AP Language
Readings from Patterns for College Writing
This Week’s Theme: Language
Required:
Amy Tan, Mother Tongue p. 477
Rhetorical Analysis Essay: In paragraphs 7-14 of Mother Tongue, Tan describes her mother’s experience
with the English language. Read the passage carefully. Then, write an essay in which you analyze the
rhetorical strategies Tan uses to convey her complex attitude toward her mother’s facility with English.
Choose 2:
Cullen Murphy, Fatwa City p. 242
Robin Tolmach Lakoff, The Power Of Words In Wartime p. 363
Deborah Tannen, Sex, Lies, And Conversation p. 436
Gayle Rosenwald Smith, The Wife-Beater p. 528
For chosen each essay you must briefly answer the following questions:
 Identify the elements of the Rhetorical Situation (Context, Purpose, Speaker—not simply the
author’s name, Audience, Message)
 Identify the strategies the author uses to achieve the purpose.
 Note the mode by which Patterns classifies the essay. Identify the elements of the essay that
demonstrate the mode.
Typed response due Thursday, ____________________.
Multiple Choice over Mother Tongue on Friday, _________________.
You will want to be familiar with the following terms found on the MC test:
Metonymy
Personification
Oxymoron
Pun
Simile
Anecdote
Irony
Dialogue
Remorseful
Censorious
Condescending
Sentimental
Expunge