Question 1 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
From “The Tyranny of Things” by Elizabeth Morris
Once upon a time, when I was very tired, I chanced to go away to a little house by the sea. “It is empty,” they said, “but you can
easily furnish it.” Empty! Yes, thank Heaven! Furnish it? Heaven forbid! Its floors were bare, its walls were bare, its tables there
were only two in the house were bare. There was nothing in the closets but books; nothing in the bureau drawers but the smell of clean,
fresh wood; nothing in the kitchen but an oil stove, and a few a very few dishes; nothing in the attic but rafters and sunshine, and a
view of the sea. After I had been there an hour there descended upon me a great peace, a sense of freedom, of in finite leisure. In the
twilight I sat before the flickering embers of the open fire, and looked out through the open door to the sea, and asked myself, “Why?”
Then the answer came: I was emancipated from things. There was nothing in the house to demand care, to claim attention, to cumber my
consciousness with its insistent, unchanging companionship. There was nothing but a shelter, and outside, the fields and marshes, the
shore and the sea. These did not have to be taken down and put up and arranged and dusted and cared for. They were not things at all,
they were powers, presences.
And so I rested. While the spell was still unbroken, I came away. For broken it would have been, I know, had I not fled first. Even in
this refuge the enemy would have pursued me, found me out, encompassed me.
If we could but free ourselves once for all, how simple life might become! One of my friends, who, with six young children and only one
servant, keeps a spotless house and a soul serene, told me once how she did it. “My dear, once a month I give away every single thing
in the house that we do not imperatively need. It sounds wasteful, but I don’t believe it really is. Sometimes Jeremiah mourns over
missing old clothes, or back numbers of the magazines, but I tell him if he doesn’t want to be mated to a gibbering maniac he will let
me do as I like.”
The old monks knew all this very well. One wonders sometimes how they got their power; but go up to Fiesole, and sit a while in one of
those little, bare, white-walled cells, and you will begin to understand. If there were any spiritual force in one, it would have to
come out there.
I have not their courage, and I win no such freedom. I allow myself to be overwhelmed by the invading host of things, making fitful
resistance, but without any real steadiness of purpose. Yet never do I wholly give up the struggle, and in my heart I cherish an ideal,
remotely typified by that empty little house beside the sea.
Based on her description, the reader knows Morris enjoyed her time in the house by the sea because
she was not distracted by things
she was able to spend time alone
she was able to visit with friends
she was not worried about time
Question 2 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
From “The Tyranny of Things” by Elizabeth Morris
Once upon a time, when I was very tired, I chanced to go away to a little house by the sea. “It is empty,” they said, “but you can
easily furnish it.” Empty! Yes, thank Heaven! Furnish it? Heaven forbid! Its floors were bare, its walls were bare, its tables there
were only two in the house were bare. There was nothing in the closets but books; nothing in the bureau drawers but the smell of clean,
fresh wood; nothing in the kitchen but an oil stove, and a few a very few dishes; nothing in the attic but rafters and sunshine, and a
view of the sea. After I had been there an hour there descended upon me a great peace, a sense of freedom, of in finite leisure. In the
twilight I sat before the flickering embers of the open fire, and looked out through the open door to the sea, and asked myself, “Why?”
Then the answer came: I was emancipated from things. There was nothing in the house to demand care, to claim attention, to cumber my
consciousness with its insistent, unchanging companionship. There was nothing but a shelter, and outside, the fields and marshes, the
shore and the sea. These did not have to be taken down and put up and arranged and dusted and cared for. They were not things at all,
they were powers, presences.
And so I rested. While the spell was still unbroken, I came away. For broken it would have been, I know, had I not fled first. Even in
this refuge the enemy would have pursued me, found me out, encompassed me.
If we could but free ourselves once for all, how simple life might become! One of my friends, who, with six young children and only one
servant, keeps a spotless house and a soul serene, told me once how she did it. “My dear, once a month I give away every single thing
in the house that we do not imperatively need. It sounds wasteful, but I don’t believe it really is. Sometimes Jeremiah mourns over
missing old clothes, or back numbers of the magazines, but I tell him if he doesn’t want to be mated to a gibbering maniac he will let
me do as I like.”
The old monks knew all this very well. One wonders sometimes how they got their power; but go up to Fiesole, and sit a while in one of
those little, bare, white-walled cells, and you will begin to understand. If there were any spiritual force in one, it would have to
come out there.
I have not their courage, and I win no such freedom. I allow myself to be overwhelmed by the invading host of things, making fitful
resistance, but without any real steadiness of purpose. Yet never do I wholly give up the struggle, and in my heart I cherish an ideal,
remotely typified by that empty little house beside the sea.
Morris’s description of the little house by the sea helps the reader
see what living without things looks like
understand why the house is empty
picture how things would look in the house
decide whether or not to visit the house
Question 3 (Fill-In-The-Blank Worth 6 points)
(LC)
From “The Tyranny of Things” by Elizabeth Morris
Once upon a time, when I was very tired, I chanced to go away to a little house by the sea. “It is empty,” they said, “but you can
easily furnish it.” Empty! Yes, thank Heaven! Furnish it? Heaven forbid! Its floors were bare, its walls were bare, its tables there
were only two in the house were bare. There was nothing in the closets but books; nothing in the bureau drawers but the smell of clean,
fresh wood; nothing in the kitchen but an oil stove, and a few a very few dishes; nothing in the attic but rafters and sunshine, and a
view of the sea. After I had been there an hour there descended upon me a great peace, a sense of freedom, of in finite leisure. In the
twilight I sat before the flickering embers of the open fire, and looked out through the open door to the sea, and asked myself, “Why?”
Then the answer came: I was emancipated from things. There was nothing in the house to demand care, to claim attention, to cumber my
consciousness with its insistent, unchanging companionship. There was nothing but a shelter, and outside, the fields and marshes, the
shore and the sea. These did not have to be taken down and put up and arranged and dusted and cared for. They were not things at all,
they were powers, presences.
And so I rested. While the spell was still unbroken, I came away. For broken it would have been, I know, had I not fled first. Even in
this refuge the enemy would have pursued me, found me out, encompassed me.
If we could but free ourselves once for all, how simple life might become! One of my friends, who, with six young children and only one
servant, keeps a spotless house and a soul serene, told me once how she did it. “My dear, once a month I give away every single thing
in the house that we do not imperatively need. It sounds wasteful, but I don’t believe it really is. Sometimes Jeremiah mourns over
missing old clothes, or back numbers of the magazines, but I tell him if he doesn’t want to be mated to a gibbering maniac he will let
me do as I like.”
The old monks knew all this very well. One wonders sometimes how they got their power; but go up to Fiesole, and sit a while in one of
those little, bare, white-walled cells, and you will begin to understand. If there were any spiritual force in one, it would have to
come out there.
I have not their courage, and I win no such freedom. I allow myself to be overwhelmed by the invading host of things, making fitful
resistance, but without any real steadiness of purpose. Yet never do I wholly give up the struggle, and in my heart I cherish an ideal,
remotely typified by that empty little house beside the sea.
Which three of these central ideas are not discussed in Morris’s essay?
Choose one answer from each group. Type the LETTER ONLY for each answer in the correct blank.
Type B, D, or C for Blank 1.
The burden of things
The loss of things
The beauty of things
Type E, F, or G for Blank 2.
The demand of things
The value of things
The absence of things
Type H, I, or J for Blank 3.
The need for things
The passion for things
The call for things
Answer for Blank 1:
Answer for Blank 2:
Answer for Blank 3:
Question 4 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Then her conscience reproached her, and she yearned to say something kind and loving; but she judged that this would be construed into
a confession that she had been in the wrong, and discipline forbade that. So she kept silence, and went about her affairs with a
troubled heart. Tom sulked in a corner and exalted his woes. He knew that in her heart his aunt was on her knees to him, and he was
morosely gratified by the consciousness of it. He would hang out no signals, he would take notice of none. He knew that a yearning
glance fell upon him, now and then, through a film of tears, but he refused recognition of it. He pictured himself lying sick unto
death and his aunt bending over him beseeching one little forgiving word, but he would turn his face to the wall, and die with that
word unsaid. Ah, how would she feel then? And he pictured himself brought home from the river, dead, with his curls all wet, and his
sore heart at rest. How she would throw herself upon him, and how her tears would fall like rain, and her lips pray God to give her
back her boy and she would never, never abuse him any more! But he would lie there cold and white and make no sign—a poor little
sufferer, whose griefs were at an end. He so worked upon his feelings with the pathos of these dreams, that he had to keep swallowing,
he was so like to choke; and his eyes swam in a blur of water, which overflowed when he winked, and ran down and trickled from the end
of his nose. And such a luxury to him was this petting of his sorrows, that he could not bear to have any worldly cheeriness or any
grating delight intrude upon it; it was too sacred for such contact; and so, presently, when his cousin Mary danced in, all alive with
the joy of seeing home again after an age-long visit of one week to the country, he got up and moved in clouds and darkness out at one
door as she brought song and sunshine in at the other.
Read these lines from the excerpt again:
Then her conscience reproached her, and she yearned to say something kind and loving; but she judged that this would be construed into
a confession that she had been in the wrong, and discipline forbade that.
These lines from the excerpt explicitly or directly states that Tom’s aunt
regrets her actions
justifies her actions
wants to punish Tom
needs Tom to apologize
Question 5 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Then her conscience reproached her, and she yearned to say something kind and loving; but she judged that this would be construed into
a confession that she had been in the wrong, and discipline forbade that. So she kept silence, and went about her affairs with a
troubled heart. Tom sulked in a corner and exalted his woes. He knew that in her heart his aunt was on her knees to him, and he was
morosely gratified by the consciousness of it. He would hang out no signals, he would take notice of none. He knew that a yearning
glance fell upon him, now and then, through a film of tears, but he refused recognition of it. He pictured himself lying sick unto
death and his aunt bending over him beseeching one little forgiving word, but he would turn his face to the wall, and die with that
word unsaid. Ah, how would she feel then? And he pictured himself brought home from the river, dead, with his curls all wet, and his
sore heart at rest. How she would throw herself upon him, and how her tears would fall like rain, and her lips pray God to give her
back her boy and she would never, never abuse him any more! But he would lie there cold and white and make no sign—a poor little
sufferer, whose griefs were at an end. He so worked upon his feelings with the pathos of these dreams, that he had to keep swallowing,
he was so like to choke; and his eyes swam in a blur of water, which overflowed when he winked, and ran down and trickled from the end
of his nose. And such a luxury to him was this petting of his sorrows, that he could not bear to have any worldly cheeriness or any
grating delight intrude upon it; it was too sacred for such contact; and so, presently, when his cousin Mary danced in, all alive with
the joy of seeing home again after an age-long visit of one week to the country, he got up and moved in clouds and darkness out at one
door as she brought song and sunshine in at the other.
Read these lines from the excerpt again:
He would hang out no signals, he would take notice of none. He knew that a yearning glance fell upon him, now and then, through a film
of tears, but he refused recognition of it.
Based on the information about Tom’s aunt provided in these lines from the excerpt, it is clear that
Tom’s aunt is crying and looking at him hopefully
Tom is yelling at his aunt and making her feel bad
Tom’s aunt is yelling at him and making him feel bad
Tom is crying and looking at his aunt hopefully
Question 6 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
Which of the following corrects the error in meaning and usage in the sentence below?
He believes himself to be an intellect, even though the only books he owns are contemporary comics and joke encyclopedias.
Change believes to belief.
Change intellect to intellectual.
Change contemporary to contempt.
Change joke to joker.
Question 7 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
Which of the following corrects the error in meaning and usage in the sentence below?
If we do not accelerate, we will be late for the invoke ceremony at the chapel for the new teachers.
Change accelerate to accel.
Change invoke to invocation.
Change late to lately.
Change ceremony to ceremonial.
Question 8 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
There was a rustling of dresses, and the standing congregation sat down. The boy whose history this book relates did not enjoy the
prayer, he only endured it—if he even did that much. He was restive all through it; he kept tally of the details of the prayer,
unconsciously—for he was not listening, but he knew the ground of old, and the clergyman’s regular route over it—and when a little
trifle of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected it and his whole nature resented it; he considered additions unfair, and
scoundrelly. In the midst of the prayer a fly had lit on the back of the pew in front of him and tortured his spirit by calmly rubbing
its hands together, embracing its head with its arms, and polishing it so vigorously that it seemed to almost part company with the
body, and the slender thread of a neck was exposed to view; scraping its wings with its hind legs and smoothing them to its body as if
they had been coat-tails; going through its whole toilet as tranquilly as if it knew it was perfectly safe. As indeed it was; for as
sorely as Tom’s hands itched to grab for it they did not dare—he believed his soul would be instantly destroyed if he did such a thing
while the prayer was going on. But with the closing sentence his hand began to curve and steal forward; and the instant the “Amen” was
out the fly was a prisoner of war. His aunt detected the act and made him let it go.
The minister gave out his text and droned along monotonously through an argument that was so prosy that many a head by and by began to
nod—and yet it was an argument that dealt in limitless fire and brimstone and thinned the predestined elect down to a company so small
as to be hardly worth the saving. Tom counted the pages of the sermon; after church he always knew how many pages there had been, but
he seldom knew anything else about the discourse. However, this time he was really interested for a little while. The minister made a
grand and moving picture of the assembling together of the world’s hosts at the millennium when the lion and the lamb should lie down
together and a little child should lead them. But the pathos, the lesson, the moral of the great spectacle were lost upon the boy; he
only thought of the conspicuousness of the principal character before the on-looking nations; his face lit with the thought, and he
said to himself that he wished he could be that child, if it was a tame lion.
Read these lines from the excerpt again:
He was restive all through it; he kept tally of the details of the prayer, unconsciously—for he was not listening, but he knew the
ground of old, and the clergyman’s regular route over it—and when a little trifle of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected it
and his whole nature resented it; he considered additions unfair, and scoundrelly.
Which word from the excerpt helps define the word interlarded?
Additions
Listening
Considered
Nature
Question 9 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
Which word best completes the sentence below?
The store’s pastries are simply the most ______ and delicate morsels I’ve ever had the opportunity to let melt in my mouth.
adequate
interesting
luscious
tortuous
Question 10 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
Which word best completes the sentence below?
The candidate for the position must be very sensitive to the emotions of our clients who often have endured many hardships and just
need a _________ listener.
benign
considerate
humane
sympathetic
Question 11 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
Which words most clearly suggest something fun?
Bouncy, skipping, light
Moist, measurable, momentary
Subtle, glowing, foggy
Sweetly, sugary, sticky
Question 12 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
Which of the following lines most likely indicates a happy resolution developing in the story?
Her favorite toy fell into the trash can…
His mother’s voice echoed in the distance…
The solider embraced his long lost brother…
The ambulance rushed to the hospital…
Question 13 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
Which word best describes acting as a go-between for bitterly arguing opposing sides?
Interfering
Intruding
Interrupting
Mediating
Question 14 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
Which word best describes a person who has become well advanced in a skill, but is not quite an expert?
Novice
Proficient
Professional
Talented
Question 15 (Fill-In-The-Blank Worth 6 points)
(LC)
“The Old Swimmin’ Hole” by James Whitcomb Riley
OH! the old swimmin’–hole! whare the crick so still and deep
Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,
And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest below
Sounded like the laugh of something we onc’t ust to know
Before we could remember anything but the eyes
Of the angels lookin’ out as we left Paradise;
But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,
And it’s hard to part ferever with the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the happy days of yore,
When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore,
Oh! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tide
That gazed back at me so gay and glorified,
It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress
My shadder smilin’ up at me with sich tenderness.
But them days is past and gone, and old Time’s tuck his toll
From the old man come back to the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the long, lazy-days
When the humdrum of school made so many run-a-ways,
How plesant was the jurney down the old dusty lane,
Whare the tracks of our bare feet was all printed so plane
You could tell by the dent of the heel and the sole
They was lots o’fun on hands at the old swimmin’–hole.
But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow roll
Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin’–hole.
There the bullrushes growed, and the cattails so tall,
And the sunshine and shadder fell over it all;
And it mottled the worter with amber and gold
Tel the glad lilies rocked in the ripples that rolled;
And the snake-feeder’s four gauzy wings fluttered by
Like the ghost of a daisy dropped out of the sky,
Or a wounded apple-blossom in the breeze’s controle
As it cut acrost some orchurd to’rds the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’—hole! When I last saw the place,
The scene was all changed, like the change in my face;
The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot
Whare the old divin’–log lays sunk and fergot.
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be –
But never again will theyr shade shelter me!
And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul,
And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin’–hole.
The speaker has fond memories of his childhood. Which three of these lines from the poem best illustrate that idea?
Choose one answer from each group. Type the LETTER ONLY for each answer in the correct blank.
Type A, B, or C for Blank 1.
But them days is past and gone, and old Time’s tuck his toll
From the old man come back to the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the happy days of yore,
When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore
But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow roll
Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin’–hole.
Type E, F, or G for Blank 2.
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be –
But never again will theyr shade shelter me!
The scene was all changed, like the change in my face;
The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot
How plesant was the jurney down the old dusty lane,
Whare the tracks of our bare feet was all printed so plane
Type H, I, or J for Blank 3.
But never again will theyr shade shelter me!
And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul,
Whare the old divin’–log lays sunk and fergot.
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be –
It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress
My shadder smilin’ up at me with sich tenderness
Answer for Blank 1:
Answer for Blank 2:
Answer for Blank 3:
Question 16 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
“The Old Swimmin’ Hole” by James Whitcomb Riley
OH! the old swimmin’-hole! whare the crick so still and deep
Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,
And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest below
Sounded like the laugh of something we onc’t ust to know
Before we could remember anything but the eyes
Of the angels lookin’ out as we left Paradise;
But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,
And it’s hard to part ferever with the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the happy days of yore,
When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore,
Oh! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tide
That gazed back at me so gay and glorified,
It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress
My shadder smilin’ up at me with sich tenderness.
But them days is past and gone, and old Time’s tuck his toll
From the old man come back to the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the long, lazy-days
When the humdrum of school made so many run-a-ways,
How plesant was the jurney down the old dusty lane,
Whare the tracks of our bare feet was all printed so plane
You could tell by the dent of the heel and the sole
They was lots o’fun on hands at the old swimmin’–hole.
But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow roll
Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin’–hole.
There the bullrushes growed, and the cattails so tall,
And the sunshine and shadder fell over it all;
And it mottled the worter with amber and gold
Tel the glad lilies rocked in the ripples that rolled;
And the snake-feeder’s four gauzy wings fluttered by
Like the ghost of a daisy dropped out of the sky,
Or a wounded apple-blossom in the breeze’s controle
As it cut acrost some orchurd to’rds the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’—hole! When I last saw the place,
The scene was all changed, like the change in my face;
The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot
Whare the old divin’–log lays sunk and fergot.
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be –
But never again will theyr shade shelter me!
And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul,
And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin’–hole.
Read this stanza again:
OH! the old swimmin’–hole! whare the crick so still and deep
Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,
And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest below
Sounded like the laugh of something we onc’t ust to know
Before we could remember anything but the eyes
Of the angels lookin’ out as we left Paradise;
But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,
And it’s hard to part ferever with the old swimmin’–hole.
The first stanza of the poem
starts with a description of the speaker and ends with a description on the swimming hole
starts with a happy memory of the swimming hole and ends with a somber statement
starts with a somber memory of the swimming hole and ends with a happy statement
starts with a description of the swimming hole and ends with a description of the speaker
Question 17 (Fill-In-The-Blank Worth 4 points)
(LC)
From “The Tyranny of Things” by Elizabeth Morris
Two fifteen-year-old girls stood eyeing one another on first acquaintance. Finally one little girl said, “Which do you like best,
people or things?” The other little girl said, “Things.” They were friends at once.
I suppose we all go through a phase when we like things best; and not only like them, but want to possess them under our hand. The
passion for accumulation is upon us. We make “collections,” we fill our rooms, our walls, our tables, our desks, with things, things,
things.
Many people never pass out of this phase. They never see a flower without wanting to pick it and put it in a vase, they never enjoy a
book without wanting to own it, nor a picture without wanting to hang it on their walls. They keep photographs of all their friends and
kodak albums of all the places they visit, they save all their theater programmes and dinner cards, they bring home all their
alpenstocks. Their houses are filled with an undigested mass of things, like the terminal moraine where a glacier dumps at length
everything it has picked up during its progress through the lands.
But to some of us a day comes when we begin to grow weary of things. We realize that we do not possess them; they possess us. Our books
are a burden to us, our pictures have destroyed every restful wall-space, our china is a care, our photographs drive us mad, our
programmes and alpenstocks fill us with loathing. We feel stifled with the sense of things, and our problem becomes, not how much we
can accumulate, but how much we can do without. We send our books to the village library, and our pictures to the college settlement.
Such things as we cannot give away, and have not the courage to destroy, we stack in the garret, where they lie huddled in dim and
dusty heaps, removed from our sight, to be sure, yet still faintly importunate.
Then, as we breathe more freely in the clear space that we have made for ourselves, we grow aware that we must not relax our vigilance,
or we shall be once more overwhelmed.
For it is an age of things. As I walk through the shops at Christmas time and survey their contents, I find it a most depressing
spectacle. All of us have too many things already, and here are more! And everybody is going to send some of them to everybody else! I
sympathize with one of my friends, who, at the end of the Christmas festivities, said, “If I see another bit of tissue paper and red
ribbon, I shall scream.”
It extends to all our doings. For every event there is a “souvenir.” We cannot go to luncheon and meet our friends but we must receive
a token to carry away. Even our children cannot have a birthday party, and play games, and eat good things, and be happy. The host must
receive gifts from every little guest, and provide in return some little remembrance for each to take home. Truly, on all sides we are
beset, and we go lumbering along through life like a ship encrusted with barnacles, which can never cut the waves clean and sure and
swift until she has been scraped bare again. And there seems little hope for us this side our last port.
And to think that there was a time when folk had not even that hope! When a man’s possessions were burned with him, so that he might,
forsooth, have them all about him in the next world! Suffocating thought! To think one could not even then be clear of things, and make
at least a fresh start! That must, indeed, have been in the childhood of the race.
Which of these two examples does Morris use to create a negative impression of accumulating things?
Choose one answer from each group. Type the LETTER ONLY for each answer in the correct blank.
Type A, B, C, or D for Blank 1.
They never enjoy a book without wanting to own it
Passion for accumulation is upon us
Our photographs drive us mad
We send our books to the village library
Type E, F, G, or H for Blank 2.
People like to pick the flowers they find pretty
Keeping photographs is important
Our books are a burden to us
There is no way to estimate the value of a thing
Answer for Blank 1:
Answer for Blank 2:
Question 18 (Fill-In-The-Blank Worth 6 points)
(LC)
Identify the three words that provide an appropriate connotation of the word home as it is used in this sentence: Thoughts of home
drifted through Sarah’s mind as her train pulled away from the station.
Choose one answer from each group. Type the LETTER ONLY for each answer in the correct blank.
Type A, B, or C for Blank 1.
Solid
Comfort
Structure
Type D, E, or F for Blank 2.
Utilities
Shelter
Family
Type G, H, or I for Blank 3.
Danger
Building
Warmth
Answer for Blank 1:
Answer for Blank 2:
Answer for Blank 3:
Question 19 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
“The Old Swimmin’ Hole” by James Whitcomb Riley
OH! the old swimmin’–hole! whare the crick so still and deep
Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,
And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest below
Sounded like the laugh of something we onc’t ust to know
Before we could remember anything but the eyes
Of the angels lookin’ out as we left Paradise;
But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,
And it’s hard to part ferever with the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the happy days of yore,
When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore,
Oh! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tide
That gazed back at me so gay and glorified,
It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress
My shadder smilin’ up at me with sich tenderness.
But them days is past and gone, and old Time’s tuck his toll
From the old man come back to the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the long, lazy-days
When the humdrum of school made so many run-a-ways,
How plesant was the jurney down the old dusty lane,
Whare the tracks of our bare feet was all printed so plane
You could tell by the dent of the heel and the sole
They was lots o’fun on hands at the old swimmin’–hole.
But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow roll
Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin’–hole.
There the bullrushes growed, and the cattails so tall,
And the sunshine and shadder fell over it all;
And it mottled the worter with amber and gold
Tel the glad lilies rocked in the ripples that rolled;
And the snake-feeder’s four gauzy wings fluttered by
Like the ghost of a daisy dropped out of the sky,
Or a wounded apple-blossom in the breeze’s controle
As it cut acrost some orchurd to’rds the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’—hole! When I last saw the place,
The scene was all changed, like the change in my face;
The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot
Whare the old divin’–log lays sunk and fergot.
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be –
But never again will theyr shade shelter me!
And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul,
And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin’–hole.
Read these lines from the poem again:
But them days is past and gone, and old Time’s tuck his toll
From the old man come back to the old swimmin’–hole.
These lines from the poem suggest that the speaker
has lost his memory
has had a hard life
is happy about growing old
wants to forget the swimming hole
Question 20 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
“The Old Swimmin’ Hole” by James Whitcomb Riley
OH! the old swimmin’–hole! whare the crick so still and deep
Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,
And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest below
Sounded like the laugh of something we onc’t ust to know
Before we could remember anything but the eyes
Of the angels lookin’ out as we left Paradise;
But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,
And it’s hard to part ferever with the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the happy days of yore,
When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore,
Oh! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tide
That gazed back at me so gay and glorified,
It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress
My shadder smilin’ up at me with sich tenderness.
But them days is past and gone, and old Time’s tuck his toll
From the old man come back to the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’–hole! In the long, lazy-days
When the humdrum of school made so many run-a-ways,
How plesant was the jurney down the old dusty lane,
Whare the tracks of our bare feet was all printed so plane
You could tell by the dent of the heel and the sole
They was lots o’fun on hands at the old swimmin’–hole.
But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow roll
Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin’–hole.
There the bullrushes growed, and the cattails so tall,
And the sunshine and shadder fell over it all;
And it mottled the worter with amber and gold
Tel the glad lilies rocked in the ripples that rolled;
And the snake-feeder’s four gauzy wings fluttered by
Like the ghost of a daisy dropped out of the sky,
Or a wounded apple-blossom in the breeze’s controle
As it cut acrost some orchurd to’rds the old swimmin’–hole.
Oh! the old swimmin’—hole! When I last saw the place,
The scene was all changed, like the change in my face;
The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot
Whare the old divin’–log lays sunk and fergot.
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be –
But never again will theyr shade shelter me!
And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul,
And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin’–hole.
The speaker of this poem
looks back fondly on his days as a young boy
wants to forget his reckless past
fears losing the memories of his youth
does not want to relive his childhood experiences
Question 21 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
Which phrase from the sentence gives it a formal tone?
We have before us an opportunity to make a change that will help our children plan more completely for their retirement.
An opportunity to
Help our children plan
We have before us
Make a change
Question 22 (Fill-In-The-Blank Worth 6 points)
(LC)
From “The Tyranny of Things” by Elizabeth Morris
Once upon a time, when I was very tired, I chanced to go away to a little house by the sea. “It is empty,” they said, “but you can
easily furnish it.” Empty! Yes, thank Heaven! Furnish it? Heaven forbid! Its floors were bare, its walls were bare, its tables there
were only two in the house were bare. There was nothing in the closets but books; nothing in the bureau drawers but the smell of clean,
fresh wood; nothing in the kitchen but an oil stove, and a few a very few dishes; nothing in the attic but rafters and sunshine, and a
view of the sea. After I had been there an hour there descended upon me a great peace, a sense of freedom, of in finite leisure. In the
twilight I sat before the flickering embers of the open fire, and looked out through the open door to the sea, and asked myself, “Why?”
Then the answer came: I was emancipated from things. There was nothing in the house to demand care, to claim attention, to cumber my
consciousness with its insistent, unchanging companionship. There was nothing but a shelter, and outside, the fields and marshes, the
shore and the sea. These did not have to be taken down and put up and arranged and dusted and cared for. They were not things at all,
they were powers, presences.
And so I rested. While the spell was still unbroken, I came away. For broken it would have been, I know, had I not fled first. Even in
this refuge the enemy would have pursued me, found me out, encompassed me.
If we could but free ourselves once for all, how simple life might become! One of my friends, who, with six young children and only one
servant, keeps a spotless house and a soul serene, told me once how she did it. “My dear, once a month I give away every single thing
in the house that we do not imperatively need. It sounds wasteful, but I don’t believe it really is. Sometimes Jeremiah mourns over
missing old clothes, or back numbers of the magazines, but I tell him if he doesn’t want to be mated to a gibbering maniac he will let
me do as I like.”
The old monks knew all this very well. One wonders sometimes how they got their power; but go up to Fiesole, and sit a while in one of
those little, bare, white-walled cells, and you will begin to understand. If there were any spiritual force in one, it would have to
come out there.
I have not their courage, and I win no such freedom. I allow myself to be overwhelmed by the invading host of things, making fitful
resistance, but without any real steadiness of purpose. Yet never do I wholly give up the struggle, and in my heart I cherish an ideal,
remotely typified by that empty little house beside the sea.
Which words from the excerpt describe Morris’s feelings about the absence of things?
Choose one answer from each group. Type the LETTER ONLY for each answer in the correct blank.
Type A, B, or C for Blank 1.
Emancipated
Encompassed
Unbroken
Type E, F, or G for Blank 2.
Power
Wasteful
Sea
Type H, I, or J for Blank 3.
Magazines
House
Spiritual
Answer for Blank 1:
Answer for Blank 2:
Answer for Blank 3:
Question 23 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
Read this sentence from the essay:
Hester receives a constant stream of admonitions and moral guidance, but the guidance and nudgings Dimmesdale receives from
Chillingsworth are far more sinister and evil.
Based on the context, what does the word admonitions mean?
Gentle or friendly criticism or advice
Loud and frightening spirits or apparitions
Free and loving manipulation of people
Kind and open misinformation or lies
Question 24 (Fill-In-The-Blank Worth 4 points)
(LC)
From “The Tyranny of Things” by Elizabeth Morris
Two fifteen-year-old girls stood eyeing one another on first acquaintance. Finally one little girl said, “Which do you like best,
people or things?” The other little girl said, “Things.” They were friends at once.
I suppose we all go through a phase when we like things best; and not only like them, but want to possess them under our hand. The
passion for accumulation is upon us. We make “collections,” we fill our rooms, our walls, our tables, our desks, with things, things,
things.
Many people never pass out of this phase. They never see a flower without wanting to pick it and put it in a vase, they never enjoy a
book without wanting to own it, nor a picture without wanting to hang it on their walls. They keep photographs of all their friends and
kodak albums of all the places they visit, they save all their theater programmes and dinner cards, they bring home all their
alpenstocks. Their houses are filled with an undigested mass of things, like the terminal moraine where a glacier dumps at length
everything it has picked up during its progress through the lands.
But to some of us a day comes when we begin to grow weary of things. We realize that we do not possess them; they possess us. Our books
are a burden to us, our pictures have destroyed every restful wall-space, our china is a care, our photographs drive us mad, our
programmes and alpenstocks fill us with loathing. We feel stifled with the sense of things, and our problem becomes, not how much we
can accumulate, but how much we can do without. We send our books to the village library, and our pictures to the college settlement.
Such things as we cannot give away, and have not the courage to destroy, we stack in the garret, where they lie huddled in dim and
dusty heaps, removed from our sight, to be sure, yet still faintly importunate.
Then, as we breathe more freely in the clear space that we have made for ourselves, we grow aware that we must not relax our vigilance,
or we shall be once more overwhelmed.
For it is an age of things. As I walk through the shops at Christmas time and survey their contents, I find it a most depressing
spectacle. All of us have too many things already, and here are more! And everybody is going to send some of them to everybody else! I
sympathize with one of my friends, who, at the end of the Christmas festivities, said, “If I see another bit of tissue paper and red
ribbon, I shall scream.”
It extends to all our doings. For every event there is a “souvenir.” We cannot go to luncheon and meet our friends but we must receive
a token to carry away. Even our children cannot have a birthday party, and play games, and eat good things, and be happy. The host must
receive gifts from every little guest, and provide in return some little remembrance for each to take home. Truly, on all sides we are
beset, and we go lumbering along through life like a ship encrusted with barnacles, which can never cut the waves clean and sure and
swift until she has been scraped bare again. And there seems little hope for us this side our last port.
And to think that there was a time when folk had not even that hope! When a man’s possessions were burned with him, so that he might,
forsooth, have them all about him in the next world! Suffocating thought! To think one could not even then be clear of things, and make
at least a fresh start! That must, indeed, have been in the childhood of the race.
Which two of these are central ideas that Morris develops throughout the essay?
Choose one answer from each group. Type the LETTER ONLY for each answer in the correct blank.
Type A, B, C, or D for Blank 1.
Things need to be organized
Gifts make people happy
People have too many things
Prices are too high
Type E, F, G, or H for Blank 2.
Things are unnecessary
People need more things
Prices are too low
Collections are valuable
Answer for Blank 1:
Answer for Blank 2:
Question 25 (Fill-In-The-Blank Worth 6 points)
(MC)
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
As he was passing by the house where Jeff Thatcher lived, he saw a new girl in the garden—a lovely little blue-eyed creature with
yellow hair plaited into two long-tails, white summer frock and embroidered pan-talettes. The fresh-crowned hero fell without firing a
shot. A certain Amy Lawrence vanished out of his heart and left not even a memory of herself behind. He had thought he loved her to
distraction; he had regarded his passion as adoration; and behold it was only a poor little evanescent partiality. He had been months
winning her; she had confessed hardly a week ago; he had been the happiest and the proudest boy in the world only seven short days, and
here in one instant of time she had gone out of his heart like a casual stranger whose visit is done.
Identify three words that best describe Tom Sawyer as he is depicted in this excerpt.
Choose one answer from each group. Type the LETTER ONLY for each answer in the correct blank.
Type A, B, or C for Blank 1.
Preoccupied
Concerned
Impulsive
Type F, G, or H for Blank 2.
Horrified
Confused
Determined
Type I, J, or K for Blank 3.
Passionate
Considerate
Indecisive
Answer for Blank 1:
Answer for Blank 2:
Answer for Blank 3:
Question 26 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
At what point in the writing process would it be best to do the bulk of the research on your topic?
After completing a first or second draft
After creating an outline or plan
Before completing your final draft
Before creating an outline or plan
Question 27 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(LC)
When writing a paper, what is the next step after writing a first draft?
Brainstorming
Formatting
Research
Review and revision
Question 28 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
A very handsome young lady in the store offered me a pair of blue gloves. I did not want blue, but she said they would look very pretty
on a hand like mine. The remark touched me tenderly. I glanced furtively at my hand, and somehow it did seem rather a comely member. I
tried a glove on my left, and blushed a little. Manifestly the size was too small for me. But I felt gratified when she said:
“Oh, it is just right!” yet I knew it was no such thing.
I tugged at it diligently, but it was discouraging work. She said:
“Ah! I see you are accustomed to wearing kid gloves while some gentlemen are so awkward about putting them on.”
It was the last compliment I had expected. I only understand about putting on the buckskin article perfectly. I made another effort,
and tore the glove from the base of the thumb into the palm of the hand, and tried to hide the tear. She kept up her compliments, and I
kept up my determination to deserve them or die.
“Ah, you have had experience!” (Yes, a rip down the back of the hand) “They are just right for you—your hand is very small—if they
tear, you need not pay for them.” (There was a rent across the middle.) “I can always tell when a gentleman understands putting on kid
gloves. There is a grace about it that only comes with long patience.” (Meanwhile, my efforts caused the whole afterguard of the glove
to “fetch away,” as the sailors say, and then the fabric parted across the knuckles, and nothing was left but a melancholy ruin.)
I was too much flattered to make an exposure and throw the merchandise on the angel’s hands. I was hot, vexed, confused, yet still
happy, but I hated the other boys for taking such an absorbing interest in the proceedings. I wished they were in Jericho. I felt
exquisitely mean when I said cheerfully:
“This one does very well; it fits elegantly. I like a glove that fits. No, never mind, ma’am, never mind; I’ll put the other on in the
street. It is warm here.”
It was warm. It was the warmest place I ever was in. I paid the bill, and, as I passed out with a fascinating bow, I thought I detected
a light in the woman’s eye that was gently ironical, and when I looked back from the street, and she was laughing to herself about
something or other, I said to myself, with withering sarcasm: “Oh, certainly; you know how to put on kid gloves, don’t you?—a self-
complacent heel, ready to be flattered out of your senses by every petticoat that chooses to take the trouble to do it!”
And I tried to remember why I had entered the store in the first place, and if I shouldn’t return on the morrow to complete my initial
mission.
Read these lines from the excerpt again:
It was the last compliment I had expected. I only understand about putting on the buckskin article perfectly. I made another effort,
and tore the glove from the base of the thumb into the palm of the hand, and tried to hide the tear. She kept up her compliments, and I
kept up my determination to deserve them or die.
These lines from the story show that the shop girl is
embarrassed by the narrator
manipulating the narrator
helping the narrator with the gloves
making the narrator uncomfortable
Question 29 (Multiple Choice Worth 4 points)
(MC)
A very handsome young lady in the store offered me a pair of blue gloves. I did not want blue, but she said they would look very pretty
on a hand like mine. The remark touched me tenderly. I glanced furtively at my hand, and somehow it did seem rather a comely member. I
tried a glove on my left, and blushed a little. Manifestly the size was too small for me. But I felt gratified when she said:
“Oh, it is just right!” yet I knew it was no such thing.
I tugged at it diligently, but it was discouraging work. She said:
“Ah! I see you are accustomed to wearing kid gloves while some gentlemen are so awkward about putting them on.”
It was the last compliment I had expected. I only understand about putting on the buckskin article perfectly. I made another effort,
and tore the glove from the base of the thumb into the palm of the hand, and tried to hide the tear. She kept up her compliments, and I
kept up my determination to deserve them or die.
“Ah, you have had experience!” (Yes, a rip down the back of the hand) “They are just right for you—your hand is very small—if they
tear, you need not pay for them.” (There was a rent across the middle.) “I can always tell when a gentleman understands putting on kid
gloves. There is a grace about it that only comes with long patience.” (Meanwhile, my efforts caused the whole afterguard of the glove
to “fetch away,” as the sailors say, and then the fabric parted across the knuckles, and nothing was left but a melancholy ruin.)
I was too much flattered to make an exposure and throw the merchandise on the angel’s hands. I was hot, vexed, confused, yet still
happy, but I hated the other boys for taking such an absorbing interest in the proceedings. I wished they were in Jericho. I felt
exquisitely mean when I said cheerfully:
“This one does very well; it fits elegantly. I like a glove that fits. No, never mind, ma’am, never mind; I’ll put the other on in the
street. It is warm here.”
It was warm. It was the warmest place I ever was in. I paid the bill, and, as I passed out with a fascinating bow, I thought I detected
a light in the woman’s eye that was gently ironical, and when I looked back from the street, and she was laughing to herself about
something or other, I said to myself, with withering sarcasm: “Oh, certainly; you know how to put on kid gloves, don’t you?—a self-
complacent heel, ready to be flattered out of your senses by every petticoat that chooses to take the trouble to do it!”
And I tried to remember why I had entered the store in the first place, and if I shouldn’t return on the morrow to complete my initial
mission.
Read these lines from the excerpt again:
“Ah, you have had experience!” (Yes, a rip down the back of the hand) “They are just right for you—your hand is very small—if they
tear, you need not pay for them.” (There was a rent across the middle.) “I can always tell when a gentleman understands putting on kid
gloves. There is a grace about it that only comes with long patience.” (Meanwhile, my efforts caused the whole afterguard of the glove
to “fetch away,” as the sailors say, and then the fabric parted across the knuckles, and nothing was left but a melancholy ruin.)
In this excerpt from the story the tone of shop girl’s compliments is
thoughtful
kind
ungrateful
insincere
Question 30 (Essay Worth 10 points)
(HC)
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
There was a rustling of dresses, and the standing congregation sat down. The boy whose history this book relates did not enjoy the
prayer, he only endured it—if he even did that much. He was restive all through it; he kept tally of the details of the prayer,
unconsciously—for he was not listening, but he knew the ground of old, and the clergyman’s regular route over it—and when a little
trifle of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected it and his whole nature resented it; he considered additions unfair, and
scoundrelly. In the midst of the prayer a fly had lit on the back of the pew in front of him and tortured his spirit by calmly rubbing
its hands together, embracing its head with its arms, and polishing it so vigorously that it seemed to almost part company with the
body, and the slender thread of a neck was exposed to view; scraping its wings with its hind legs and smoothing them to its body as if
they had been coat-tails; going through its whole toilet as tranquilly as if it knew it was perfectly safe. As indeed it was; for as
sorely as Tom’s hands itched to grab for it they did not dare—he believed his soul would be instantly destroyed if he did such a thing
while the prayer was going on. But with the closing sentence his hand began to curve and steal forward; and the instant the “Amen” was
out the fly was a prisoner of war. His aunt detected the act and made him let it go.
The minister gave out his text and droned along monotonously through an argument that was so prosy that many a head by and by began to
nod—and yet it was an argument that dealt in limitless fire and brimstone and thinned the predestined elect down to a company so small
as to be hardly worth the saving. Tom counted the pages of the sermon; after church he always knew how many pages there had been, but
he seldom knew anything else about the discourse. However, this time he was really interested for a little while. The minister made a
grand and moving picture of the assembling together of the world’s hosts at the millennium when the lion and the lamb should lie down
together and a little child should lead them. But the pathos, the lesson, the moral of the great spectacle were lost upon the boy; he
only thought of the conspicuousness of the principal character before the on-looking nations; his face lit with the thought, and he
said to himself that he wished he could be that child, if it was a tame lion.
Read these lines from the excerpt again:
In the midst of the prayer a fly had lit on the back of the pew in front of him and tortured his spirit by calmly rubbing its hands
together, embracing its head with its arms, and polishing it so vigorously that it seemed to almost part company with the body, and the
slender thread of a neck was exposed to view; scraping its wings with its hind legs and smoothing them to its body as if they had been
coat-tails; going through its whole toilet as tranquilly as if it knew it was perfectly safe. As indeed it was; for as sorely as Tom’s
hands itched to grab for it they did not dare—he believed his soul would be instantly destroyed if he did such a thing while the prayer
was going on.
In a response of two to three complete sentences explain why the fly described in this excerpt would have been in danger? Remember to
use supporting details from the text.
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