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AP English Language and Composition: Passage Drill Drill 1, Problem 2. What is the speaker's primary purpose in using onomatopoeia in line four?
- English I EOC Assessment / Vocabulary
- English I EOC Assessment / Non-linear Plot Development
- Conventions / Apply knowledge of language to make effective choices for meaning or style
- Conventions / Apply knowledge of language to make effective choices for meaning or style
- Conventions / Apply knowledge of language to make effective choices for meaning or style
- Comprehension and Inference / Figurative Language, Idioms, and Phrases
Transcript
- 00:00
[ musical flourish ]
- 00:03
And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by goo-zum-goo,
- 00:07
baby talk on Earth, but the official language of Planet Gooz.
- 00:12
All right, we're skimming... We're skimming...
- 00:13
We're thinking... We're skimming... Now we're bored and we're done skimming.
Full Transcript
- 00:18
The speaker's primary purpose in using onomatopoeia in line four is to, uh, what?
- 00:23
And here are the potential answers.
- 00:25
And onomatopoeia is not a toilet joke. All right, you done?
- 00:29
Okay, well onomatopoeia is when a word imitates a sound.
- 00:32
Examples include words like
- 00:34
"splash," "cuckoo,"
- 00:36
the slightly sinister "goo-zum-goo-zum-goo,"
- 00:39
which the speaker thinks sounds like the innocent cooing of a baby.
- 00:44
For the record, if we ever heard a baby talk this way,
- 00:46
we'd run for our neighborhood exorcist.
- 00:48
But, uh, that's a different story.
- 00:49
Anyway, the point of this question is to figure out why the speaker is using onomatopoeia here.
- 00:54
Choice A claims the speaker is going for a laugh with this goo-zum-goo business,
- 00:58
but we have a feeling the speaker has a better reason in mind.
- 01:00
Which is good because "goo-zum-goo" wasn't all that funny in the first place.
- 01:04
D seems like a no, as well.
- 01:06
The author doesn't highlight the fact that babies all over the universe
- 01:09
spend their days saying "goo-zum-goo."
- 01:10
Although, on the Planet Gooz, even the adults go around
- 01:13
saying it all day. Like, smell you later.
- 01:16
All right, to option C we say, "Are you serious?"
- 01:19
"Goo-zum-goo" doesn't sound at all harmonious,
- 01:21
and the speaker doesn't say anything to support that idea.
- 01:24
As for B, if anyone has a vivid memory of their murmurs at two months,
- 01:28
well, that's a whole different kettle of fish.
- 01:30
The correct answer is E.
- 01:32
In the first paragraph, the speaker says
- 01:34
"To grown-ups, this humming means nothing... but to the baby
- 01:37
it is perfect music."
- 01:39
So he's definitely trying to emphasize the gap between what
- 01:41
newborns and adults would think was a chart topper.
- 01:44
Some say the same discrepancy exists
- 01:46
with Justin Bieber songs.
- 01:48
[ cuckoo clock sounds ]
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