16Hit1600
Expression of IdeasEasyRhetorical synthesis: explaining an unfamiliar term

Expression of Ideas practice question

While researching West African musical traditions, a student has taken the following notes: • A griot is a storyteller and musician in parts of West Africa. • Griots memorize a community's history and perform it for audiences. • Kandia Kouyaté is a griot from Mali. • Kouyaté began performing as a child. • Kouyaté has recorded albums accompanied by orchestras.

The student wants to explain what a griot is to an audience unfamiliar with the term. Which choice best uses the notes to accomplish this goal?

  1. A. A griot is a storyteller and musician in parts of West Africa who memorizes a community's history and performs it for audiences.Correct
  2. B. Kandia Kouyaté, a griot from Mali, began performing as a child and has recorded albums accompanied by orchestras.
  3. C. Griots such as Kandia Kouyaté have recorded albums accompanied by orchestras.
  4. D. After beginning to perform as a child, Kandia Kouyaté became a griot from Mali.

Answer: A. A griot is a storyteller and musician in parts of West Africa who memorizes a community's history and performs it for audiences.

A is correct because it defines the term for a reader who does not know it, naming what a griot is (a storyteller and musician in parts of West Africa) and what a griot does (memorizes and performs a community's history). B encodes the error of substituting biographical detail about an individual for a definition; it uses the word "griot" without explaining it. C encodes the error of choosing an incidental detail (recording albums) that does not tell the reader what a griot is. D encodes the error of misordering the notes into a claim that does not define the term and implies, without support, that childhood performance made Kouyaté a griot.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. Kandia Kouyaté, a griot from Mali, began performing as a child and has recorded albums accompanied by orchestras.
This gives biography about one person and uses the word 'griot' without ever explaining it, so a reader unfamiliar with the term still wouldn't know what it means.
C. Griots such as Kandia Kouyaté have recorded albums accompanied by orchestras.
Recording albums with orchestras is an incidental detail about Kouyaté's career; it doesn't tell an unfamiliar reader what a griot is or does.
D. After beginning to perform as a child, Kandia Kouyaté became a griot from Mali.
This rearranges the notes into a claim that childhood performance made Kouyaté a griot — unsupported by the notes — and it still never defines the term.

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