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English 10-1

English 10-1 · Worksheets

Mixed review · Reading and story

Ten questions of mixed difficulty, covering Close reading, Story. Print it, or work through it on screen — the answer key starts on its own page.

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Mixed review · Reading and story

English 10-1 · maddyhelps.com

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Date
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/ 10

Circle the best answer for each question. Show your work in the space provided.

  1. The strongest evidence for a claim about a character's state of mind is

    1. a) the title
    2. b) a summary of the plot
    3. c) a specific detail of what the character does or says
    4. d) the reader's own experience

  2. A flashback most often functions to

    1. a) confuse the reader
    2. b) end the story
    3. c) slow the story down
    4. d) supply earlier information that explains present behaviour

  3. A story told in first person uses

    1. a) you, addressing the reader
    2. b) I and we, from inside one character's experience
    3. c) no pronouns
    4. d) he and she, with access to every mind

  4. Diction means a writer's

    1. a) choice of words
    2. b) sentence length
    3. c) punctuation
    4. d) paragraph order

  5. Connotation refers to

    1. a) the number of syllables
    2. b) how common a word is
    3. c) a word's dictionary definition
    4. d) the associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning

  6. The purpose of a text is

    1. a) where it was published
    2. b) what it is trying to do — inform, persuade, entertain or provoke
    3. c) who wrote it
    4. d) how long it is

  7. A text written for an expert audience is most likely to

    1. a) use more images
    2. b) avoid all technical terms
    3. c) be shorter
    4. d) use specialised vocabulary without explaining it

  8. Describing a room as cramped, dim and airless rather than small, shaded and still mainly establishes

    1. a) a formal register
    2. b) the room's exact size
    3. c) a negative tone, through connotation
    4. d) the narrator's age

  9. Symbolism is most convincingly argued when

    1. a) a character mentions it
    2. b) it appears in the title
    3. c) a concrete object recurs at moments that link it to an abstract idea
    4. d) an object is described once in detail

  10. Setting contributes most to a story when it

    1. a) is described in detail
    2. b) is a real place
    3. c) is named early
    4. d) shapes what the characters can do, believe or become

Answer key · Mixed review · Reading and story

English 10-1 · maddyhelps.com

  1. c) a specific detail of what the character does or says — A summary shows you read it. A quoted gesture shows you can point at where the meaning lives, which is what earns the mark.
  2. d) supply earlier information that explains present behaviour — The useful question is why it appears <i>where</i> it appears. One placed just before a decision usually tells you what is really driving that decision.
  3. b) I and we, from inside one character's experience — First person gives immediacy and limits you to what that character knows, notices and will admit. Both the access and the limit are choices a writer makes.
  4. a) choice of words — Diction is the most reliable evidence for tone. Naming a word as formal, colloquial or clinical says far more than calling a passage descriptive.
  5. d) the associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning — <i>Slender</i>, <i>thin</i> and <i>scrawny</i> denote roughly the same thing and judge it very differently. Connotation is usually where the writer's opinion is hiding.
  6. b) what it is trying to do — inform, persuade, entertain or provoke — Purpose and audience decide almost every choice a writer makes, from vocabulary to structure. Working them out early makes the rest of the analysis easier.
  7. d) use specialised vocabulary without explaining it — What a writer assumes the reader already knows is one of the clearest signals of audience. Explaining a term is evidence the audience is general; not explaining it is evidence they are not.
  8. c) a negative tone, through connotation — Both sets describe the same room. The first carries discomfort in its associations, and that judgement is the writer's attitude showing through.
  9. c) a concrete object recurs at moments that link it to an abstract idea — One appearance is a detail; a pattern is a symbol. Pointing to the repetition and to what accompanies it each time is what makes the reading persuasive rather than imposed.
  10. d) shapes what the characters can do, believe or become — Setting includes time, place and social conditions. If moving the story elsewhere would change nothing, the setting is scenery; if it would break the story, the setting is doing work.