SAT Skills Insight

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6/1

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Author's Craft

Skills needed to score in this band

SKILL 1: Use vocabulary clues to determine the tone of a text (the author’s attitude toward the subject of the text and toward the audience)

SKILL 2: Recognize elements of figurative language (such as metaphor) in a text

1

Use vocabulary clues to determine the tone of a text (the author’s attitude toward the subject of the text and toward the audience)

Example

View Passage

A reading passage
Line Number	Text
	Duke Ellington considered himself “the world’s greatest listener.” In music, hearing is all. Judging by the two or three thousand pieces of music Ellington wrote, he could probably hear a flea scratching itself and put that rhythm
Line 5	into one of his compositions. For him the sounds of the world were the ingredients he mixed into appetizers, main courses, and desserts to satisfy the appetite of his worldwide audience. He wasn’t averse to going out in a boat to catch the fish himself. He would raise the fowl
Line 10	himself. But when that musical meal appeared before you none of the drudgery showed.

The author most likely refers to the “flea” in line 4 in order to

Answer Choices

(A) highlight Ellington’s prodigious memory
(B) emphasize the quality of Ellington’s listening skills
(C) indicate Ellington’s interest in different animal sounds
(D) suggest that Ellington’s compositions were marked by rhythmic similarities
(E) imply that Ellington could be overly concerned about minutiae

Reveal Answer

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Skills needed to score in the next band

As you read a text, think about the author’s purpose for writing (for example, to express his or her feelings about a subject, to inform the reader, to present an argument).

As you read a text, look for literary devices such as personification, metaphor, and hyperbole. As you identify them, think about what effect they have on the text.

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