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English 10-1

English 10-1 · Worksheets

Mixed review · Both writing assignments

Ten questions of mixed difficulty, covering Personal response, the literary essay. Print it, or work through it on screen — the answer key starts on its own page.

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Mixed review · Both writing assignments

English 10-1 · maddyhelps.com

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

  1. The first step in a personal response is

    1. a) choosing a form
    2. b) deciding the length
    3. c) working out precisely what idea the prompt asks about
    4. d) picking an opening quotation

  2. The text you choose for an essay should be one that

    1. a) is most recent
    2. b) you know well enough to quote and discuss in detail
    3. c) nobody else will choose
    4. d) is longest

  3. A quotation is best integrated when it is

    1. a) paraphrased instead
    2. b) given as its own sentence
    3. c) embedded in your own sentence and punctuated as part of it
    4. d) presented as a long block

  4. A body paragraph is strongest when it

    1. a) makes one point, supports it and explains the support
    2. b) covers several points
    3. c) is mostly quotation
    4. d) retells a chapter

  5. Leaving time to proofread matters because

    1. a) handwriting is marked
    2. b) grammar, spelling and punctuation are assessed in their own right
    3. c) length is scored
    4. d) markers read only the opening

  6. A literary essay discusses a text

    1. a) in the present tense
    2. b) in the future tense
    3. c) in any tense
    4. d) in the past tense

  7. Raising a reasonable counter-argument usually

    1. a) strengthens the essay, if it is then answered
    2. b) weakens it by admitting doubt
    3. c) is not permitted
    4. d) should replace the thesis

  8. Of these, the strongest thesis is

    1. a) Ambition in Macbeth becomes destructive once it is severed from conscience
    2. b) Macbeth is a play about ambition
    3. c) This essay will discuss ambition
    4. d) Macbeth was written around 1606

  9. An acceptable form for a personal response is

    1. a) only a narrative
    2. b) only a poem
    3. c) an essay, a story, a letter, a monologue or a poem
    4. d) only a formal essay

  10. Choosing an unfamiliar form is risky because

    1. a) it takes longer to write
    2. b) markers prefer essays
    3. c) a form you cannot control obscures the idea
    4. d) unusual forms are banned

Answer key · Mixed review · Both writing assignments

English 10-1 · maddyhelps.com

  1. c) working out precisely what idea the prompt asks about — Everything else depends on it. A beautifully written response to the wrong idea cannot score well, and misreading the prompt is the commonest way to lose marks.
  2. b) you know well enough to quote and discuss in detail — Familiarity beats prestige every time. An essay on a short story you know closely will outscore a vague essay on a famous novel you half remember.
  3. c) embedded in your own sentence and punctuated as part of it — Embedding forces you to state the point the quotation supports. A quotation standing alone leaves the marker to guess why it is there.
  4. a) makes one point, supports it and explains the support — One point per paragraph keeps the argument traceable. If a paragraph needs two topic sentences, it is really two paragraphs.
  5. b) grammar, spelling and punctuation are assessed in their own right — Correctness is its own category, and the errors that cost most — tense slips, missing quotation marks, sentence fragments — are exactly the ones a five-minute read-through catches.
  6. a) in the present tense — Literary present treats the text as always happening: Macbeth kills Duncan, rather than killed. Slipping between tenses mid-paragraph is among the most common correctness errors.
  7. a) strengthens the essay, if it is then answered — A concession only helps when it is answered. Raising an objection and leaving it standing hands the reader a reason to disagree with you.
  8. a) Ambition in Macbeth becomes destructive once it is severed from conscience — The first makes a claim that needs proving and points at the evidence that would prove it. The second is a topic, the third announces rather than argues, and the fourth is a fact.
  9. c) an essay, a story, a letter, a monologue or a poem — The form is your choice, which is exactly why it has to be a deliberate one. Ask which form lets you develop the idea best, not which looks most impressive.
  10. c) a form you cannot control obscures the idea — Markers reward the idea and its development, not the novelty of the container. The best form is the one you can execute under time pressure while still thinking clearly.