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English 20-1

English 20-1 · Worksheets

Mixed review · Both writing assignments

Ten questions of mixed difficulty, covering Critical essay, Personal response. 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 20-1 · 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 first step in a personal response is

    1. a) choosing a form to write in
    2. b) deciding how long it will be
    3. c) working out precisely what idea the prompt is asking about
    4. d) selecting a quotation to open with

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

    1. a) was published most recently
    2. b) you know well enough to quote and discuss in detail
    3. c) nobody else in the class will choose
    4. d) is the longest you have read

  3. A quotation is best integrated when it is

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

  4. A body paragraph in a critical essay is usually strongest when it

    1. a) makes one point, supports it from the text, and explains the support
    2. b) covers several points at once
    3. c) consists mainly of quotation
    4. d) retells the events of one chapter

  5. Leaving time to proofread a critical essay matters because

    1. a) handwriting is marked
    2. b) errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation are marked in their own category
    3. c) length is scored separately
    4. d) markers only read the first paragraph

  6. A critical essay should be written

    1. a) in formal register, in the present tense when discussing the text
    2. b) entirely in the past tense
    3. c) in first person throughout
    4. d) in casual register

  7. Conceding a reasonable counter-argument in a critical essay usually

    1. a) strengthens the argument by showing the objection has been considered and answered
    2. b) weakens the argument 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 when it is severed from conscience
    2. b) Macbeth is a play about ambition
    3. c) This essay will discuss ambition in Macbeth
    4. d) Macbeth was written by Shakespeare around 1606

  9. Of these, an acceptable form for a personal response is

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

  10. Choosing an unfamiliar form for a personal response is risky because

    1. a) it takes more words
    2. b) markers prefer essays
    3. c) a form you cannot control will obscure the idea you are developing
    4. d) unusual forms are not permitted

Answer key · Mixed review · Both writing assignments

English 20-1 · maddyhelps.com

  1. c) working out precisely what idea the prompt is asking about — Everything else depends on this. A beautifully written response to the wrong idea cannot score well, and misreading the prompt is the single most common 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 from the text, 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) errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation are marked in their own category — Matters of Correctness is assessed on its own, 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 formal register, in the present tense when discussing the text — Literary present treats the text as always happening: Macbeth kills Duncan, rather than killed. Slipping between tenses mid-paragraph is one of the most common correctness errors.
  7. a) strengthens the argument by showing the objection has been considered and 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 when 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) a short story, an essay, a letter, a monologue or a poem — The form is your choice, which is exactly why it has to be a deliberate one. The question to ask is which form lets you develop the idea best, not which looks most impressive.
  10. c) a form you cannot control will obscure the idea you are developing — 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.