Poetry Practice_MC Student Name: Date: Period: Step 1: Summarize or paraphrase each stanza. Step 2: Annotate for objectives that I am likely to test you on (AKA objectives we have covered in the last six weeks). Characterization: How is each character/the narrator developed (STEAL)? What are specific adjectives to describe the personality of each one? Tone: What is the tone? Does the tone change over the course of the poem? Diction: What kind of diction is used? Use specific words from your notes on diction. Symbols: Look for physical objects that represent ideas. Subject: What is the poem about? Give one word answers. Subjects that are likely to appear: family, coming of age, rebellion. Theme: What statement is the poem making about the subject? This should sound wise! Step 3: Read each question and go back to the text to identify evidence. Step 4: Before you look at the answer choices, make an educated (evidence-based) guess and write it down. I have distanced the questions (below) from the answer choices (on the back). Hopefully this will help you to shield the answers. Step 5: Use process of elimination to avoid incorrect answers. 1. In the title, the fruit most likely symbolizes... 2. In line 3, the author compares his father to a folded fan in order to... 3. In line 7, the author compares his mother to a pool to suggest... 4. The tone in the first stanza is best described 5. The tone in the fourth and fifth stanzas is best described 6. The narrator can best be described 7. In the fourth stanza, the narrator is characterized through... 8. The parents would most likely describe their son 9. Which line in the poem is the best evidence of an instructive tone... 10. The author s diction can best be described 11. The purpose of the poem is most likely...
Multiple Choice Practice Student Name: Date: Period: Step 5: Now, use all the work you have done so far AND process of elimination to choose the correct answer. 1. In the title, the fruit most likely symbolizes... a. the success that the son has achieved in life. b. the sweetness of life. c. the loving nature of the father. d. the calm appearance of the mother. e. the creation of a child. 2. In line 3, the author compares his father to a folded fan in order to characterize him as... a. open and honest with his feelings. b. loving and sympathetic to his son. c. quiet and reserved. d. an unfit parent. e. hated by his son. 3. In line 7, the author compares his mother to a pool in order to characterize her a. surprisingly emotional. b. prideful and immature. c. serene and composed at all times. d. dark and dangerous. e. comforting and sympathetic. 4. The tone in the first stanza is best described a. flippant. b. reflective. c. cynical d. foreboding. e. lighthearted. 5. The tone in the fourth and fifth stanzas is best described a. wrathful. b. indignant. c. condescending. d. flattering. e. sympathetic. 6. The narrator can best be described a. a man who condemns his parents for his own problems. b. a man who acknowledges the origin of his strong emotions. c. a man who struggles to understand his parents. d. a son who loves his parents with all of his heart. e. a child who is lost without the support of his parents. 7. In the fourth stanza, the narrator is characterized through... a. his speech. b. his thoughts. c. his effects on others. d. his actions. e. his looks or appearance. 8. The parents would most likely describe their son a. calm just like his mother. b. boastful and proud. c. sober and steady. d. emotional and out-of-control. e. loving and supportive. 9. Which of the following lines is best evidence for an instructive tone? a. My father is a quiet man/with sober, steady ways (1-2). b. And yet my father s eyes can boast (9). c. why should she think it devil s art/that all my songs should be (21-22). d. Who plants a seed begets a bud (26). e. Why marvel at the hectic flood? (27). 10. The author s diction can best be described a. colloquial. b. formal. c. semi-formal. d. slang. e. monosyllabic. 11. The purpose of the poem is most likely... a. to instruct the reader on how to live his or her life. b. to express the narrator s bitterness at his upbringing. c. to explain how the narrator is but a product of his parents. d. to rationalize the narrator s sin. e. to convey gratitude to the narrator s parents.
Multiple Choice Strategies Practice_Fiction Student Name: Date: Period: Directions: Step 1: Read and annotate for objectives that you know will be tested (diction, characterization, point of view, plot, tone, conflict, theme, setting, symbolism etc.) Step 2: Read each question and go back to the text to identify evidence to support your answer. Step 3: Guess the answer before you read the answer choices. Step 4: Use process of elimination to help you choose the correct answer. Over the years, I had seen a lot of guys run kites. But Hassan was by far the greatest kite runner I d ever seen. It was downright eerie the way he always got to the spot the kite would land before the kite did, as if he had some sort of inner compass. Annotations: I remember one overcast winter day, Hassan and I were running a kite. I was chasing him through neighborhoods, hopping gutters, weaving through narrow streets. I was a year older than him, but Hassan ran faster than I did, and I was falling behind. Hassan! Wait! I yelled, my breathing hot and ragged. He whirled around, motioned with his hand. This way! he called before dashing around another corner. I looked up, saw that the direction we were running was opposite to the one the kite was drifting. We re losing it! We re going the wrong way! I cried out. Trust me! I heard him call up ahead. I reached the corner and saw Hassan bolting along, his head down, not even looking at the sky, sweat soaking through the back of his shirt. I tripped over a rock and fell I wasn t just slower than Hassan but clumsier too; I d always envied his natural athleticism. When I staggered to my feet, I caught a glimpse of Hassan disappearing around another street corner. I hobbled after him, spikes of pain battering my scraped knees. I saw we had ended up on a rutted dirt road near Isteqlal Middle School. There was a field on one side where lettuce grew in the summer, and a row of sour cherry trees on the other. I found Hassan sitting cross-legged at the foot of one of the trees, eating from a fistful of dried mulberries. What are we doing here? I panted, my stomach roiling with nausea. He smiled. Sit with me, Amir agha. I dropped next to him, lay on a thin patch of snow, wheezing. You re wasting our time. It was going the other way, didn t you see? Hassan popped a mulberry in his mouth. It s coming, he said. I could hardly breathe and he didn t even sound tired. How do you know? I said. I know. How can you know? He turned to me. A few sweat beads rolled from his bald scalp. Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha? Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. I don t know. Would you? I d sooner eat dirt, he said with a look of indignation.
Really? You d do that? Annotations: He threw me a puzzled look. Do what? Eat dirt if I told you to, I said. I knew I was being cruel, like when I d taunt him if he didn t know some big word. But there was something fascinating albeit in a sick way about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass. His eyes searched my face for a long time. We sat there, two boys under a sour cherry tree, suddenly looking, really looking, at each other. That s when it happened again: Hassan s face changed. Maybe not changed, not really, but suddenly I had the feeling I was looking at two faces, the one I knew, the one that was my first memory, and another, a second face, this one lurking just beneath the surface. I d seen it happen before it always shook me up a little. It just appeared, this other face, for a fraction of a moment, long enough to leave me with the unsettling feeling that maybe I d seen it someplace before. Then Hassan blinked and it was just him again. Just Hassan. If you asked, I would, he finally said, looking right at me. I dropped my eyes. To this day, I find it hard to gaze directly at people like Hassan, people who mean every word they say. But I wonder, he added. Would you ever ask me to do such a thing, Amir agha? And, just like that, he had thrown at me his own little test. If I was going to toy with him and challenge his loyalty, then he d toy with me, test my integrity. I wished I hadn t started this conversation. I forced a smile. Don t be stupid, Hassan. You know I wouldn t. Hassan returned the smile. Except his didn t look forced. I know, he said. And that s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too. Here it comes, Hassan said, pointing to the sky. He rose to his feet and walked a few paces to his left. I looked up, saw the kite plummeting toward us. I heard footfalls, shouts, an approaching melee of kite runners. But they were wasting their time. Because Hassan stood with his arms wide open, smiling, waiting for the kite. And may God if He exists, that is strike me blind if the kite didn t just drop into his outstretched arms. 1. After reading the passage, Hassan s inner compass most likely symbolizes... a. his ability to capture kites. b. his loyalty to the narrator. c. his humility. d. his knowledge of right and wrong. e. his frustration with the narrator. 2. The point of view is best described a. first person omniscient. b. first person reliable. c. second person limited omniscient. d. third person dramatic. e. third person limited omniscient. 3. The author chose this point of view in order to... a. allow the main character to reflect on his wrongs. b. create sympathy for the main character. c. create sympathy for Hassan. d. build suspense leading up to the climax. e. reveal Hassan s motives for his actions. 4. In paragraph 4, Hassan s tone is best described a. authoritative. b. encouraging. c. wrathful. d. indignant. e. effusive. 5. Hassan is mostly characterized through... i. his actions ii. his speech iii. his thoughts a. i only. b. i and ii only. c. i and iii only. d. ii and iii only. e. i, ii, and iii.
6. Hassan is characterized a. confident and authoritative. b. frustrated and angry. c. reliable but indignant. d. loyal and sincere. e. excited and flippant. 7. The narrator is characterized through... i. his actions ii. his speech iii. his thoughts a. i only b. i and ii only c. i and iii only d. ii and iii only e. i, ii, and iii 8. The narrator s tone in paragraph 19 is best described a. wrathful. b. indignant. c. malicious. d. didactic. e. candid. 9. The complication occurs in paragraph... a. 1. b. 5. c. 9. d. 15. e. 18. 10. The tone of paragraph 25 is best described a. foreboding. b. wrathful. c. flattering. d. haughty. e. didactic. 11. The climax of this passage is... a. when Hassan catches the kite. b. when the narrator asks Hassan to eat dirt. c. when Hassan asks the narrator a question. d. when the boys finally sit down after their run. e. there isn t a definite climax because it is all rising action. 12. The overall tone of this passage is best described as... a. wrathful b. reflective c. lighthearted d. detached e. condescending 13. The central conflict of the passage is best described a. man vs. man-the narrator and Hassan must beat the other boys to the kite. b. man vs. self-hassan struggles as he decides to do what the narrator asks. c. man vs. self-the narrator reflects on his own cruelty. d. man vs. man-hassan and the narrator struggle for dominance. e. man vs. fate-the main character knows that he is fated to act cruelly. 14. The tone of the last paragraph is best described a. optimistic b. soothing c. impressed d. judgmental e. elated 15. The author s diction could best be described a. slang b. formal c. semi-formal d. euphonious e. technical 16. All of the following could be considered important subjects of this passage EXCEPT... a. power. b. loyalty. c. friendship. d. childhood. e. health. 17. The purpose of this passage is most likely... a. to reveal Hassan s disloyalty. b. to show the expertise of the narrator. c. to reveal the physical limitations of the narrator. d. to suggest that the narrator has a dark side. e. to create sympathy for the struggles of the narrator.