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Question of the Day: AP English Language
Passage adapted from “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings” (1900) by William James
Some years ago, while journeying in the mountains of North Carolina, I passed by a large number of 'coves,' as they call them there, or heads of small valleys between the hills, which had been newly cleared and planted. The impression on my mind was one of unmitigated squalor. The settler had in every case cut down the more manageable trees, and left their charred stumps standing. The larger trees he had girdled and killed, in order that their foliage should not cast a shade. He had then built a log cabin, plastering its chinks with clay, and had set up a tall zigzag rail fence around the scene of his havoc, to keep the pigs and cattle out. Finally, he had irregularly planted the intervals between the stumps and trees with Indian corn, which grew among the chips; and there he dwelt with his wife and babes--an axe, a gun, a few utensils, and some pigs and chickens feeding in the woods, being the sum total of his possessions.
The forest had been destroyed; and what had 'improved' it out of existence was hideous, a sort of ulcer, without a single element of artificial grace to make up for the loss of Nature's beauty. Ugly, indeed, seemed the life of the squatter, scudding, as the sailors say, under bare poles, beginning again away back where our first ancestors started, and by hardly a single item the better off for all the achievements of the intervening generations.
“Talk about going back to nature!” I said to myself, oppressed by the dreariness, as I drove by. Talk of a country life for one's old age and for one's children! Never thus, with nothing but the bare ground and one's bare hands to fight the battle! Never, without the best spoils of culture woven in! The beauties and commodities gained by the centuries are sacred. They are our heritage and birthright. No modern person ought to be willing to live a day in such a state of rudimentariness and denudation.
Then I said to the mountaineer who was driving me, "What sort of people are they who have to make these new clearings?" "All of us," he replied. "Why, we ain't happy here, unless we are getting one of these coves under cultivation." I instantly felt that I had been losing the whole inward significance of the situation. Because to me the clearings spoke of naught but denudation, I thought that to those whose sturdy arms and obedient axes had made them they could tell no other story. But, when they looked on the hideous stumps, what they thought of was personal victory. The chips, the girdled trees, and the vile split rails spoke of honest sweat, persistent toil and final reward. The cabin was a warrant of safety for self and wife and babes. In short, the clearing, which to me was a mere ugly picture on the retina, was to them a symbol redolent with moral memories and sang a very pæan of duty, struggle, and success.
I had been as blind to the peculiar ideality of their conditions as they certainly would also have been to the ideality of mine, had they had a peep at my strange indoor academic ways of life at Cambridge.
What can we infer about the inhabitants of the clearing?
They would never really become true, integrated citizens of the United States.
They would not appreciate the civilized life of the city.
They would likely always remain poor and foolish.
They would never build anything that was truly worthwhile.
They would personally hate the author.
The English language is an intricate study of many different rules regarding grammar, punctuation, tense, and other parts of speech. As you prepare for your AP English Language test, you will want to find ways to study that will prepare you for questions that you might see on your test. While there are many different options for you to use as you prepare for the test, one way is to use the AP English Language Question of the Day from Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools. By using the Question of the Day, you will receive a unique AP English Language sample question each day that will help you review the information that may be on the test and get you in the habit of studying for your test on a daily basis. Whether you need English tutoring in Providence, English tutoring in Nashville, or English tutoring in San Antonio, working one-on-one with an expert may be just the boost your studies need.
Using the Question of the Day each day as you prepare for the exam can help get you into a daily AP English Language review routine. Taking just a few minutes out of each day to focus on your review will keep your mind fresh when it comes to the topic. Each day, you will get a multiple-choice question that pertains to an AP English Language topic. In many questions, you will receive a passage to read. This will require you to think critically about the whole passage, as well as the specific concept that the sample question pertains to. Varsity Tutors offers resources like free AP English Language Practice Tests to help with your self-paced study, or you may want to consider an AP English Language tutor.
Once you answer the question, you will be given a number of different tools and statistics that can be valuable in your test preparation. One of the main benefits of the Question of the Day is the full explanation of the answer. This can be very important, especially if you don’t understand the correct answer or the process by which the correct answer was obtained. By receiving a full explanation along with the answer, you will be able to go beyond the simplicities of the AP English Language sample question itself to gain a full understanding of the concept as well. In addition to the AP English Language Question of the Day and AP English Language tutoring, you may also want to consider taking some of our AP English Language Flashcards.
Another feature of the Question of the Day are the statistics that you will receive by answering each question. These statistics will provide you information about how many correct answers you have in the subject, your percentile versus that of others who have also answered the question, and how much time it took you to answer the question against the average. By having these statistics at your disposal, you will be able to measure yourself against other prospective test-takers and get an idea of how you measure up against them. Further, it will help to focus your AP English Language study plan by giving you an idea of what types of questions you are strongest with, as well as where you may be able to improve.
The AP English Language Question of the Day gives you the opportunity to receive a question each day that’s similar in format to your upcoming AP English Language test. It’s just one of many review resources available from Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools, all of which can help you as you move forward toward the test.
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