Question

Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country."

America is an improbable idea. A mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts, it is held together by a notion, the notion that all men are created equal, though everyone knows that most men consider themselves better than someone. "Of all the nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody's image," the historian Daniel Boorstin wrote. That's because it was built of bits and pieces that seem discordant, like the crazy quilts that have been one of its great folk-art forms, velvet and calico and checks and brocades. Out of many, one. That is the ideal.

Which techniques does the author use to develop her idea in this excerpt? Choose four answers.

metaphors
facts and statistics
contradictions
neutral language
loaded language
imagery

Answer 1

Choices: metaphors, contradictions, loaded language, imagery.

Brief reasons:
- Metaphors: America compared to a "mongrel nation" and to a "crazy quilt."
- Contradictions: The ideal "all men are created equal" is contrasted with "most men consider themselves better than someone."
- Loaded language: Words like "mongrel," "crazy," and "discordant" carry connotations and emotional weight.
- Imagery: Concrete sensory details—"velvet and calico and checks and brocades"—create vivid visual images.