Q 01/05

Which of Aristotle's three modes of persuasion rests on the credibility and character of the speaker?

A) Pathos

B) Logos

C) Ethos

D) Mythos

Answer · why

C) Ethos

Ethos comes from the Greek word for character, which is also the root of the English word ethics. A speaker builds it by showing practical wisdom, vir...

Q 02/05

Which figure of speech, seen in 'bittersweet' and 'cruel kindness', takes its name from Greek words for sharp and dull?

A) Paradox

B) Oxymoron

C) Pleonasm

D) Malapropism

Answer · why

B) Oxymoron

Oxymoron is an example of itself, since a word meaning 'sharp-dull' is a contradiction in terms. Shakespeare's Romeo reels off a string of them in a s...

Q 03/05

Which fallacy of distraction was popularised by William Cobbett's 1807 tale of a smelly lure dragged past hounds?

A) Red herring

B) Loaded question

C) Poisoning the well

D) No true Scotsman

Answer · why

A) Red herring

Red herring began as a real food, a kipper cured until its flesh turned reddish and pungent. Cobbett told the tale to mock English newspapers that had...

Q 04/05

Which British prime minister won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature, with a citation praising his brilliant oratory?

A) Clement Attlee

B) David Lloyd George

C) Harold Macmillan

D) Winston Churchill

Answer · why

D) Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was also nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, which he never won. The literature citation honoured his mastery of history and ...

Q 05/05

Which figure of speech is at work when Jaques in As You Like It declares that all the world is a stage?

A) Simile

B) Metaphor

C) Tautology

D) Sarcasm

Answer · why

B) Metaphor

Metaphor is itself a metaphor: the Greek word means to carry over, as if meaning were cargo. Jaques goes on to divide a man's life into seven ages.