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2015 AP​Ⓡ
​ NGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS
E
Question 3

(Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section
score.)

An anthropologist studying first-year students at a university in the United States writes that
friendly phrases like “How are you?,” “Nice to meet you,” and “Let’s get in touch” communicate
politeness rather than literal intent. What, if anything, is the value or function of such polite
speech?

In a well-written essay, develop your position on the value or function of polite speech in a
culture or community with which you are familiar. Use appropriate evidence from your reading,
experience, or observations to support your argument.
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Megha Chauhan

Pre AP English

Mrs. Shuttleworth

16 March 2016

Polite speech is known as the way of respectively talking to a person in order to start a

conversation or make a companion. Yet, it is also an enforced rule of society; some polite speech

is just empty words. It is usually used by minors toward superior persons out of the sociedal rule

of respecting.

Among friends of my own, polite language is not used too often. If one wants a slce of

pizza, she usually just takes it or tells someone to hand it to her. Then there are those situations

of “What’s the magic word?”, forcing the person to say please. Yrt, that word is just empty as

they just want their pizza slice back on their plate.

In school, the “fun” language changes to a more formal way in order to not get in trouble.

You must talk to your teachers politely-- there are some who do not care to follow society’s

rules-- calling them “Mrs.” or “Mr.”. Some teachers get offended when students don’t reply to

their greetings or their “How are you?” , or don’t return the question back. So in order to not get

on the teachers nerve, students try to be respective as possible toward their teachers. Socially, if a

student just talked back to their teacher about not doing an action, they would, be in trouble.

Instead, students just apologize and sit back down.

In adulthood, people must also be respectful as they were in school. In an interview, the

interviewee must say all the formal greetings of “Hello, how are you” and the goodbyes of “Nice
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to meet you” instead of saying all “Sup, boss” or “See ya later”. Polite speech functions as a

way to let society know that a person knows how to respect and obey a superior, no matter how

much care about boss’s life was gaven and just wanting to make money.

As everyone nods their head and mutter their “sorry”s, they know themselves that they

aren’t sorry for anything they’ve done. As they say all those “how are you”s when they really

don’t care whether their superior is in pain or not, they continue being polite with their false

etiquette just to cause it is the rule nailed into them