Difficult Critical Reading question from the CB blue book

Wood5440
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:39:03 +0000

PSViki had it right. Your understanding of ‘wild’ is based on its use in slang (as in ‘a wild party’), but it has little to do with the meaning of the passage.

The word “controversial” in quotes means that the writer is emphasizing the word for a reason, usually because the writer disagrees with someone else’s use of the word. Think of it this way - is it really controversial that some old guy is complaining about such things as email and instant messaging? Is that really a controversy? Are people all over the country debating whether or not email is useful? It is only a controversy in the mind of that antiquated, totally out of it professor. So the writer puts quotes around the word ‘controversy’ to show he is amused by its use to describe the professor’s lecture. He is using the word in a satirical way. Quotes around a word can mean look out for irony, satire and sarcasm in the use of the word. To call the professor’s “earnest diatribe” a “controversy” is clearly an overstatement.