COM 204 Midterm Multiple Choice ?'s
Exam With Complete Solutions
1. Purdue's new budget can't really be explored each year until Indianapolis
(Indiana's capital and the home of the state legislature) lets the university
know how much state money it can count on. What rhetorical figure is
present in this sentence?
a. Dialectic
b. Metonymy
c. Assonance
d. Consubstantiality
e. Metaphor - ANSWER b
2. From the following list (and considering the painting Mona Lisa as a
text), choose the answer that best illustrates a critical claim about a text:
a. The Mona Lisa suggests that a little mystery surrounding a painting
might contribute to its status and value.
b. In addition to the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci painted many other
works, one of which hangs in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.
c. The identity of the model for the Mona Lisa is not known for sure.
d. The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre, in Paris.
e. The Mona Lisa is priceless. - ANSWER a
3. Which of the following is an acceptable APA in-text citation?
a. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 2003, p. 147). (could work as well as D)
b. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 147).
c. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 2003, 147).
d. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 2003).
, e. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley). - ANSWER d
consider the following:
All Kentuckians are brilliant.
Jeff is a Kentuckian.
Therefore Jeff is brilliant.
What term best describes what these statements are?
a. An enthymeme
b. A satire
c. A syllogism
d. A metonymy
e. An ethos - ANSWER c
consider the following:
All Kentuckians are brilliant.
Jeff is a Kentuckian.
If these sentences were condensed to, "Jeff is brilliant because he's a
Kentuckian," what would that be called?
a. An enthymeme
b. A satire
c. A syllogism
d. A metonymy
e. An ethos - ANSWER a
6. A contemporary communication concept observes that organizations,
and not just individuals, can "speak." What is that concept, and what is one
of its major problems?
a. Organizational communication/doesn't necessarily speak for everyone in
the organization, difficult to locate responsibility
b. Organizational enthymeme/representation—not everyone has input into
"official" statements, organizational messages lack power
c. Organizational rhetoric/just because you're part of the organization
doesn't mean it speaks for you, difficult to locate responsibility
d. Organizational rhetoric/patriarchy means that men stay in charge,
difficult to locate responsibility
e. Invitational rhetoric/empowers women, levels the playing field -
ANSWER c
, 7. What concept is demonstrated best in the statement: "Donald Trump
criticized the politics of left-wing thinkers at the same time that Bernie
Sanders blasted the politics of right-wingers?"
a. orientational metaphor
b. enthymeme
c. identification
d. chiasmus
e. war metaphor - ANSWER a
8. Imagine that a series of sniper attacks commences in Tippecanoe
County—3 different people are shot in 3 days. Citizens of Tippecanoe
County, including Purdue students and staff, want to know what is being
done to stop it. They want to be reassured and not alarmed. People want to
hear some official word because they are frightened. The police chiefs of
the area departments hold a press conference to provide some answers—
what are they responding to?
a. universal audience
b. form
c. rhetorical situation
d. invitational rhetoric
e. identification - ANSWER c
9. What fallacy generally features a phrase such as "some people may
think," or, "a lot of people say that..."?
a. red herring
b. straw person
c. post hoc, ergo propter hoc
d. selected instances
e. pooh-poohing - ANSWER b
10. Whose voice(s) do(es) Plato control in the Gorgias?
a. Gorgias
b. Socrates
c. Polus
d. All of the above
e. None of the above - ANSWER d
11. Choose the statement that correctly describes the relationships among
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Exam With Complete Solutions
1. Purdue's new budget can't really be explored each year until Indianapolis
(Indiana's capital and the home of the state legislature) lets the university
know how much state money it can count on. What rhetorical figure is
present in this sentence?
a. Dialectic
b. Metonymy
c. Assonance
d. Consubstantiality
e. Metaphor - ANSWER b
2. From the following list (and considering the painting Mona Lisa as a
text), choose the answer that best illustrates a critical claim about a text:
a. The Mona Lisa suggests that a little mystery surrounding a painting
might contribute to its status and value.
b. In addition to the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci painted many other
works, one of which hangs in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.
c. The identity of the model for the Mona Lisa is not known for sure.
d. The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre, in Paris.
e. The Mona Lisa is priceless. - ANSWER a
3. Which of the following is an acceptable APA in-text citation?
a. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 2003, p. 147). (could work as well as D)
b. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 147).
c. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 2003, 147).
d. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley, 2003).
, e. Lincoln died on April 15, and the conspirators were executed July 9
(Buckley). - ANSWER d
consider the following:
All Kentuckians are brilliant.
Jeff is a Kentuckian.
Therefore Jeff is brilliant.
What term best describes what these statements are?
a. An enthymeme
b. A satire
c. A syllogism
d. A metonymy
e. An ethos - ANSWER c
consider the following:
All Kentuckians are brilliant.
Jeff is a Kentuckian.
If these sentences were condensed to, "Jeff is brilliant because he's a
Kentuckian," what would that be called?
a. An enthymeme
b. A satire
c. A syllogism
d. A metonymy
e. An ethos - ANSWER a
6. A contemporary communication concept observes that organizations,
and not just individuals, can "speak." What is that concept, and what is one
of its major problems?
a. Organizational communication/doesn't necessarily speak for everyone in
the organization, difficult to locate responsibility
b. Organizational enthymeme/representation—not everyone has input into
"official" statements, organizational messages lack power
c. Organizational rhetoric/just because you're part of the organization
doesn't mean it speaks for you, difficult to locate responsibility
d. Organizational rhetoric/patriarchy means that men stay in charge,
difficult to locate responsibility
e. Invitational rhetoric/empowers women, levels the playing field -
ANSWER c
, 7. What concept is demonstrated best in the statement: "Donald Trump
criticized the politics of left-wing thinkers at the same time that Bernie
Sanders blasted the politics of right-wingers?"
a. orientational metaphor
b. enthymeme
c. identification
d. chiasmus
e. war metaphor - ANSWER a
8. Imagine that a series of sniper attacks commences in Tippecanoe
County—3 different people are shot in 3 days. Citizens of Tippecanoe
County, including Purdue students and staff, want to know what is being
done to stop it. They want to be reassured and not alarmed. People want to
hear some official word because they are frightened. The police chiefs of
the area departments hold a press conference to provide some answers—
what are they responding to?
a. universal audience
b. form
c. rhetorical situation
d. invitational rhetoric
e. identification - ANSWER c
9. What fallacy generally features a phrase such as "some people may
think," or, "a lot of people say that..."?
a. red herring
b. straw person
c. post hoc, ergo propter hoc
d. selected instances
e. pooh-poohing - ANSWER b
10. Whose voice(s) do(es) Plato control in the Gorgias?
a. Gorgias
b. Socrates
c. Polus
d. All of the above
e. None of the above - ANSWER d
11. Choose the statement that correctly describes the relationships among
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
