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from Mother Tongue
Amy Tan AP ® Multiple-Choice Practice / Reading Questions
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
I think my mother’s English almost had an effect some sort of semantic opposites, so you wouldn’t
on limiting my possibilities in life as well. get answers like, “Even though Tom was foolish,
Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you Mary thought he was ridiculous.” Well, according
that a person’s developing language skills are to my mother, there were very few limitations as
more influenced by peers. But I do think that the to what Tom could have been and what Mary
language spoken in the family, especially in might have thought of him. So I never did well on
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
immigrant families which are more insular, tests like that.
plays a large role in shaping the language of The same was true with word analogies, pairs
the child. And I believe that it affected my results of words in which you were supposed to find
on achievement tests, IQ tests, and the SAT. some sort of logical, semantic relationship — for
While my English skills were never judged as example, “Sunset is to nightfall as
poor, compared to math, English could not be is to .” And here you would be
considered my strong suit. In grade school I did presented with a list of four possible pairs, one of
moderately well, getting perhaps B’s, sometimes which showed the same kind of relationship: red
B-pluses, in English and scoring perhaps in the is to stoplight, bus is to arrival, chills is to fever,
sixtieth or seventieth percentile on achievement yawn is to boring. Well, I could never think that
tests. But those scores were not good enough way. I knew what the tests were asking, but I
to override the opinion that my true abilities could not block out of my mind the images
lay in math and science, because in those areas already created by the first pair, “sunset is to
I achieved A’s and scored in the ninetieth nightfall” — and I would see a burst of colors
percentile or higher. against a darkening sky, the moon rising, the
This was understandable. Math is precise; lowering of a curtain of stars. And all the other
there is only one correct answer. Whereas, for me pairs of words — red, bus, stoplight, boring — just
at least, the answers on English tests were always threw up a mass of confusing images, making it
a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal impossible for me to sort out something as
experience. Those tests were constructed around logical as saying: “A sunset precedes nightfall” is
items like fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, the same as “a chill precedes a fever.” The only
such as “Even though Tom was , way I would have gotten that answer right would
Mary thought he was .” And the have been to imagine an associative situation, for
correct answer always seemed to be the most example, my being disobedient and staying out
bland combinations of thoughts, for example, past sunset, catching a chill at night, which turns
“Even though Tom was shy, Mary thought he into feverish pneumonia as punishment, which
was charming,” with the grammatical structure indeed did happen to me.
“even though” limiting the correct answer to
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