Question

In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan's mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I read them over and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance.

In this paragraph, what connotation does "choice” have?

A. difficult to understand
B. a selection or decision
C. an expensive object
D. of very good quality

Answer 1

This excerpt comes from the “ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas” written by Frederick Douglas, in which he relates his life first as a child slave on a plantation and then he gets to Baltimore and then he escapes to the North.

Question: In this paragraph, what connotation does "choice” have?

Answer: D. Of very good quality

Answer 2

Connotation gives an additional or secondary meaning for one word or expression beyond its first meaning. In this case the option B. a selection or decision is wrong because it is the denotative meaning of “choice”.

The option C. an expensive object is wrong because the text is not talking about values or prices.

The option A. difficult to understand also is wrong because the motivation of he repeatedly read the text was his continuous interest and not his difficulties to understand it.

The correct option is D. of very good quality, because it expresses Frederick Douglass emotions and feelings regarding the document and what he gained with the reading of these speeches.