Question

shall we try argument? sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. have we anything new to offer upon the subject? nothing. we have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has all been in vain. shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? what terms shall we find which have not already been exhausted?which best explains the purpose of the rhetorical device used in this excerpt?a. the strong appeal to ethos leads the audience to trust and agree with the speaker.b. the use of parallelism draws attention to the many peaceful steps the colonists have taken.c. the metaphor of a storm to represent the monarchy implies that it is powerful and unpredictable.d. the repetition of the words \sir\ and \throne\ emphasize the point that the colonists are subordinate to great britain.

Explanation:

The excerpt uses parallel rhetorical questions ("Shall we try argument?", "Shall we resort to entreaty...") to structure the list of peaceful, exhausted efforts. Option A is incorrect as there is no ethos appeal here. Option C is wrong because there is no storm metaphor present. Option D is invalid since "sir" only appears once and "throne" does not appear at all. Option B correctly identifies the parallelism and its purpose of highlighting the colonists' numerous peaceful attempts.

Answer:

B. The use of parallelism draws attention to the many peaceful steps the colonists have taken.