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English 30-1

English 30-1 · Worksheets

Personal response

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

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Personal response

English 30-1 · maddyhelps.com

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Date
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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. Voice in a personal response refers to

    1. a) the narrator of the provided text
    2. b) writing entirely in dialogue
    3. c) the distinctive personality that comes through in your writing
    4. d) how loudly the piece should be read

  3. In this assignment you may draw support from

    1. a) only novels studied in class
    2. b) only statistics and research
    3. c) only the text provided
    4. d) your own experience, observations, and other texts you know

  4. The best way to begin planning a personal response is to

    1. a) choose a form first and fill it in
    2. b) pick a personal story you like and attach it
    3. c) start writing immediately to save time
    4. d) decide what you think about the idea in the prompt, then choose a form to carry it

  5. Choosing a narrative form for this assignment is a good decision when

    1. a) you cannot think of an argument
    2. b) narratives always score higher
    3. c) you want to avoid a thesis statement
    4. d) a story can carry your idea more convincingly than direct explanation

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

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

  7. A response ends by restating the prompt in slightly different words. This ending is weak because it

    1. a) is too short
    2. b) uses the first person
    3. c) repeats the text provided
    4. d) adds no new understanding to what has been explored

  8. In the Personal Response to Texts assignment, you are asked to respond to

    1. a) an idea presented by the text or texts provided
    2. b) a grammar prompt
    3. c) a text you have not been given
    4. d) the plot of a novel you studied

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

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

  10. Unity in a personal response means that

    1. a) every part of the response serves one controlling idea
    2. b) the response uses only one text
    3. c) the response avoids the first person
    4. d) the response is written in one paragraph

Answer key · Personal response

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. c) the distinctive personality that comes through in your writing — Voice comes from word choice, rhythm and stance. A response in a genuine voice reads as though a particular person wrote it, which is part of what Presentation rewards.
  3. d) your own experience, observations, and other texts you know — Personal experience, observation, film, literature, history — anything that genuinely develops your idea is allowed, as long as it is doing work rather than filling space.
  4. d) decide what you think about the idea in the prompt, then choose a form to carry it — Idea first, then form. Choosing the shape before you know what you are saying is how responses end up well-organized and empty.
  5. d) a story can carry your idea more convincingly than direct explanation — Form should follow purpose. A story that embodies the idea can be powerful; a story chosen to dodge having an idea will show that it was.
  6. d) 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.
  7. d) adds no new understanding to what has been explored — An ending should land somewhere — a shift in thinking, a consequence, an image that resolves. Looping back to the prompt tells the reader you stopped rather than finished.
  8. a) an idea presented by the text or texts provided — The prompt supplies a text and draws an idea out of it. Your job is to explore that idea — not to summarize the text, and not to write about something else entirely.
  9. d) 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. a) every part of the response serves one controlling idea — A unified piece keeps pulling in one direction — anecdote, image and reflection all earning their place. Drifting between unrelated ideas is the most common way a promising response loses marks.