Gatsby Sentences
Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively under mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square.
A) NO CHANGE
B) dinner was announced, wedging his
C) dinner was announced- wedging his
D) dinner was announced: wedging his
A) NO CHANGE
"For several weeks I didn’t see him or hear his voice on the phone–mostly I was in New York, trotting around with Jordan and trying to ingratiate myself with her senile aunt–but finally I went over to his house one Sunday afternoon."
The author's use of the underlined phrase primarily serves to:
A) emphasize the narrator's boredom and lack of genuine connection during their time in New York.
B) highlight the narrator's dedication to maintaining social relationships, even with difficult individuals.
C) illustrate the narrator's eagerness to escape their usual routine and embrace a new social circle.
D) suggest the narrator's calculated efforts to gain social advantage through manipulative behavior.
A) emphasize the narrator's boredom and lack of genuine connection during their time in New York.
My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard–it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eye-sore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires–all for eighty dollars a month.
Which of the following best expresses the main idea of this paragraph?
(A) The narrator's embarrassed by his house when he compares it to those surrounding him.
B) The narrator is attempting to establish his social status by comparing living arrangements.
C) The narrator is highlighting the superficiality and stark contrasts between him and his neighbor.
D) The narrator is providing a detailed description of the mansion and its architectural features.
B) The narrator is attempting to establish his social status by comparing living arrangements.
Next morning I sent the butler to New York with a letter to Wolfsheim which asked for information and urged him to come out on the next train. That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it. I was sure he’d start when he saw the newspapers, just as I was sure there’d be a wire from Daisy before noon–but neither a wire nor Mr. Wolfsheim arrived, no one arrived except more police and photographers and newspaper men.
The author's primary purpose in including the detail about the butler delivering a letter to Wolfsheim is to:
A) emphasize the narrator's sense of urgency and desperation in the aftermath of the incident.
B) highlight the narrator's reliance on his staff to handle his personal affairs.
C) introduce a new character who will play a significant role in the unfolding events.
D) foreshadow the lack of support the narrator will receive from his acquaintances.
A) emphasize the narrator's sense of urgency and desperation in the aftermath of the incident.
Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.
As used in the sentence, "incarnation" most nearly means:
A) embodiment
B) transformation
C) awakening
D) reunion
A) embodiment
Then I was lying half asleep in the cold lower level of the Pennsylvania Station- staring at the morning Tribune and waiting for the four o’clock train.
A) NO CHANGE
B) Pennsylvania Station; staring at
C) Pennsylvania Station, staring at
D) Pennsylvania Station staring at
C) Pennsylvania Station, staring at
The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor.
The underlined portion of the sentence is used to primarily suggest the character's:
A) overwhelming joy and excitement.
B) grand ambitions and dreams.
C) intense inner turmoil and distress.
D) their darkest and worst desires.
C) intense inner turmoil and distress.
The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic–their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.
According to the passage, the author suggests that the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg were initially placed there to:
A) serve as a warning to those who entered the dumping ground.
B) act as a symbol of divine judgment over the borough of Queens.
C) attract patients to an eye doctor's practice.
D) represent the fading memory of a once-prominent citizen.
C) attract patients to an eye doctor's practice.
So naturally Michaelis tried to find out what had happened, but Wilson wouldn’t say a word–instead he began to throw curious, suspicious glances at his visitor and ask him what he’d been doing at certain times on certain days. Just as the latter was getting uneasy some workmen came past the door bound for his restaurant and Michaelis took the opportunity to get away, intending to come back later. But he didn’t. He supposed he forgot to, that’s all. When he came outside again a little after seven he was reminded of the conversation because he heard Mrs. Wilson’s voice, loud and scolding, downstairs in the garage.
The author's inclusion of the phrase "He supposed he forgot to, that's all" primarily serves to:
A) emphasize Michaelis's lack of attention to detail and his unreliable nature as a witness.
B) create a sense of mystery and suspense surrounding the events leading up to the incident.
C) highlight the casual and indifferent attitude of those surrounding Wilson.
D) contrast Michaelis's forgetfulness with the intensity of Wilson's grief and obsession.
C) highlight the casual and indifferent attitude of those surrounding Wilson.
Daisy began to sing with the music in a husky, rhythmic whisper, bringing out a meaning in each word that it had never had before and would never have again.
As used in the sentence, "husky" most nearly means:
A) powerful
B) hoarse
C) melodic
D) hushed
B) hoarse
I think that, except for my presence- he would have taken one short glance beneath our own table.
A) NO CHANGE
B) that, except for my presence
C) that- except for my presence
D) that, except for my presence,
D) that, except for my presence,
(1) In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. (3) At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motorboats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. (3) On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city, between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. (4) There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights.
For the sake of logic and coherence of this paragraph, sentence 4 should be placed:
A) where it is now
B) after sentence 1
C) after sentence 2
B) After sentence 1
I went in–after making every possible noise in the kitchen short of pushing over the stove–but I don’t believe they heard a sound. They were sitting at either end of the couch looking at each other as if some question had been asked or was in the air, and every vestige of embarrassment was gone. Daisy’s face was smeared with tears and when I came in she jumped up and began wiping at it with her handkerchief before a mirror. But there was a change in Gatsby that was simply confounding. He literally glowed; without a word or a gesture of exultation a new well-being radiated from him and filled the little room.
According to the passage, which of the following best explains the narrator's observation that Gatsby "literally glowed"?
A) As the sun came out Gatsby became illuminated by the new light source.
B) Gatsby was still soaking wet which made his skin appear radiant.
C) Daisy's tears of joy reflected the light in the room, creating a shimmering effect.
D) Gatsby's emotional state was so different that it became a visible aura.
D) Gatsby's emotional state was so different that it became a visible aura.
“Self-control!” repeated Tom incredulously. “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out…. Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.”
In this passage, Tom's abrupt shift from discussing "self-control" and infidelity to "sneering at family life" and "intermarriage between black and white" primarily functions to:
A) highlight Tom's hypocritical and prejudiced views on morality and social norms.
B) reveal Tom's deep-seated insecurities about his own marriage.
C) emphasize the rapidly changing social values and anxieties of the time period.
D) foreshadow the eventual breakdown and argument between Tom and Gatsby.
A) highlight Tom's hypocritical and prejudiced views on morality and social norms.
There was dancing now on the canvas in the garden, old men pushing young girls backward in eternal graceless circles, superior couples holding each other tortuously, fashionably and keeping in the corners.
As used in the sentence, "tortuously" most nearly means:
A) painfully
B) uncomfortably
C) passionately
D) awkwardly
D) awkwardly
I sat down for a few minutes with my head in my hands; until I heard the phone taken up inside and the butler’s voice calling a taxi.
A) NO CHANGE
B) in my hands,
C) in my hands-
D) in my hands
B) in my hands,
It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.
If the writer were to delete the underlined portion (adjusting punctuation as needed) the sentence would primarily lose:
A) a clear description of the subject's perceptive abilities and insightful nature.
B) emphasis on the subject's flattering and idealized perception of the reader.
C) a depiction of the subject's honest and critical assessment of the reader's character.
D) a contrast between the subject's understanding and the reader's self-doubt.
B) emphasis on the subject's flattering and idealized perception of the reader.
Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy’s running around alone, for on the following Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby’s party. Perhaps his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness–it stands out in my memory from Gatsby’s other parties that summer. There were the same people, or at least the same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn’t been there before.
Which of the following phrases from the passage most effectively explains the shift in the party's atmosphere?
A) Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy’s running around alone,
B) many-keyed commotion,
C) a pervading harshness that hadn’t been there before
D) Perhaps his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness
D) Perhaps his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness
It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night–and, as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over. Only gradually did I become aware that the automobiles which turned expectantly into his drive stayed for just a minute and then drove sulkily away. Wondering if he were sick I went over to find out–an unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door.
The author's use of the phrase "his career as Trimalchio was over" in this passage primarily serves to:
A) allude to the decline of Gatsby's wealth and social standing.
B) emphasize the fleeting nature of fame and the fickle nature of Gatsby's guests.
C) foreshadow the revelation of Gatsby's true identity and criminal past.
D) symbolize the end of Gatsby's extravagant parties and lavish lifestyle.
D) symbolize the end of Gatsby's extravagant parties and lavish lifestyle.
A reluctant elevator boy went for a box full of straw and some milk to which he added on his own initiative a tin of large hard dog biscuits–one of which decomposed apathetically in the saucer of milk all afternoon.
As used in the sentence, "decomposed" most nearly means:
A) dissolved
B) deteriorated
C) softened
D) crumbled
C) softened
His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control.
A) NO CHANGE
B) both until an hour ago
C) until an hour ago both
D) until an hour ago,
A) NO CHANGE
And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit. Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes but after a certain point I don’t care what it’s founded on. When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I could take it or leave it with privileged glimpses into the human heart.
Which choice maintains the passage's cynical tone and most strongly mimics the author's disdain towards the world?
A) NO CHANGE
B) I could tolerate and continue
C) I wanted no more riotous excursions
D) I never again wanted to connect
C) I wanted no more riotous excursions
Most of those reports were a nightmare–grotesque, circumstantial, eager and untrue. When Michaelis’s testimony at the inquest brought to light Wilson’s suspicions of his wife I thought the whole tale would shortly be served up in racy pasquinade–but Catherine, who might have said anything, didn’t say a word. She showed a surprising amount of character about it too–looked at the coroner with determined eyes under that corrected brow of hers and swore that her sister had never seen Gatsby, that her sister was completely happy with her husband, that her sister had been into no mischief whatever. She convinced herself of it and cried into her handkerchief as if the very suggestion was more than she could endure. So Wilson was reduced to a man “deranged by grief” in order that the case might remain in its simplest form. And it rested there.
Which of the following best explains the narrator's implied understanding of Catherine's motivations for providing false testimony at the inquest?
A) Catherine was motivated by a desire to avoid personal involvement in a potentially damaging public scandal.
B) Catherine was genuinely convinced of her sister's marital happiness and innocence, despite any conflicting evidence.
C) Catherine sought to protect her sister's reputation from further scandalous rumors and preserve her memory.
D) Catherine understood that by simplifying the case, she could prevent further investigation into her own potentially questionable activities.
C) Catherine sought to protect her sister's reputation from further scandalous rumors and preserve her memory.
The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me and I had a bad moment there before I realized that so far his suspicions hadn’t alighted on Tom. He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him physically sick. I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before–and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty, unforgivably guilty–as if he had just got some poor girl with child.
The narrator's reflection that "there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well" primarily functions to:
A) highlight the universality of human suffering and the shared experience of grief.
B) emphasize the physical and emotional toll that betrayal and loss can take on an individual.
C) draw a parallel between Wilson's emotional state and a state of moral transgression.
D) elevate the narrator's own perspective as an observer who is detached from the emotional turmoil.
C) draw a parallel between Wilson's emotional state and a state of moral transgression.
Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder."
As used in the sentence, "commensurate" most nearly means:
A) proportionate
B) comparable
C) equivalent
D) suitable
A) proportionate