Module I: Reading and Writing

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The following text is from Edgar Rice Burroughs's 1918 novel The People That Time Forgot
Bowen and I roomed together at college, and I learned a lot from him outside my regular course. He was a pretty good scholar despite his love of fun, and his particular hobby was paleontology. He used to tell me about the various forms of animal and vegetable life which had covered the globe during former eras, and so I was pretty well acquainted with the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of paleolithic times.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
1
Mark for Review
It pinpoints a few of Bowen's traits that the subsequent sentence further explains.
It returns to the previous sentence's description of a conflict between Bowen and the narrator.
It hints at the source of tension between Bowen and the narrator that is mentioned in the subsequent sentence.
It offers further details about the college curriculum described in the previous sentence.
The following text is from Gertrude Stein's text "The Good Anna," one of the stories in the 1909 book Three Lives
Anna managed the whole little house for Miss Mathilda. It was a funny little house, one of a whole row of all the same kind that made a close pile like a row of dominoes that a child knocks over, for they were built along a street which at this point came down a steep hill. They were funny little houses, two stories high, with red brick fronts and long white steps.
This one little house was always very full with Miss Mathilda, an under servant, stray dogs and cats and Anna's voice that scolded, managed, grumbled all day long.
Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?
2
Mark for Review
To illustrate a few misconceptions about a setting and its inhabitants
To demonstrate that two characters are fundamentally similar
To reveal the positive aspects of a character's ideas
To depict a location and explain a character's role in this context
The following text is from Edith Nesbit's 1899 novel The Treasure Seekers. This portion is narrated by a child and begins the novel's second chapter.
I am afraid the last chapter was rather dull. It is always dull in books when people talk and talk, and don't do anything, but I was obliged to put it in, or else you wouldn't have understood all the rest. The best part of books is when things are happening. That is the best part of real things too. This is why I shall not tell you in this story about all the days when nothing happened.
Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?
3
Mark for Review
To apologize for the narrator's taste in literature
To name a few books that the narrator enjoys
To connect the narrator's own writing to specific principles
To recall a pivotal scene from the narrator's education
The following text is from Sarah Orne Jewett's 1878 short story "A Late Supper."
Miss Spring had finished her dinner that day, and had washed the few dishes, and put them away. She never could get used to there being so few, because she had been one of a large family. She had put on the gray alpaca dress which she wore afternoons at home, and had taken her sewing, and sat down at one of the front windows in the sitting-room, which was shaded by a green old lilac-bush. But she did not sew as if she were much interested in the work, or were in any hurry.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
4
Mark for Review
It places Miss Spring's present circumstances in the context of her earlier life.
It offers a general statement that the next sentence gives more precise support.
It redirects the focus of the narration from Miss Spring's present to her future.
It evokes the traits of a group that the following sentences depict in additional detail.
The following text is from Walt Whitman's 1865 poem "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer."
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
5
Mark for Review
It alternates between the speech of the astronomer and the thoughts of the narrator.
It lists what the narrator learned in his studies, then what he learned on his evening walks.
It makes an extended comparison between the environment of a classroom and outer space.
It presents an experience in a lecture hall and then the narrator's contrasting experience outside.
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