Multiple choice practice – Argumentative essay
WELCOME TO another lesson! This week you will be getting further multiple choice practice. The extracts that will be used are argumentative in nature and will help in preparing you for the upcoming lessons that will focus on argumentative essay writing.
Read the extracts carefully and select the most logical responses.
Read the following extract carefully and then answer the questions on the basis of what is stated or implied.
The main argument in favour of keeping the death penalty for murder is that it will frighten men out of the desire to commit the crime. In other words, it will act as a preventative. It is curious that the more ineffective it is in this way, that is, the more murders actually take place, the more defenders of capital punishment cry for it to be kept. Two reasons at least account for its ineffectiveness as a preventative. The first is that few men, when they commit murder, either know clearly what they are doing or are in sufficient control of themselves to mind what will follow. The second is that figures show that for every eleven murders committed, only one man is executed. So that a murderer who calculates the chances may well decide to take the risk. Society can best show its horror at murder by refusing to imitate it in the name of justice.
1. To ‘frighten men out of the desire’ presents the view that:
A. Desire can be counteracted by fear.
B. Fear is the strongest emotion that men possess.
C. Fear causes great desire in men.
D. Desire is man’s weakest emotion.
2. ‘Preventive’ as used in line 2 of the extract means:
A. law
B. precaution
C. deterrent
D. terror
3. The writer mentions statistics in the extract in order to:
A. Convince the reader that the death penalty encourages murder.
B. Inform us that the number of murderers receiving the death penalty has increased.
C. Impress the reader with his knowledge of the law regarding the death penalty.
D. Show that most murderers are not given the death penalty.
4. The term ‘calculate the chances’ as used in the passage means:
A. Computes the score.
B. Works out the odds.
C. Thinks about the opportunities.
D. Predicts the future.
5. In the last sentence of the extract, the writer is expressing the view that:
A. Murders are increasing because society is influenced by the courts.
B. Society should not regard the death penalty as justice but as murder.
C. People have a desire to imitate what they see and therefore commit murder.
D. Courts of justice should prevent people from committing the horrible crime of murder.
6. According to the extract, which of the following is NOT given as a reason for the death penalty being ineffective as a deterrent?
A. Only eleven murderers are caught and executed.
B. Murderers feel that they are unlikely to be executed.
C. Only one out of every eleven murderers is executed.
D. Most murderers lack the control during the act about the consequences.
7. The style of writing in the extract can BEST be described as
A. Descriptive
B. Factual
C. Argumentative
D. Narrative
8. The writer uses the sentence: ‘The first is that decide to take a risk.’ in order to:
A. Convince the reader that the death penalty is ineffective.
B. Persuade the reader that only one out of every eleven murderers is executed.
C. Show the reader the adverse effects of crime.
D. Inform the reader how a would-be killer might think.
Read the following extract carefully and then answer the questions on the basis of what is stated or implied.
The Press must be, in any democratic society, a dedicated Opposition.
The good Press represents nobody but itself. It is the last stronghold of totally aristocratic privilege. It speaks for the people because it depends on the people who buy it because they like it; and because it has an unwritten contract between it and the people who would otherwise know about the Government of the day only what the Government wanted the people to know. But this allegiance to, and contract with, the people do not bind the Press to any commitment except telling the truth. The Press elects itself and can be removed from office only by a legitimate revolution of the people when they stop buying it, or by an illegitimate coup mounted by the elected estates of the Government.
Every Government is, potentially, a ravager, every people, potentially, a victim. Every good Press is an individualistic, opinionated knight who simply declares that between ravager and victim there is a force which will not be frightened by the ravager and which will not be influenced by those to whom it sells its opinions.
There is nothing that the politician can do about us in the free Press. We do not seek office, influence or advantage from the Party in power. We simply reserve the right to be a part of the governing process, with or without the approval of the elected Government or its elected Opposition. Our constituency does not depend on those who say “I agree or I disagree” with what you had to say, but on those who say “I read you! I listened to you! I saw you last night on TV!”
9. The function of the second and third sentences in the extract is to:
A. Give specific examples of a dedicated Opposition.
B. Explain the statement made in the first sentence.
C. Show that the Press is only good when it acts as an Opposition.
D. Arouse the reader’s concern about the role of the Press.
10. Why does the writer repeat the phrase ‘good Press’ at the beginning of paragraphs three, five and six?
A. To emphasise the ideal characteristics of the ‘good Press’.
B. To indicate contempt for the Press which is not an Opposition.
C. To stimulate greater identification of a ‘good Press’.
D. To emphasise that he is a member of a ‘good Press’.
11. According to the writer, the MOST important function of the good Press is to:
A. Oppose the Government.
B. Present the truth.
C. Increase the number of its subscribers. D. Represent the views of the people.
12. By describing the good PRESS as ‘an individualistic, opinionated knight’, the writer is emphasising:
A. Strength
B. Wisdom
C. Honesty
D. Independence
Any Government – to a good Press – is a suspect instrument. Any Opposition, to a good Press, is opposing ineptly.
A good Press speaks for the people who vote a Government out of power. But the day after such a Government takes power, the Press must be ready to rebuke the people for shouting “Hurrah!” for a patently incompetent Government.
A good Press, in short, is the product of 500 years of technological development between Caxton and Baird and we make history as well as record it. The politician never knows when one editorial, one story, one commentary, one pictorial feature might not destroy him or create him.
are meant to help.
ACTIVITY
1. State TWO reasons each why a country would consider the following to be important:
■ Death rate
■ Birth rate ■ Migration
2. Explain why you would or would not leave where you are living now for somewhere else.
3. Discuss the following: “Jamaica’s population is ageing”.
4. State five reasons, with explanation, where and why a country and its people need to be able to access population statistics.
5. Outline THREE ways each, how the following factors affect the population:
■ Fertility rate
■ Infant mortality rate
■ Life expectancy