Theme/Central Idea
Samantha wanted a new cell phone. She worked all summer at the local Dairy Queen. She wasn’t able to attend parties, movies, or beach trips because she worked so many hours. By September 1st she had enough money to purchase the phone. When she got it home, she realized it wasn’t much different than the one she had.
Which is the BEST theme?
A. Work hard to achieve goals in life.
B. A young girl works all summer for a cell phone.
C. People should never work summer jobs.
D. Be careful what you wish for.
D. Be careful what you wish for.
(1) She didn’t mind that she sat on the bus all day. (2) Her daily work was not of the sitting-down kind, so it was a good break. (3) She started this trip on a Sunday at nine in the morning. (4) Because of the waiting times between buses, it took her until about two in the afternoon to arrive in Dublin. (5) Doree had to take the bus to Dublin.
These sentences are out of order. What is the correct order?
(5) Doree had to take the bus to Dublin.
(3) She started this trip on a Sunday at nine in the morning.
(4) Because of the waiting times between buses, it took her until about two in the afternoon to arrive in Dublin.
(1) She didn’t mind that she sat on the bus all day.
(2) Her daily work was not of the sitting-down kind, so it was a good break.
Which element of plot adds complications to the conflict and increases reader interest?
A. Resolution
B. Conflict
C. Exposition
D. Falling Action
E. Rising Action
E. Rising Action
Anna Margolis, President of Charities in America, asked for substantial donations. What does this mean?
A. Donations from all family members.
B. Donations that are tax deductible.
C. Donations in large amounts.
D. Donations for children in need.
C. Donations in large amounts.
If you want to write a story from multiple points of view, which would be the BEST narration to use?
A. 1st person
B. 3rd person objective
C. 3rd person limited
D. 3rd person omniscient
D. 3rd person omniscient
Open heart and open mind,
On a journey of a lifetime.
Love and respect all,
Get back up when you fall.
Which word BEST sums up the central idea of this poem?
A. Integrity
B. Vacation
C. Greed
D. Love
A. Integrity
Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way. It's a personality trait that we admire, since it means a person has a moral compass that doesn't waver.
I come with no wrapping or pretty pink bows.
I am who I am, from my head to my toes.
I tend to get loud when speaking my mind.
Even a little crazy some of the time.
I'm not a size 5 and don't care to be.
You can be you and I can be me.
Which word BEST describes the speaker of the poem?
A. Charitable
B. Despondent
C. Devious
D. Confident
D. Confident
Known as _________, this element of plot ties up loose ends within a story.
A. Resolution
B. Conflict
C. Exposition
D. Falling Action
E. Rising Action
D. Falling Action
(1) My school bus is as slow as molasses in winter. (2) It takes forever to get to my stop in the morning. (3) My teeth chatter as I wait in subzero temperatures for it to arrive. (4) It is the bane of my existence. (5) If I could drive at 13 years of age, my life would be much easier.
Which sentence has an example of onomatopoeia?
3) My teeth chatter as I wait in subzero temperatures for it to arrive.
Onomatopoeia is the formation of a word, such as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with it.
“Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.”
Virginia Woolf
(1) Born into a privileged English household in 1882, author Virginia Woolf was raised by free-thinking parents. (2) She began writing as a young girl and published her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1915. (3) She used her own experiences in life as a major source. (4) In 1981, Louise DeSalvo published an alternate version of The Voyage Out under another title.
Which sentence from the excerpt BEST verifies the ideas behind the quote from Virginia Woolf?
(3) She used her own experiences in life as a major source.
Sometimes we share ideas with friends, family and work colleagues and get told to quit while we’re ahead. I’m telling you not to quit. I’m telling you that you are capable of making worldwide change. I began blogging in 2014 and thought it was only going to be a side hobby that was a bit of fun. Fast forward to now and I’m reaching millions of people a month and inspiring people to live a better life and help others along the way. If I can do it, you can too.
Which is the BEST summary of this excerpt?
A. People should blog about their personal feelings.
B. Ordinary people can make a difference in the world.
C. People who try to stop you from doing something are usually jealous.
D. Everyone needs to commit themselves to a long-term project.
B. Ordinary people can make a difference in the world.
Tom grabbed his lunch and went to the back of the room. Bill sat down with him, accidentally hitting Ben on the head along the way. Andrew knocked his napkin off of the table, and stole Ted’s money on the way back up. Ted didn’t notice. He laughed about a joke that no one thought was funny.
Which boy can be considered “devious?"
A. Tom
B. Bill
C. Andrew
D. Ted
C. Andrew:
Andrew knocked his napkin off of the table, and stole Ted’s money on the way back up. Ted didn’t notice.
(1) The story opens in Kansas, during WWI. Sarah Elizabeth wants the right to vote. (2) She cannot understand why she is denied this right. (3) She participates in many protests over the years. (4) In 1920, they began making a decision on women's voting. (5) Right after, women were given the right to vote and additional rights. (6) Sarah Elizabeth died in 1990, content with the role she played many years earlier for women’s suffrage.
Which sentence represents the climax?
(4) In 1920, they began making a decision on women's voting.
Juan decided he didn’t want to hang around with Bert anymore, because Bert is too capricious. Bert always found it hard to stay out of trouble.
What does “capricious” mean?
A. impulsive
B. tedious
C. fragile
D. uncoordinated
A. impulsive
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you—Nobody—Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise—you know!
How dreary—to be—Somebody!
How public—like a Frog—
To tell one's name—the livelong June—
To an admiring Bog!
Emily Dickinson
Choose TWO character traits that BEST describe the speaker of this poem.
A. Thoughtful
B. Cooperative
C. Impulsive
D. Independent
E. Quarrelsome
A. Thoughtful
D. Independent
In The Battle of the Bogarts, the three Bogart children battle the wicked King of Summerlin, who steals from the poor. It took three long and challenging battles, but the children defeated the king in the end. The oldest child, Meredith, led the final rebellion with a team of overzealous ostriches. In the end, she was crowned queen. Peace reigned in the City of Emerald for years to come.
What is the theme?
A. There is never a good reason to fight.
B. The importance of being crowned king or queen.
C. In the end, good triumphs over evil.
D. A girl leads a battle.
C. In the end, good triumphs over evil.
In the course of her discussion, teacher and journalist, Caryn Windell, observes, “Thirty years ago people who thought they had a story to tell sat down to write a novel. Today they sit down to write a memoir.” She does not try to explain this shift towards personal narrative, but concentrates instead on what distinguishes a successful memoir from a failed one.
What trend did Caryn Windell point out about writing?
A. Teachers assign more memoirs today.
B. Students are nervous about writing novels today.
C. In the past, students never wrote memoirs.
D. Today, people prefer to write memoirs over novels.
D. Today, people prefer to write memoirs over novels.
(1) The story opens in San Francisco, California. (2) Carol and Bob live in a lovely home. (3) Since they have been unable to have children of their own, they are going to Japan to adopt a little girl. (4) They were shocked by the amount of children in the orphanage. (5) Instead of adopting one little girl, they came home with three!
Which sentence represents the conflict of the story?
(3) Since they are unable to have children of their own, they are going to Japan to adopt a little girl.
The conflict of the story is the problem of the story.
"Life is a highway that takes us through green pastures, vast deserts, and rocky mountains. Sometimes your car breaks down or you run out of gas, and sometimes you get lost. Friends are the roadmaps that help you get where you're going."
What is this paragraph an example of?
A. Hyphenated modifiers
B. Allusion
C. Metaphor
D. Allusion
Metaphor
“Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his eyes were set like coals that could suddenly burst into fire.”
How is Gandalf described in the above quote?
A. untrustworthy
B. powerful
C. unsure
D. delicate
B. powerful
We are the dry wind,
but broken shadows of our former selves.
Left with nothing
but the jealousy in our hearts.
What is the overall tone of this poem?
A. Bitter
B. Excited
C. Formal
D. Humble
A. Bitter
The dresser in the cellar caught my interest. Somewhere along the way, it had been painted blue. It looked small. And cheap. I remembered it being a much bigger and heavier piece of furniture – more substantial. I recalled standing on the pulls of the bottom drawer to reach the top. Which explained why some of the pulls were missing. I smiled thinking of how I have seen my son scale his dresser in the same way.
Which word BEST explains how the narrator is feeling?
A. Disappointed
B. Nostalgic
C. Annoyed
D. Euphoric
B. Nostalgic
At what part of the Plot Mountain does the conflict begin to build?
During the rising action.
The way I look at it, someone needs to start doing something about diseases. What's the big deal? People are sick. But the average person doesn't think twice about it until it affects them. Or someone they know.
Which is the BEST word to describe the tone of this excerpt?
A. Formal
B. Critical
C. Hopeless
D.Enthusiastic
B. Critical
But the average person doesn't think twice about it until it affects them. Or someone they know.
“Momma was the only one who wasn’t born in Flint so the cold was coldest to her. All you could see were her eyes too, and they were shooting bad looks at Dad. She always blamed him for bringing her all the way from Alabama to Michigan, a state she called a giant icebox. Dad was bundled up on the other side of Joey, trying to look at anything but Momma. Next to Dad, sitting with a little space between them, was my older brother, Byron.”
― Christopher Paul Curtis, The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963
Which of these BEST describes how Dad is feeling?
A. Angry
B. Bored
C. Nervous
D. Distracted
C. Nervous
Dad was bundled up on the other side of Joey, trying to look at anything but Momma.