Excerpt from Music to My Ears
John Devine
When I decided about a hundred years ago to become an English teacher, I thought I was going easy on myself. "You've been
speaking and writing English for over two decades already." I told myself, "So how hard could it be to teach others to speak and
write it well?" Not long after I taught my first class, however, I realized that I didn't know English as well as I thought I did.
2It's been so long now that I don't remember the slang students used back in the day. Slang has changed a lot, and since I never
use slang myself, I'm just as much in the dark as ever. Just the other day a student named Marcus walked up to me and said, 'yo.
homeboy, what it do?" I didn't say anything back because I didn't understand the question, if it was one. I used to try to learn my
students' slang, but it changes so fast that I always fall behind faster than a clumsy skier in choppy waters.
Which technique is used MOST in the first two paragraphs?
es )
A)
ambiguity
B)
overstatement
C)
paradox
D)
understatement