Question

Read the excerpt from “First Joint Debate at Ottawa,” by Abraham Lincoln.
Now, I have no means of totally disproving such charges as this which the Judge makes. A man cannot prove a negative; but he has a right to claim, that when a man makes an affirmative charge, he must offer some proof to show the truth of what he says. I certainly cannot introduce testimony to show the negative about things, but I have a right to claim that if a man says he knows a thing, then he must show how he knows it. I always have a right to claim this, and it is not satisfactory to me that he may be “conscientious” on the subject.
Does the author use a consistent tone in the passage?
(A) No, the author switches from casual to formal diction.
(B) No, the author switches from subjective to condescending diction.
(C) Yes, the author uses diction that is academic and formal.
(D) Yes, the author uses diction that is lighthearted and

Answer 1

Thanks for this question. Please find the answer below:

Keeping in view the excerpt;

Now, I have no means of totally disproving such charges as this which the Judge makes. A man cannot prove a negative; but he has a right to claim, that when a man makes an affirmative charge, he must offer some proof to show the truth of what he says. I certainly cannot introduce testimony to show the negative about things, but I have a right to claim that if a man says he knows a thing, then he must show how he knows it. I always have a right to claim this, and it is not satisfactory to me that he may be “conscientious” on the subject.

The author uses diction that is academic and formal. Hence, it can be said that the author does use a consistent tone in the passage

Answer 2

At the time , man hears himself to some degree distorted, it incites him,— at any rate, I discover it so with myself; yet when deception turns out to be extremely gross and unmistakable, it is increasingly well-suited to delight him.

The primary thing I decide to see is the way that Judge Douglas claims, in the wake of going through the historical backdrop of the old Democratic and the old Whig parties, that Judge Trumbull and myself made a game plan in 1854, by which I was to have the place of General Shields in the United States Senate, and Judge Trumbull was to have the place of Judge Douglas.