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<p>Well, I had this debate shut down until notanengineer figured out what “vehement” meant.</p>
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<p>He does makes some salient points in his first post. In his second post, however, his arguments devolve into nonsense. </p>
<p>Given the context of the article, and the author’s remarks, I can see how the 3rd paragraph is somewhat caustic, and I can’t wait until the QAS. This has definitely been a learning experience for me!</p>
<p>@Lostyourself Wrong, sir.</p>
<p>It’s ironic that you mock the definitions of vehement I’ve given, but then only provided one more: driving a point, which is essentially a synonym of forceful. So you can stop that now.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if I Have a Dream is vehement lol. That is a straw man. I’m not saying all passages that drive a point are not vehement, just saying that they aren’t necessarily.</p>
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<p>I’m not mocking your definitions. I was “mocking” your clear cluelessness as to what “vehement” meant in post #53. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13308935-post53.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13308935-post53.html</a></p>
<p>Lets psychoanalyze this question. What do you think the ETS writers were thinking when they made this question?</p>
<p>Well firstly, most test takers don’t really know what caustic means, but they probably have heard the common expression “caustic chemicals” before. In this spirit they may have associated nuclear chemicals/waste (which I realize is not what the passage is about) with caustic, thus putting down caustic as the tone of the passage, even though the tone is not caustic. </p>
<p>The tone is in fact vehement, even if the passage revolves around caustic chemicals.</p>
<p>Even if none of you admit to the above reasoning, I’m sure your subconscious was subtly associating the passage with caustic.</p>
<p>I like that reasoning ^</p>
<p>The SAT is nothing more than a game, and SheepGetKilled understands it very well, evidently. Well played.</p>
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<p>So you are saying that this question was trying to trick test writers? </p>
<p>I noticed that the last few questions in a section are the ones that try to trick test takers.</p>
<p>It was towards the end, I believe.</p>
<p>Yeah, the fact that the question was toward the end probably should have been obvious … lol.</p>
<p>It’s been a over a week, cut me some slack? However, I due recall that it was in the twenties…</p>
<p>I wasn’t blaming you, I was just saying that I should have realized it was a hard question (and thus toward the end of a section) :p.</p>
<p>Oh, gotcha.</p>
<p>This is such a silly debate though. The answer is vehement.</p>
<p>Prospective ;You win. are you happy? Sat isnt everything think about it.</p>
<p>Not until I hear it from notanengineer and LoseYourself ;)</p>
<p>Summer, did you make an account just to say that? lol
For the NZ question, it’s THAT, not WHEN.</p>
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That was sarcasm. I was referring to people who would quote sentences like “The consequences are not pretty.” and call it forceful/vehement.</p>
<p>re: caustic as a trick question
Vehement was choice A and is a near-synonym of emphatic, which was the answer to another tone question regarding both passages. And as a lot of people initially claimed that caustic was “too extreme,” test-makers very well might have wanted them to think that, since both caustic and vehement would actually be considered “extreme” adjectives (no appreciable difference). I think your case for caustic as a trick question is pretty weak, and to say the very least, proves nothing of vehement’s correctness.</p>
<p>You guys can pick whatever reasons you have to cling to the answer you picked when you took the test, but since we have the passage and definitions, I think it’s pretty weak that the only argument someone has made is that the author tried to “drive a point home” so it’s vehement.</p>
<p>Check out the new thread. You were wrong.</p>
<p>I just wanted to throw in that “vehement” is usually a word describing a sort of persistence or forceful passion. “Caustic” is usually something with a negative connotation. It may be forceful or passionate in itself, but it contains sarcastic/critical/burning underpinnings.</p>
<p>I chose caustic because the paragraph does have sarcastic/critical/burning underpinnings. But I suppose that it was “forcibly expressed” and “deeply felt” supersedes that.</p>
<p>Whatever, still only -2, so probably an 800.</p>