AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION  MULTIPLE CHOICE PRACTICE  COMPOSITION AND WRITING SKILLS
Are Emojis Words?
The passage below is a draft.
(1) Emojis are used daily in text messages, social media posts, and sometimes workplace emails. (2) However,
when the Oxford Dictionary pronounced the “crying tears of joy” emoji as the word of the year in 2015, many felt
an emoji should not be nominated, seeing as it does not fit the dictionary definition of a word. (3) Among these
skeptics was the Chair of the American Dialect Society’s New Words Committee, Ben Zimmer. (4) While Zimmer
agrees that an emoji does not and cannot fall under the current definition of a word, he acknowledges that emojis
have word-like qualities, and are being increasingly used in place of words. (5) The challenge is establishing a
widely-held understanding of what emojis mean and how they should be used in conversation.
(6) In their collaborative article published on Think Progress, Lauren Williams and Laurel Raymond call emojis
“a glimpse into the future of communication”. (7) Given emojis’ similarity to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics,
others argue that we are becoming less-refined communicators. (8) However, when paired with words, emojis still
carry additional levels of meaning that hieroglyphics were incapable of implying. (9) Since one’s tone cannot be
heard through a simple text message or brief Facebook post, emojis, when used correctly, add emotion to the
words and mimic face-to-face interaction. (10) According to a study done by Social Neuroscience, our brains react
to the emotions expressed through emojis in the same way that they react to the emotions expressed on real human
faces. (11) While emojis may not be words in the technical sense, their popularity and regular evolution are
undoubtedly a reflection of the shift in our culture away from real-life experiences toward simulated ones.
______ 1) The writer wants to add a phrase at the beginning of sentence 7 (reproduced below), adjusting the
capitalization as needed, to set up a comparison with the idea discussed in sentence 6.
“Given emojis’ similarity to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, others argue that we are becoming less-refined
communicators.”
Which of the following choices BEST accomplishes this goal?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
“While Williams and Raymond welcome these changes to our methods of communication”
“This glimpse into the future is seen as promising by all”
“Many people have embraced the use of emojis in regular communication”
“Pictoral messages save time and therefore make communication more effective”
“Emojis and hieroglyphics are vastly different from one another”
______ 2) The writer wants to add the following sentence to the second paragraph (sentences 6-11) to provide
additional explanation.
“For example, some hieroglyphics represented the object being named in the symbol itself, much like a cat or
dog emoji.”
Where would the sentence BEST be placed?
A) Before sentence 6
B) After sentence 6
C) After sentence 7
D) After sentence 8
E) After sentence 9
______ 3) In the first paragraph (sentences 1-5), the writer wants to expand on the concession that emojis have
word-like qualities. Which of the following claims would BEST achieve this purpose?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Emojis promote illiteracy among young adults
The meaning of emojis can only be interpreted one way
Emojis have a range of meaning based on the context in which they are used
Emojis bring about an emotional response when read in a message
Emojis are much easier to type than sentences
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION  MULTIPLE CHOICE PRACTICE  COMPOSITION AND WRITING SKILLS
______ 4) In sentence 5 (reproduced below), the writer wants an effective transition from the introductory
paragraph to the main idea of the passage.
“The challenge is establishing a widely-held understanding of what emojis mean and how they should be used
in conversation.”
Which of the following versions of the underlined text BEST achieves this purpose?
A) a general translation
B) a generally-accepted interpretation
C) a general understanding
D) common consensus
E) a general idea
______ 5) The writer wants to add more information to the first paragraph (sentences 1-5) to support the main
argument of the paragraph. All of the following pieces of evidence help achieve this purpose EXCEPT
which one?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Both words and emojis can be described as distinct and meaningful.
Emojis cannot represent elements of speech in the same way that words can.
Emojis and words carry emotional meaning.
Emojis should be considered as types of words because language is constantly evolving.
Emojis convey information in a similar manner as words.
______ 6) In sentence 4 (reproduced below), which of the following versions of the underlined text BEST
establishes the writer’s position on the main argument of the passage?
“While Zimmer agrees that an emoji does not and cannot fall under the current definition of a word, he
acknowledges that emojis have word-like qualities, and are being increasingly used in place of words.”
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
“emojis can be considered as a variation of a word, given their frequent usage and word-like qualities”
“emojis have greater emotional weight than words and therefore should be used in place of them”
“emojis should only be used in informal communication”
“emojis and words can be used interchangeably”
“emojis cannot be considered words given their lack of syntax”