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Paine's line "My own reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light" contains ____.

I. simile
II. parallelism
III. support for ethos

A. I only
B. I and II
C. II only
D. I, II, and III
E. II and III

1 Answer

1 vote

Final answer:

The line contains a simile and parallelism, but not support for ethos. The correct answer is option B.

Step-by-step explanation:

The line "My own reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light" contains two literary devices, a simile and parallelism. A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words "like" or "as." In this case, the comparison is made between the speaker's reasoning and a ray of light. The use of the word "as" indicates the presence of a simile.

Parallelism is the repetition of grammatical structures, phrases, or clauses in a sentence or across multiple sentences. The line contains parallelism because the structure of the sentence is repeated: "My own reasoning is to myself as..." This repetition creates a sense of balance and rhythm in the sentence.

The line does not provide support for ethos, which is an appeal to ethics or credibility. Ethos relies on the speaker's character or credibility to persuade an audience, while the line in question is about the clarity and straightness of the speaker's own reasoning. Therefore, the correct answer is B. I and II.

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