Overview Though not all of these stems are strictly AP, the purpose of having these is not only to provide students with raw material for writing potential MC questions themselves, but to understand the typical question style to expect on the MC section. Furthermore, they can use these stems to help ground annotation and reading of the poems.
Common MC Stems
Stems (Certain words are underlined for emphasis)
The speaker’s primary purpose in the passage is to…
The phrase "______________________" functions primarily as … 3
The attitude of the entire passage [or specifically identified parts of the passage indicated by line numbers]is one of …
The author uses this [certain image] for the purpose of…
In line _________, the word ___________is best interpreted to mean…
Lines _________ through____________can be interpreted to mean...
The reason for the shift in tone from ___ to ____ is due to...
In context, the [word/phrase/pronoun] in line____refers to which of the following?
Which of the following best summarizes the main topic of the passage?
The principal contrast employed by the author in the [passage/paragraph] is between [all answer choices must present two options, e.g., between X and Y].
The speaker's reference to________ serves primarily to...
The tone of the passage shifts from one of_____to one of___ [all answer choices must present two options, e.g., between X and Y].
It can be inferred by the description of that which of the following qualities are valued by the speaker?
The point of view indicated in the phrase in line is that of…
The atmosphere established in the sentence of paragraph is mainly one of…
The function of the clauses introduced by"_____" in lines_______ is to...
(Skill 7B) The poem as a whole is best understood as a [plea, eulogy, vindication, celebration, defense]
(Skill 6B) In context, [figure of speech] most nearly means
(Skill 5B) In line #, "X" refers to both _______ and __________.
(Skill 3D) One effect of the shift in the speaker's focus in the third stanza is to...
(Skill 4C) The speaker mentions ___ (line #) and ____(line #) to highlight_____
Note: Some information here was provided by Nancy Dickinson during the AP Summer Institute (2022).