OPENING SENTENCES- THE RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
Directions: The following are analysis questions taken from released AP Language exams. Read each
question carefully. Then, write a sentence for each that might appear in the opening paragraph of an analysis
essay. You may fill in unknown information by imagining/making up the specific arguments/purposes/devices
of the author. Please use words from “How to Write Rhetorical Analysis Paragraphs & Essays.” The first one
has been done for you.
1. _____Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, was a farmer, astronomer,
mathematician, surveyor, and author. In 1791 he wrote to Thomas Jefferson, framer of the
Declaration of Independence and secretary of state to President George Washington. Read
the following excerpt from the letter and write an essay that analyzes how Banneker uses
rhetorical strategies to argue against slavery.
Possible sentences for introductory paragraph:



Banneker employs connotative word choice and structural devices such as
parallelism and contrast to demonstrate the immorality of slavery.
Banneker’s formal tone and crisp, cultured diction serves to convey to Jefferson
and Washington the urgency and moral righteousness of ending slavery.
Banneker describes the horrors of slavery using passionate and concrete word
choice in declarative sentences in order to deliver a clear message to the president
and secretary of state.
2. _____The passage below is from The Horizontal World, Debra Marquart’s 2006 memoir
about growing up in North Dakota. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-written
essay, analyze the strategies Marquart uses to characterize the upper Midwest.
3. _____The two passages below, both written by noted contemporary scientist Edward O.
Wilson, appear in Wilson’s book The Future of Life (2002). In the passages, Wilson
satirizes the language of two groups that hold opposing attitudes about environmentalism.
Read each passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Wilson’s satire
illustrates the unproductive nature of such discussions.
4. _____The passage below is from “The Indispensable Opposition,” an article by Walter
Lippmann; it appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1939. Read the passage carefully. Then
write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Lippmann uses to develop his
argument.
5. _____In the following passage from The Great Influenza, an account of the 1918 flu
epidemic, author John M. Barry writes about scientists and their research. Read the passage
OPENING SENTENCES- THE RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
Directions: The following are analysis questions taken from released AP Language exams. Read each
question carefully. Then, write a sentence for each that might appear in the opening paragraph of an analysis
essay. You may fill in unknown information by imagining/making up the specific arguments/purposes/devices
of the author. Please use words from “How to Write Rhetorical Analysis Paragraphs & Essays.” The first one
has been done for you.
carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to
characterize scientific research.
6. _____Read the following passage from “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman.
Then write an essay in which you analyze how Fridman develops his argument.
7. The following article is a mock press release from The Onion, a publication devoted to
humor and satire. Read the article carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the
strategies used in the article to satirize how products are marketed to consumers.
8. _____The passage below is an excerpt from a lecture delivered in Boston in 1832, by Maria
W. Stewart, an African American educator and writer. Read the passage carefully. Then
write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Stewart uses to convey her
convictions.
9. _____In 1962, the noted biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that
helped to transform American attitudes toward the environment. Carefully read the
following passage from Silent Spring. Then write an essay in which you define the central
argument of the passage and analyze the rhetorical strategies that Carson uses to construct
her argument.
10. _____In 1830 John Downe, a weaver, traveled to the United States from England and took
a job so that he could earn enough money to enable his wife and children to join him. Read
the following letter from Downe to his wife. Then write an essay in which you analyze the
rhetorical strategies that Downe uses to convince his wife to emigrate to the United States.