SAT II Literature : Grammar and Syntax
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature
All SAT II Literature Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Grammar And Syntax: Drama
PROSPERO:
- Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
- And ye that on the sands with printless foot
- Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
- When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
- By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
- Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
- Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
- To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
- Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd
- The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
- And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
- Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
- Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
- With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
- Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
- The pine and cedar: graves at my command
- Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
- By my so potent art. But this rough magic
- I here abjure, and, when I have required
- Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
- To work mine end upon their senses that
- This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
- Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
- And deeper than did ever plummet sound
- I'll drown my book.
The passage’s point of view can be characterized as ________________.
second person only
second and third person only
first person only
first person and second person only
third person only
first person and second person only
Prospero uses first and second person quite a lot. (“I have bedimm’d…” and “Ye elves…”) That means we can immediately eliminate three answer choices: “first person only”, “second person only”, and “third person only”. If we’re clear on how important first person is in this speech, we can eliminate “second and third person only” as well. The tricky part here is that Prospero does use the third person to a very limited extent. (“graves at my command/ Have waked their sleepers…”) But “first, second, and third person” is not one of the answer choices. First and second person appear far more than third person, so that’s the best answer.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611)
Example Question #4 : Grammar And Syntax: Drama
PROSPERO:
- Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
- And ye that on the sands with printless foot
- Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
- When he comes back; you demi-puppets that
- By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
- Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
- Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
- To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid,
- Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd
- The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
- And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
- Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
- Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
- With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
- Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
- The pine and cedar: graves at my command
- Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
- By my so potent art. But this rough magic
- I here abjure, and, when I have required
- Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
- To work mine end upon their senses that
- This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
- Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
- And deeper than did ever plummet sound
- I'll drown my book.
The syntax of the passage is characterized by __________________.
complex sentences
a shift from simple to elaborate
expressive ellipsis
sententious repetition
incomplete thoughts
complex sentences
This entire speech consists of two complex sentences. It does not contain incomplete thoughts or omissions (ellipses.) It doesn’t move from simple to elaborate: the first lines are already grand and imposing, while the last half-line (“I’ll drown my book”) is most striking because of its simplicity. There are repeated themes and ideas — the list of supernatural spirits, the catalogue of natural cataclysms — but the effect is not sententious (that is, it’s not banal or pompous.)
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611)
Example Question #5 : Grammar And Syntax: Drama
Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)
[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.]
CYRANO:
- Ay, true, the feeling
- Which fills me, terrible and jealous, truly
- Love,--which is ever sad amid its transports!
- Love,--and yet, strangely, not a selfish passion!
- I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down,
- --E'en though you never were to know it,--never!
- --If but at times I might--far off and lonely,--
- Hear some gay echo of the joy I bought you!
- Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
- A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
- To understand? So late, dost understand me?
- Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
- Too fair the night! Too fair, too fair the moment!
- That I should speak thus, and that you should hearken!
- Too fair! In moments when my hopes rose proudest,
- I never hoped such guerdon. Naught is left me
- But to die now! Have words of mine the power
- To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?
- Ay, like a leaf among the leaves, you tremble!
- You tremble! For I feel,--an if you will it,
- Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
- Thrill through the branches, down your sprays of jasmine!
In this context, the word “sweet” (line 10) is _____________.
an adjective
a conjunction
an adverb
a noun
an attributive
a noun
Here, “sweet” is a noun. It is the name that Cyrano is calling Roxane. “Dost begin, sweet,/ To understand?” means, “Are you beginning to understand, sweetheart?” (The pronoun “thou” is implied.)
Cyrano starts out addressing Roxane as "you": the more formal form of the pronoun in those days, in the same way that modern French "vous" is more formal than "tu". In line 9, he switches to "thou":
"Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue . . ."
This suggests that he's getting more emotional and feeling closer to Roxane.
In the next line, he's still using the familiar form, which is a big clue that "sweet" is an endearment.
Example Question #1 : Grammar And Syntax: Drama
Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)
[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.]
CYRANO:
- Ay, true, the feeling
- Which fills me, terrible and jealous, truly
- Love,--which is ever sad amid its transports!
- Love,--and yet, strangely, not a selfish passion!
- I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down,
- --E'en though you never were to know it,--never!
- --If but at times I might--far off and lonely,--
- Hear some gay echo of the joy I bought you!
- Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
- A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
- To understand? So late, dost understand me?
- Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
- Too fair the night! Too fair, too fair the moment!
- That I should speak thus, and that you should hearken!
- Too fair! In moments when my hopes rose proudest,
- I never hoped such guerdon. Naught is left me
- But to die now! Have words of mine the power
- To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?
- Ay, like a leaf among the leaves, you tremble!
- You tremble! For I feel,--an if you will it,
- Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
- Thrill through the branches, down your sprays of jasmine!
The adjective “throned” (line 18) describes which noun/pronoun?
“You” — i.e., Roxane
Cyrano’s words
Cyrano
Leaves
Cyrano’s power
“You” — i.e., Roxane
“You” is the pronoun described by “throned”. “Have words of mine the power/To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?” In other words, “Do my words have the power to make you tremble, you who are sitting on a throne above me?”
This image emphasized Cyrano's worshipful attitude toward Roxane. It's as if he's asking, "Could any humble words of MINE have the power to rise up and affect YOU, who are so far above me?"
Certified Tutor
All SAT II Literature Resources
