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ELA 9

English Language Arts 9 · Worksheets

How a story is built

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

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How a story is built

English Language Arts 9 · maddyhelps.com

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

  1. Read: “The trail had disappeared under fresh snow an hour ago. Eli's water bottle was frozen solid, the light was going, and the ridge he had to cross was lost in cloud.” The main conflict in this passage is

    1. a) character against character
    2. b) character against self
    3. c) character against society
    4. d) character against nature

  2. Read: “‘You're wearing that?’ her sister said. ‘It's a party, not a funeral.’ Mira looked down at her grey sweater. ‘I like it,’ she said, and went upstairs to change.” This exchange mainly reveals that Mira

    1. a) is confident and does not care what her sister thinks
    2. b) has been invited to a funeral later in the evening
    3. c) cares about her sister's opinion more than she admits
    4. d) thinks her sister is jealous of her grey sweater

  3. Two versions of the same moment. Version 1: “I told Coach I was fine. My knee felt like it was full of broken glass.” Version 2: “Rosa told the coach she was fine and jogged back to the bench.” What does the first-person version tell the reader that the other does not?

    1. a) how Rosa hurt her knee in the first place
    2. b) whether Rosa's team is winning the game
    3. c) what the coach thinks about her injury
    4. d) that she is hiding how much pain she is in

  4. A story's events, in order: Dana is chosen to give the graduation speech. She practises for weeks but freezes at every rehearsal. At graduation, she drops her notes, looks out at the crowd, and decides to speak without them. Afterward, her little sister asks for help with a speech of her own. The climax of this story is when

    1. a) Dana's sister asks for help with a speech
    2. b) Dana freezes during her weeks of rehearsals
    3. c) Dana is chosen to give the graduation speech
    4. d) Dana decides to speak without her notes

  5. Read: “Marcus told everyone the dent was already there when he borrowed the bike, and by lunch he almost believed it himself. Across town, Mrs. Hale looked at the photo she had taken of the spotless bike that morning and wondered how long his story would last.” This passage is told from which point of view?

    1. a) third-person limited
    2. b) third-person omniscient
    3. c) first person
    4. d) third-person objective

  6. Read: “Leah stared at the empty net. Suddenly she was seven again, in her grandmother's driveway, a tennis ball bouncing off the garage door while Gran called, ‘Again. Higher this time.’ The whistle blew, and she was back on the ice.” The part about Gran's driveway is

    1. a) a flash-forward into the future
    2. b) foreshadowing of a later event
    3. c) a flashback to an earlier time
    4. d) a switch to a new narrator

  7. Read: “I watched Sam read the note. His face didn't change at all. Then he folded it into a tiny square and put it in his back pocket.” What can this narrator not know for certain?

    1. a) where Sam put the note after folding it
    2. b) what Sam thought about the note
    3. c) whether Sam kept the note or threw it away
    4. d) whether Sam's face changed as he read

  8. Read: “Two days earlier, the town had put up signs warning that the slough ice was too thin. Owen had been away at his cousin's farm. Now he laced his skates, grinning, and pushed off toward the middle.” The main source of suspense in this passage is that

    1. a) Owen is racing his cousin to the middle of the slough
    2. b) Owen knows the ice is thin but skates out anyway
    3. c) the reader knows of a danger that Owen does not
    4. d) the reader cannot tell whether Owen knows how to skate

  9. Read: “The answer key had slipped out of Mr. Brandt's folder, and nobody had seen it fall. Ayla thought about her mark, and about her mother's face when she opened the last report card. Then she thought about Mr. Brandt, who had stayed after school three times to help her.” The main conflict here is best described as

    1. a) Ayla against Mr. Brandt, who marks too strictly
    2. b) Ayla against the school and its rules on cheating
    3. c) Ayla against herself, over whether to use the key
    4. d) Ayla against her mother, who is angry about marks

  10. A story opens with Jonah refusing to get into the family's boat at the lake while his parents lose patience. Halfway through, a flashback shows him at six, when a canoe tipped and he was underwater for a long moment before his dad pulled him out. Placing the flashback halfway through, rather than at the start, mainly

    1. a) keeps the story's events in the order they really happened
    2. b) lets readers see his fear first and wonder about its cause
    3. c) warns readers early about what will happen at the end
    4. d) lets the story switch to his father's point of view

Answer key · How a story is built

English Language Arts 9 · maddyhelps.com

  1. d) character against nature — The snow, the cold, the fading light and the cloud are all forces of nature working against Eli. No other person or rule is in his way, and an internal conflict would need the passage to show him doubting or torn over a choice, which it does not.
  2. c) cares about her sister's opinion more than she admits — Mira says she likes the sweater, then goes to change out of it, so her action contradicts her words — dialogue often reveals character through a gap like that. Taking “I like it” at face value leads to the confident answer, and the funeral is only her sister's put-down.
  3. d) that she is hiding how much pain she is in — First person puts the reader inside Rosa's head, so the reader learns about the pain she is hiding. Version 2 shows only what anyone watching would see, so there is no way to tell she is not fine. Neither version gives the coach's opinion or how the injury happened.
  4. d) Dana decides to speak without her notes — The climax is the turning point, where the conflict — can Dana get through the speech? — is decided. The rehearsals are rising action that build toward it, and the sister's request comes after, in the resolution.
  5. b) third-person omniscient — The narrator knows what Marcus believes and what Mrs. Hale wonders, in two different places. A limited narrator would stay inside one character's head, and an objective narrator would report only what people do and say, not what they think.
  6. c) a flashback to an earlier time — “Suddenly she was seven again” takes the reader back in time, and the whistle brings her back to the present. Foreshadowing hints at what will happen; this shows what already has.
  7. b) what Sam thought about the note — A first-person narrator can report what they see and hear, and their own thoughts. This one saw Sam's face, the folding and the pocket, but Sam's thoughts stay hidden; anything the narrator says about them would be a guess.
  8. c) the reader knows of a danger that Owen does not — Owen was away when the signs went up, so the reader knows something he does not, and that gap makes every stride worrying. Missing the detail about his trip leads to the idea that he is being reckless; his grin shows he has no idea.
  9. c) Ayla against herself, over whether to use the key — Nobody saw the key fall, so nothing outside Ayla is stopping her; the struggle is happening in her own head. Her mother and Mr. Brandt are pressures she weighs, not opponents, and the school's rules are never mentioned.
  10. b) lets readers see his fear first and wonder about its cause — Showing the fear before its cause makes readers curious, and the flashback lands harder when it finally comes. Putting it at the start would have been the chronological order, which is exactly what the writer chose not to do.