1. Lincoln structured his speech chronologically, speaking about the past, present, and future. A True
B False

2. The word "proposition" refers to
A the premise that all men are entitled to freedom.
B the premise that all men should fight for their country.
C the premise that all men are created equal.
D all of the above

3. The phrase "But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground" is an example of
A figurative language.
B imagery.
C repetition.
D metaphor

4. The tone of this speech can best be described as
A haughty
B arrogant.
C foreboding
D humble .

5. The phrase "they gave the last full measure of devotion" means
A they measured the ground for the correct proportions.
B they lost their lives for what they believed in.
C they tried hard but gave up the fight.
D they dedicated the cemetery in devotion.

6. The phrase "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here" is ironic because
A the speech is famous and people have not forgotten what the men did there
B everyone has forgotten the speech.
C the speech is famous
D the speech is famous and people have forgotten what the men did there .

Explanation:

The Declaration of Independence is perhaps the most masterfully written state paper of Western civilization. As Moses Coit Tyler noted almost a century ago, no assessment of it can be complete without taking into account its extraordinary merits as a work of political prose style. Although many scholars have recognized those merits, there are surprisingly few sustained studies of the stylistic artistry of the Declaration.1 This essay seeks to illuminate that artistry by probing the discourse microscopically--at the level of the sentence, phrase, word, and syllable. By approaching the Declaration in this way, we can shed light both on its literary qualities and on its rhetorical power as a work designed to convince a "candid world" that the American colonies were justified in seeking to establish themselves as an independent nation.2

The text of the Declaration can be divided into five sections--the introduction, the preamble, the indictment of George III, the denunciation of the British people, and the conclusion. Because space does not permit us to explicate each section in full detail, we shall select features from each that illustrate the stylistic artistry of the Declaration as a whole.3

The introduction consists of the first paragraph--a single, lengthy, periodic sentence:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.4