CHAPTER 7

Reading: Rhetoric
Rhetoric: The Author’s Craft
The word “rhetoric” carries several meanings, as you may know—
especially if you’re involved in speech or debate. One common
definition, perhaps the best known today, is “lofty and dishonest
language.” That meaning is often associated with pronouncements by
politicians who are seen as using words to dodge controversy, hide
their true position, or prop up a weak argument. The fact that words
such as “empty” or “mere” often precede “rhetoric” suggests that the
term has a negative connotation for many people.

“Rhetoric,” however, has another, broader, more positive meaning, REMEMBER

and that is “the study of writing or speaking.” Rhetoric in this sense Rhetoric questions assess your
stretches back at least to Aristotle and the ancient Greeks, who helped understanding of how and why
make rhetoric a formal practice with defined rules and conventions. It’s the author develops the passage
in a particular way. Understanding
in this second sense that the SAT uses the term. Rhetoric questions
the author’s purpose or point of
on the Reading Test assess how well you understand the choices that
view is often of central importance
authors make in structuring and developing their texts. Paralleling to correctly answering Rhetoric
what we did with Information and Ideas in Chapter 6, we’ll turn now to questions.
the kinds of Rhetoric questions you’ll find on the Reading Test.

Questions in this category are of five main types:

§ Analyzing word choice: Understanding how an author selects

words, phrases, and language patterns to influence meaning, tone,
and style

§ Analyzing text structure: Describing how an author shapes and

organizes a passage and how the parts of the passage contribute to
the whole

§ Analyzing point of view: Understanding the point of view or

perspective from which a passage is told and how that point of
view or perspective affects the content and style of the passage

§ Analyzing purpose: Determining the main rhetorical aim of a

passage or a significant part of the passage, such as a paragraph

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§ Analyzing arguments: Examining the claims, counterclaims,

reasoning, evidence, and stylistic and persuasive techniques an
author uses in an argument

We’ll consider each of these subcategories in the sections that follow.

PRACTICE AT Analyzing Word Choice

satpractice.org Questions about analyzing word choice are—with Information and
Questions that ask you to analyze Ideas questions about determining the meaning of words and phrases in
word choice aren’t assessing your context—key elements of the Words in Context subscore. In contrast to
vocabulary knowledge per se. word/phrase meaning questions, Analyzing Word Choice questions focus
Rather, these questions assess your
less on definitions and more on the rhetorical impact that particular words,
skill in determining the impact that
phrases, and language patterns (such as repetition) have on the meaning,
particular words and phrases have
on the meaning, style, and tone style, and tone of a passage. While there’s no standard phrasing to these
of a passage. types of questions, they’ll generally call out certain words, phrases, or
sentences and ask you to consider the purpose or effect of this language.

Analyzing Text Structure

PRACTICE AT Text structure questions on the Reading Test come in two basic
satpractice.org forms. One kind will ask you to characterize in some way the overall
As you read a passage on the SAT, structure of the passage. In a few cases, this may be as simple as
you’ll want to shift back and forth just recognizing the basic organizing principle of the passage, such
between a focus on the specific as cause-and-effect, sequence, or problem-solution. In most cases,
content of the passage (the “what”) though, such questions will be more complicated and shaped by the
and the structure of the passage content of the individual passage. You may, for example, have to track
(the “how”). Text structure questions
how the structure shifts over the course of the passage, meaning that
require a broader, more abstract,
the answer will be in two or more parts (as in “the passage begins by
rhetorical understanding of the
passage.
doing x and then does y”).

Let’s examine the wording of one such question. The literature passage
this question is based on and the explanation for the answer can be
found in Chapter 9. Our real interest now is only the format and wording
of the question and the approach you’d need to take to respond to it.

Over the course of the passage, the main focus of the narrative shifts from the
A) reservations a character has about a person he has just met to a growing
appreciation that character has of the person’s worth.
B) ambivalence a character feels about his sensitive nature to the character’s
recognition of the advantages of having profound emotions.
C) intensity of feeling a character has for another person to the character’s
concern that that intensity is not reciprocated.
D) value a character attaches to the wonders of the natural world to a rejection
of that sort of beauty in favor of human artistry.

To answer this question (or one like it), you’ll have to both think
abstractly (moving beyond just understanding the plot to being able
to characterize the structure of the passage as an author might) and
identify the major change in focus that occurs in the passage.

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The other kind of text structure question asks about the relationship
between an identified part of a passage (such as a phrase or sentence
or a particular detail) and the passage as a whole. You may be
asked, for example, to recognize that a given detail serves mainly
as an example of a particular point the author is trying to make—
or that it adds emphasis, foreshadows a later development, calls
an assumption into question, or the like. You’ll again have to think
abstractly, considering not only what the author is saying but also the
main contribution that a particular element of the passage makes to
furthering the author’s overall rhetorical purpose.

Analyzing Point of View

When the Reading Test asks you to consider point of view, it’s not
usually simply a matter of understanding what’s often called “narrative
point of view”—whether a passage is told from, say, a first person or
a third person omniscient perspective. This can be part of it, but on
the Reading Test, “point of view” is a broader term that also includes
the stance, attitude, or bias of the author, narrator, or speaker. Point
of view questions are found not just with fiction passages but with
passages of all sorts.

Point of view questions generally identify themselves by words and

phrases such as “perspective” and “point of view.” The answer choices
frequently offer characterizations of the author, narrator, or speaker.
Consider, for instance, the following question from the Barbara Jordan
speech we discussed in Chapter 6. (Remember: The passage, additional
sample questions, and answer explanations can be found in Chapter 9.)

The stance Jordan takes in the passage is best described as that of

A) an idealist setting forth principles.
B) an advocate seeking a compromise position.
C) an observer striving for neutrality.
D) a scholar researching a historical controversy.

In this case, you have to figure out the stance, or perspective, that Jordan
brings to the speech she delivers. To decide on the best answer—
which in this instance is choice A—you’ll want to both form an overall
impression of Jordan and confirm (or modify) that impression based on
specific elements of the passage—what Jordan says and how she says
it. You might note that Jordan describes her faith in the U.S. Constitution
as “whole,” “complete,” and “total” and that she claims that “the powers
relating to impeachment are an essential check in the hands of the body
of the legislature against and upon the encroachments of the executive.”
Her description of her faith in the Constitution strongly suggests
idealism, and her claim about impeachment powers can be seen as
setting forth a principle. As with questions about analyzing text structure,
questions about point of view may ask you to note how the perspective
from which a passage is told shifts over the course of the text.

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Analyzing Purpose
Questions about analyzing purpose are like questions about text
PRACTICE AT structure in that you’ll have to think abstractly about the text—not
satpractice.org just understanding what the text says but also what the author is
For every SAT passage you read, trying to achieve. In Analyzing Purpose questions, you’ll consider the
get in the habit of asking yourself, main purpose or function of the whole passage or of a significant part
“Why did the author write this
of the passage, generally one or more paragraphs. The word “purpose”
passage?” Or, put differently, “What
or “function” is often used in such questions, while the answer
point or message was the author
trying to get across by writing the
choices often begin with or include rhetorically focused verbs such as
passage in this way?” Considering “criticize,” “support,” “present,” or “introduce.”
such matters as you read the
passage will help you with many of Analyzing Arguments
the questions you’ll be asked.
The Reading Test includes passages that are primarily argumentative
in nature. Such passages typically include one or more claims, or
assertions, that the author attempts to convince the reader to accept
through the use of reasoning (analysis), evidence (facts, statistics,
expert testimony, case studies, and the like), and stylistic and
PRACTICE AT persuasive elements (vivid imagery, appeals to emotion, and so on).
satpractice.org Arguments also sometimes include counterclaims, or assertions made
Keep a sharp eye out for evidence, by those whose opinions are different from or opposed to those of the
contrast, and conclusion keywords author, which the author may discuss and attempt to pick apart in
when reading passages that are order to show that the author’s own position is stronger. (Confident,
argumentative in nature. These fair-minded authors will often take it upon themselves to point out the
keywords will help you analyze weaknesses of their own position and the strengths of the positions of
the content and structure of the
others. On the Reading Test, though, you’re usually seeing only part of
passage. Evidence use can be
an argument, so counterarguments won’t always be present.)
signaled by keywords such as
“for example” and “because” as Practically speaking, you probably won’t approach Analyzing Arguments
well as references to statistics, questions much differently than you would similar questions about other
surveys, and case studies. Contrast kinds of passages. A question that asks about the central claim of an
keywords include “however,”
argument, for example, is a lot like a question about the main idea or
“despite,” and “on the contrary.”
theme of another sort of passage. You’ll have to decide on the primary
Conclusion keywords include
“therefore,” “as a result,” and “thus.” assertion (main point) that the author is making in the argument and
distinguish that from secondary assertions (minor points) and details.
Analyzing Arguments questions differ from other kinds of Reading Test
questions mainly in that they use words and concepts such as “claim,”
“counterclaim,” “reason,” and “evidence” to direct your attention to some
of the features that distinguish arguments from texts designed to narrate
events or experiences, to inform, or to explain.

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 Chapter 7 | Reading: Rhetoric

Chapter 7 Recap
In contrast to Information and Ideas questions, Rhetoric questions
on the SAT Reading Test focus on the author’s craft rather than on
the informational content of passages. When answering Rhetoric
questions, you’ll think less about the message the author is trying
to convey and more about how that message is conveyed and what
the author hopes to accomplish. Questions of this sort will ask you
to analyze word choice, text structure, point of view, purpose, and
arguments. Whatever their specific type, Rhetoric questions will
generally be abstract in nature and ask you to step back from the
information and ideas in a passage. You’ll have a chance to show that
you can think as an author would as you trace how particular words,
phrases, sentences, and paragraphs interact with an overarching
purpose and structure to shape and express the message that the
author is trying to share with the audience.

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