Question

Which is the BEST definition of the word sham as it it used in the above sentence from the passage?

To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.






Which is the BEST definition of the word sham as it it used in the above sentence from the passage?
A) an honorary award
B) a memorial service
C) a fraud or mockery
D) a historical event

Answer 1

C) a fraud or mockery

In the passage, the sham is a described as "an unholy license". It continues to talk about sounds as "empty and heartless". The passage describes how the celebration is a lie to him because does not see a reason to celebrate. It says that to him all these reasons for celebrating are nothing more than a deception or a lie. The shame is this deception or lie which is why fraud or mockery is the correct answer.