Name___________________________

Mr. Sheridan
Persuasive Unit Quiz

Directions: For all multiple-choice questions, circle the answer choice that best answers
the question. For all short answer questions, answer all parts of the question and use
complete sentences.

Part 1: Rhetorical Devices, Rhetorical Appeals, And Persuasive Unit Concepts.

1. In persuasive writing, an author’s position on an issue is called their:

A. Evidence
B. Claim
C. Anecdote
D. Quote
2. Facts, statistics, quotations, examples, and anecdotes are all types of:
A. Evidence
B. Claim
C. Analogy
D. Op-Eds
3. This rhetorical device involves the repetition of similar grammatical structures, words, phrases,
or sentences. It is used to show that ideas are related or equal in importance.
A. Parallelism
B. Analogy
C. Repetition
D. Irony
4. Read the sentence below, and decide whether it uses an emotional appeal or a logical appeal.
Think about the starving kids in Guatemala who will suffer if you don’t donate to our cause.
A. Emotional Appeal
B. Logical Appeal
5. Read the sentence below, and decide whether it uses an emotional appeal or a logical appeal.
She is the best candidate for the job because she has the most experience in the field, the best
education, and the best recommendations from her former employer.
A. Emotional Appeal
B. Logical Appeal
6. Read the sentence below, and decide whether it uses an emotional appeal or a logical appeal.
Unemployment has fallen by 4% in the last eight years because of what we have done while
we were in office.
A. Emotional Appeal
B. Logical Appeal

Read the sentence below. Circle which of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals is being used.
7. As your mechanic, I would recommend buying new tires; these ones are worn out.
A. Ethos
B. Pathos
C. Logos

8. You should not smoke cigarettes, because cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of
which are known to cause cancer.
A. Ethos
 B. Pathos
C. Logos
9. If you care about the safety of your young children, you should buy a Subaru.
A. Ethos
B. Pathos
C. Logos
10. Dr. King says that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, therefore, we should
go and help.
A. Ethos
B. Pathos
C. Logos
11. Don’t be cruel. Don’t ignore their suffering. Give money to the Relief Foundation now and save
a life.
A. Ethos
B. Pathos
C. Logos

Part 2: Vocabulary- Select the vocabulary word that best completes the sentence.

12. In Andrea Rock’s article about privacy, she was skeptical of data tracking and the
Government’s ____________________ of citizens.
A. momentous
B. imminent
C. surveillance
D. refute
13. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s delivery of his “I Have A Dream” speech, at the March On
Washington in 1963, was a __________________________ moment in American history.
A. momentous
B. imminent
C. surveillance
D. refute
14. In the courtroom, it is part of a lawyer’s job to ___________________________ the argument of the
opposing lawyer.
A. momentous
B. imminent
C. surveillance
D. refute
15. Once the clock hit 2:00 pm, the students knew the end of the day was _______________________.
A. momentous
B. imminent
C. surveillance
D. refute

Part 3: Grammar

Correct the following sentence by taking out all the first person pronouns, but still keeping
the same meaning.
16. I believe that cats are better pets than dogs because I had a cat when I was a kid and I know
that cats are easier to take care of than dogs.
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Correct all the capitalization errors in the following sentence. (correct any other
grammar errors you see for EXTRA CREDIT).

17. After I read the article titled what’s up by jane doe, I became convinced that needs to get
out into the neighborhood more.

Part 4: Dr. Martin Luther King and his Letter from Birmingham Jail

18. Where was Dr. Martin Luther King born?

A. Birmingham, Alabama
B. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
C. Atlanta, Georgia
D. Memphis, Tennessee

19. Briefly explain what the Birmingham Campaign was.

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20. Who was Dr. King responding to when he wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail?
A. Other leaders in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
B. The President of the United States
C. A group of white clergyman in Birmingham, Alabama
D. The Governor of Alabama

Continue to the back for the Short Answer section of the quiz...
Short Response: Read the excerpt from Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, and then
answer the question. “Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen
of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of
history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country
without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering
gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to
thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we
now face will surely fail.”

19. In this excerpt, Dr. King uses repetition. What phrase is repeated and why does he
repeat it? How does this use of repetition help get his point across?
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20. What is Dr. King saying in the entire excerpt above?
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Read the excerpt from Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, and then answer the question.
“You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing
violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen
its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so
quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of
Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and
young Negro girls…”

21. In this passage, Dr. King is attacking something that has been said by the people
who are criticizing him. What is Dr. King attacking them for? Which appeal (ethos,
pathos, logos) is Dr. King using in the excerpt? Explain?
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