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English 30-1

English 30-1 · 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 30-1 · maddyhelps.com

Name
Date
Score
/ 10

Circle the best answer for each question. Use the space to note the evidence or reasoning that decided it.

  1. For this assignment, the form of your response

    1. a) must be a five-paragraph essay
    2. b) must be a short story
    3. c) may be any prose or poetic form you choose
    4. d) must be a poem

  2. The five scoring categories for the Critical/Analytical Response are Thought and Understanding, Supporting Evidence, Form and Structure, Matters of Choice, and

    1. a) Ideas and Impressions
    2. b) Matters of Correctness
    3. c) Voice
    4. d) Presentation

  3. Which is the strongest thesis for a critical essay?

    1. a) Ambition is an important theme in literature
    2. b) This essay will discuss ambition in Macbeth
    3. c) Ambition destroys Macbeth because he chooses it over every relationship that steadies him
    4. d) Macbeth is a play about ambition and murder

  4. A topic sentence should

    1. a) state the paragraph's point and connect it to the controlling idea
    2. b) quote from the text
    3. c) introduce a new character
    4. d) summarize the previous paragraph

  5. A strong critical essay conclusion

    1. a) summarizes the plot one last time
    2. b) extends the controlling idea to what it means beyond the text
    3. c) introduces a new argument
    4. d) repeats the introduction almost word for word

  6. Literary essays are conventionally written in

    1. a) the present tense when discussing events in a text
    2. b) the future tense
    3. c) whichever tense the text uses
    4. d) the past tense throughout

  7. The suggested word-count range for the Critical/Analytical Response is

    1. a) 800–1600 words
    2. b) 400–600 words
    3. c) 2000–2500 words
    4. d) there is no guidance

  8. A quotation is best integrated when it

    1. a) is woven into your own sentence and then explained
    2. b) stands alone as its own paragraph
    3. c) is as long as possible
    4. d) replaces your explanation

  9. The suggested word-count range for the Personal Response assignment is

    1. a) 1500–2000 words
    2. b) there is no guidance
    3. c) 600–1200 words
    4. d) 200–400 words

  10. A response that retells the provided text in detail before offering a reaction is weak mainly because

    1. a) summary is not allowed at all
    2. b) the response will be too long
    3. c) summary is not exploration of the idea
    4. d) the text is already known to the marker

Answer key · Mixed review · Both writing assignments

English 30-1 · maddyhelps.com

  1. c) may be any prose or poetic form you choose — You may respond as an essay, a narrative, a letter, a monologue, a poem — whatever carries your idea best. Choosing a form you can actually control is part of what is being marked.
  2. b) Matters of Correctness — Thought and Understanding and Supporting Evidence carry the most weight, with Form and Structure, Matters of Choice and Matters of Correctness each worth slightly less. Correctness matters, but thinking matters more.
  3. c) Ambition destroys Macbeth because he chooses it over every relationship that steadies him — A thesis makes an arguable claim and hints at how it will be argued. Announcing what the essay will discuss, or naming a theme, commits you to nothing.
  4. a) state the paragraph's point and connect it to the controlling idea — Reading only the topic sentences should reveal the argument's spine. If they read as plot events rather than claims, the essay has slipped into summary.
  5. b) extends the controlling idea to what it means beyond the text — A conclusion should leave the reader somewhere new: the significance of the pattern you traced, or what the text suggests about people generally. Repetition is a missed opportunity, and a new argument is a structural problem.
  6. a) the present tense when discussing events in a text — The literary present treats the text as always happening: Macbeth hesitates, then acts. Slipping between tenses is a common Matters of Correctness problem.
  7. a) 800–1600 words — The bulletin suggests 800–1600 words. Like the other range it is a guideline about expected depth, not a limit to be counted.
  8. a) is woven into your own sentence and then explained — Introduce, quote, analyze. A quotation dropped in without comment leaves the marker to do the analysis, and they will not do it for you.
  9. c) 600–1200 words — The bulletin suggests 600–1200 words as a guideline, not a cap. It is there to indicate the depth expected in the time available.
  10. c) summary is not exploration of the idea — Markers are looking for your thinking about the idea. A brief reference to the text to ground your response is fine; a plot retelling spends words without developing anything.