet users were trying to protect Tvedten from retaliation by the local Michigan government agencies

d. many people approved of Tvedten’s purpose, and likely wanted to magnify the results

e. people are gullible and do not evaluate their sources

14. Stephen Colbert’s speech

a. begins with lighter jokes, and then steadily gets more critical, never letting the audience breathe easily

b. is funny mainly because of the dramatic irony

d. is funny mainly because of his use of malapropisms

e. alternates between “safe” jokes and scathing satire, giving the audience relief

it creates

c. starts to change in tone, becoming more lighthearted, with the mention of the Chinese ambassador

from the tension only to make even more shockingly critical remarks

15. In Stephen Colbert’s speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Colbert criticizes which of the following [MARK ALL THAT APPLY]

a. The president

d. Fox News

b. The press

c. The military

e. The press secretary

16. Although Colbert’s humor has multiple targets, he ends up arguing mostly to ______, whom he expects to actually make some change.

a. the president

d. the military

b. the press

c. the larger American public

e. The press secretary

ab. Fox News

17. At the end of “A Modest Proposal,” Swift mentions his own family, which for the persona of the speaker, is an attempt to

a. evoke sympathy in his audience

c. make himself seem like a hypocrite

b. assure his audience that he will not be able to profit from his own scheme

d. make the audience ponder how much they love their own wives and children

18. Which of the following ideas mentioned in “A Modest Proposal” does Swift (the real Swift) actually advocate?

a. a decrease in the population of Catholics

c. taking the advice of the Americans

b. separating infectious people from the general population

d. encouraging people to only buy domestically produced goods

e. restricting who can have children

19. At one point, Swift writes, “It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year.” This phrasing

a. as at other points in the proposal, is dehumanizing, and suggests that the poor are livestock, no different from horses or cattle

c. ought to shock the reader and make him question his own view of the poor

d. all of the above

b. lines up with his other criticisms of poor women, and suggests that they are abusive to their children, and cannot be trusted to raise them properly

ab. both A and B

bc. both B and C

ac. both A and C

20. Swift’s use of statistics in “A Modest Proposal” is most similar to that of

a. Tvedten in his letter to Price

d. Swift in “Meditation upon a Broomstick”

b. Lee in his letter to Ed Foreman

c. Lederer in “English is a Crazy Langauge”

e. The Onion’s in the mock press release on Magnsoles

21. “Meditation upon a Broomstick” resembles Boyle’s “Reflection” in all of the following ways EXCEPT

a. long, complex sentence structure

d. degradation of women

b. authoritative and dramatic tone

c. its somewhat strained and dubious analogy

e. its structure of description followed by analogy

22. Compared to The Onion’s mock press release about Magnasoles, which should be classified as ______, “Meditation upon a Broomstick” represents ______ level of humor, as it is ______.

a. a parody; a higher; a satire

c. a satire; the same; a satire

b. a satire; a lower; a parody

d. a parody; the same; a parody

23. Which of the following employs black humor?

a. “A Modest Proposal”

c. Tvedten’s letter to Price

b. Boyle’s “Reflection”

d. “Letter to the Honorable Ed Foreman”

e. “English is a Crazy Language”

24. Of the following, which use irony, but specifically in the service of satire? [MARK ALL THAT APPLY]

a. The White House Correspondents Dinner Speech

c. “English is a Crazy Language”

b. “Meditation upon a Broomstick”

d. “Letter to the Honorable Ed Foreman”

e. Boyle’s “Reflection”

25. Which of the following does NOT use imitation as a rhetorical strategy?

a. Lederer

d. Swift in “Meditation upon a Broomstick”

b. Tvedten

c. The Onion in the Magnasoles article

e. Colbert

26. Which of the following titles is ironic?

a. “A Modest Proposal”

c. “Letter to the Honorable Ed Foreman”

b. Boyle’s “Reflection”

d. “Meditation upon a Broomstick”

e. “English is a Crazy Language”

27. Which of the following authors could you argue use an ironic mask?

a. Colbert, Swift in “A Modest Proposal,” Lederer

c. Swift in “Meditation upon a Broomstick,” Tvedten, Lederer

b. Lee, Swift in “Meditation upon a Broomstick,” The Onion writers

d. Swift in “A Modest Proposal,” Colbert, Lee

e. Tvedten, Lee, Lederer

28. Which of the following works uses the highest level of humor?

a. “Meditation upon a Broomstick”

c. Boyle’s Reflections

b. “English is a Crazy Language”

d. Colbert’s White House Correspondents Dinner Speech

a. Lederer

d. Swift in “Meditation upon a Broomstick”

b. Tvedten

c. Lee

e. Swift in “A Modest Proposal”

29. In his speech, Colbert often uses Bush’s own words against him, closely paraphrasing or directly quoting the president for the purpose of ridiculing him. This tactic is the same one used by

a. Martin Luther King Jr. for paving the way for violent protests

d. Police actions during the Ferguson protests, as they violated civilians’ civil rights

b. modern black civil rights leaders for encouraging violence, something MLK would not have approved of

c. modern black leaders for directing their anger at other African Americans, which would have saddened MLK

e. young black men today, who are prone to violence and not listening to black civil rights leaders

30. In the cartoon below, the cartoonist is critical of

31. Which of the following cartoons expresses the view most similar to the cartoon above?

(d.)a.

b.

c.

Alice Duer Miller wrote the following piece for the New York Tribune in 1915. At the time, there was fierce debate on the topic of women’s suffrage. Read “Why We Oppose Pockets for Women,” and then answer the questions that follow.

Why We Oppose Pockets for Women

1. Because pockets are not a natural right.

2. Because the great majority of women do not want pockets. If they did they would have them.

3. Because whenever women have had pockets they have not used them.

4. Because women are required to carry enough things as it is, without the additional burden of pockets.

5. Because it would make dissension between husband and wife as to whose pockets were to be filled.

6. Because it would destroy man’s chivalry toward woman, if he did not have to carry all her things in his pockets.

7. Because men are men, and women are women. We must not fly in the face of nature.

8. Because pockets have been used by men to carry tobacco, pipes, whiskey flasks, chewing gum and compromising letters. We see no reason to suppose that women would use them more wisely.

32. Based on this article, one could most convincingly argue that Miller is actually

a. in favor of women’s suffrage

d. undecided on the issue

b. against women’s suffrage

c. sympathetic to those on both sides of the issue

e. annoyed with the debate and of the opinion that the importance of the issue has been exaggerated

33. In this article, Miller

a. uses mainly situational irony to get her point across

d. is satirizing the arguments of those who oppose women’s suffrage

b. uses mainly puns and double entendre to get her point across

c. uses parody to make the arguments of those supporting women’s suffrage look ridiculous

e. is employing sarcasm to mock those who are making such a big deal out of what she sees as an unimportant issue

34. If one considers the type of humor used and the purpose for it, one could assume that Miller’s

primary audience was most likely

a. supporters of women’s suffrage

c. those who had not heard about the issue

b. those opposed to women’s suffrage

d. those who were tired of hearing about the issue

35. (b.)Which of the following cartoonists would agree most closely with Miller’s actual stance on women’s suffrage?

(a.) (d.) (c.)