The line in the excerpt from Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" that shows Tan changes her language depending on the audience is:
"I was saying things like 'the intersection of memory upon imagination' and 'There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus'.
Amy Tan demonstrates her shift in language depending on the audience when she describes giving a speech about her writing to a large group of people. In the passage, she reflects on her use of a more complex and formal style of English, filled with "carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books." The specific examples she provides, such as "the intersection of memory upon imagination" and "There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus-and-thus," illustrate the use of a more sophisticated and formal language.
The crucial point in the passage is when Tan realizes that her mother is in the room, possibly hearing her give a lengthy speech for the first time. This realization prompts Tan to recognize the contrast between the language she uses with her mother, which is likely more straightforward and accessible, and the elevated language she uses in her formal speeches to other audiences. This moment highlights Tan's awareness of adjusting her language based on the context and audience, showcasing her adaptability in communication.
The question probable maybe:
Select the correct text in the passage.
Which line in this excerpt from Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue' shows that Tan changes her language depending on the audience?
I was giving a talk to a large group of people, the same talk I had already given to half a dozen other groups. The talk was about my writing, my life, and my book, The Joy Luck Club, and it was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her. I was saying things like "the intersection of memory upon imagination" and "There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus-and- thus"—a speech filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books...