Making Inferences
"You've crunched the numbers and read the tea leaves. Fact is, you'll never hit the books as hard as Boy Genius Jeremiah Villa. Sylvia Diaz, either. Even your boy Francisco, from down the hall. There are folks in this world who live to mark up a fat World History textbook with highlighter. You aren't one of them. You spend too much time on back-alley ball-handling drills to compete. Nah, the game of basketball is your best chance."
What does this paragraph suggest about the narrator?
A. He doesn't think he's as good of a students as some of his peers.
B. He sees basketball as his opportunity to excel.
C. He doesn't really enjoy school.
D. All of the above
D. All of the above
“Listen to the grown men around you. To the uninitiated, they are uneducated. They're poor. Crass. Shifty. Steely-eyed. A reason to cross the street.” What is a synonym for the word uninitiated?
A. unintelligent
B. quiet
C. suspicious
D. unfamiliar
D. unfamiliar
What point of view is seen in the following short passage?
Kate was worried about the big game. She didn't really think she liked volleyball, but she'd signed up because her mom kept reminding her that she had been the star player in her own middle school days. As Kate tied her laces, her stomach as knotted as her shoes, she hoped that she would make her team proud; they would hate her otherwise.
A. First person
B. Second person
C. Third person
D. Hybrid
C. Third person
Which of these sentences does not belong in an objective summary of our short story, "How to Transform an Ordinary, Everyday Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium"?
A. The narrator's summer vacation begins.
B. He decides to begin training at Muni Gym in Balboa Park and asks his dad if he can ride with him.
C. For a while, the narrator doesn't get picked to play on anyone's team.
D. Dante challenges the narrator and has him play in his place.
E. Dante is a jerk in the beginning and reminds me of my own bullies, but he turns out cool.
F. Afterward, everyone wants the narrator on their team.
E. Dante is a jerk in the beginning and reminds me of my own bullies, but he turns out cool.
Which of the following details would best support this inference about our short story?
Claim: The narrator learned more than just how to play better basketball while playing at Muni Gym.
A. “And in this moment, you'll feel closer to your old man that ever before."
B. “It won't be until week four that you finally get into a meaningful game."
C. “Because you can sense it... Here is where you will learn the world.”
D. “As much as you'll begin to blend in off the court, on the court it will be a completely different story.”
C. “Because you can sense it... Here is where you will learn the world.”
"Cold rain fell all day, making it a dismal Saturday afternoon." What is a synonym for the word dismal?
A. gloomy
B. quiet
C. shining
D. dark
A. gloomy
Which key words help identify the point of view from which the story was written?
Kate was worried about the big game. She didn't really think she liked volleyball, but she'd signed up because her mom kept reminding her that she had been the star player in her own middle school days. As Kate tied her laces, her stomach as knotted as her sneakers, she hoped that she would make her team proud; they would hate her otherwise.
A. she, her, they
B. me, my mom, my team
C. hate, tied, liked
D. volleyball, sneakers, game
A. she, her, they
Which sentence foreshadows the narrator's summer at Muni Gym will have highs and lows?
A. "But let's get this straight from the jump. This Muni Gym summer isn't going to be some kind of continuous loop of "One Shining Moment.""
B. "That first time and every time following. Even years from now. And that's how it should be. Because you can sense it... Here is where you will learn the world."
C. "The first day you won't get into a single game. Not one."
D. "Reach into your own skull and smack this part of your brain upside the head. If you let it, this part of your brain will hold you back from every dream you have. Trust me."
A. "But let's get this straight from the jump. This Muni Gym summer isn't going to be some kind of continuous loop of "One Shining Moment.""
Which of the following details would best support this inference?
Claim: The narrator comes to see that his dad cares more than he thought he did.
A. "Secretly you'll be hoping for a little piece of fatherly advice here, but you won't get it. He'll chuckle instead and turn back to his beer."
B. "He'll look you straight in the eyes, nodding. And in this moment, you'll feel closer to your old man than ever before."
C. "Your old man will be there, though. And on the drive back to your apartment that night you'll realize something important. Your old man is always there. And he always has been."
D. "You'll take this as a no and assume the fate of the most important summer of your hoop development now rests in the hands of the county bus system. But you'll be wrong."
C. "Your old man will be there, though. And on the drive back to your apartment that night you'll realize something important. Your old man is always there. And he always has been."
“It will take a little more than an hour for you to arrive at the large, dilapidated building with two locked green doors.” What is a synonym for the word dilapidated?
A. neglected
B. small
C. clean
D. bustling
A. neglected
Reread the paragraph from the text.
You told Baker in that end-of-the-year five-page paper what was up with Esperanza's dreams, and you pulled down a 98 percent--second highest-grade in the class. But even as you typed out that essay, you had an indoor-outdoor in your lap. Between sentences you daydreamed finger rolls over outstretch hands.
How does the author's use of the underlined phrase help the reader understand the narrator's feelings in this moment?
A. It demonstrates that the narrator doesn't like school.
B. It shows that the narrator was procrastinating and playing basketball instead.
C. It explains that the narrator thought the assignment was stupid.
D. It shows that the narrator's focus was somewhere else while he was writing his essay.
D. It shows that the narrator's focus was somewhere else while he was writing his essay.
Tammy and Sammy were both students in Mr. Morton’s reading class. Mr. Morton wasn’t strict about deadlines, so Sammy did all his homework in his other classes, but he never bothered to complete Mr. Morton’s reading assignments. He figured that he could complete them later. Tammy, on the other hand, completed each assignment Mr. Morton assigned every night. When the end of the quarter came, Tammy and Sammy had both planned on going to the Magic Castle amusement park. But then Mr. Morton called Sammy’s mother to report his grade. She grounded Sammy and that weekend was horrible. He stayed up until 2:00 AM each night, yet he still couldn’t complete all the assignments. Meanwhile, Tammy had a great time eating pizza at Magic Castle. At the end of the quarter, Sammy was lucky to squeak by with a C minus, and Tammy earned an A.
The theme of the short story is _____.
A. Hard work gets you far in life.
B. Doing your homework is important.
C. Sometimes, you miss fun things when you don't do what you're supposed to.
D. Choosing fun over responsibilities isn't the best choice in the long run.
D. Choosing fun over responsibilities isn't the best choice in the long run.