NCFE Preparation Assessment #7—Standard and Honors English IV

Place your answers on a separate sheet of paper. This is a timed assessment, due when called for. All testing protocol is in effect.

Items 1-8are based on the following passage from Grendel. For each item, select the best answer for each given item from the choices provided

fromGrendel by John Gardner

And so I come through the trees and towns to the lights of Hrothgar’s mead-hall. I am no stranger here. A respected guest. Eleven years now and going on twelve I have come up this clean-mown central hill, dark shadow out of the woods below, and have knocked politely on the high oak door, bursting its hinges and sending the shock of my greeting inward like a cold blast out of the cave. “Grendel!” they squeak, and I smile like exploding spring. The drunkest of Hrothgar’s thanes come reeling and clanking down from their wall-hung beds, all shouting their meady, outrageous boasts, their heavy swords aswirl like eagles’ wings. “Woe, woe, woe!” cries Hrothgar, hoary with winters, peaking in, wide-eyed, from his bedroom and back. His wife, looking in behind him, makes a scene. The thanes in the mead-hall blow out the lights and cover the wide stone fireplace with shields. I laugh, crumple over; I can’t help myself. In the darkness, I alone see clear as day. While they squeal and screech and bump into each other, I silently sack up my dead and withdraw to the woods. I eat and laugh and eat until I can barely walk, my chest-hair matted with dribbled blood, and then the roosters on the hill crow, and dawn comes over the roofs of the houses, and all at once I am filled with gloom again.

My belly rumbles, sick on their sour meat. I crawl through blood stained leaves to the eaves of the forest and there peak out. The dogs fall silent at the edge of my spell. Pigs root dully at the posts of a wooden fence, a rumble-horned ox lies chewing in dew and shade. A few men, lean, wearing animal skins, look up at the gables of the king’s hall, or at the vultures circling casually beyond. Hrothgar says nothing, hoarfrost-bearded, his features cracked and crazed. Inside, I hear the people praying--whimpering, whining, mumbling, pleading –to their numerous sticks and stones. He doesn’t go in. The king has lofty theories of his own.

-excerpt from “Grendel” by John Gardner

1.Grendel is written in which point of view?

  1. First-person limited
  2. First-person omniscient
  3. Third-person omniscient
  4. Third-person limited
  1. Who is the narrator of the above passage?
  1. Beowulf
  2. Grendel
  3. Hrothgar
  4. The author, John Gardner
  1. “The drunkest of Hrothgar’s thanes come reeling and clanking down from their wall-hung beds, all shouting their meady, outrageous boasts, their heavy swords aswirl like eagles’ wings.” Based on context clues, what is a “thane?”

A.A poet

B.A drunk

C.An entertainer

D.A warrior

4. The following sentence from Grendel is an example of which type of figurative language?

“…I smile like exploding spring.”

  1. simile
  2. metaphor
  3. hyperbole
  4. apostrophe

5. Which of the following is an example of alliteration from Grendel?

A. sick on their sour meat

B. shouting their meady, outrageous boasts

C. chest-hair matted with dribbled blood

D. dawn comes over the roofs of the house

  1. Which clue primarily reveals which one of the two reading selections was written first?
  1. The language
  2. The writing style
  3. The point of view
  4. The order of events
  1. “. . . and have knocked politely on the high oak door, bursting its hinges and sending the shock of my greeting inward like a cold blast out of the cave.”

In the above sentence the word politely is used to convey which of the following?

  1. that the speaker is mannerly
  2. the use of ironic, dark humor
  3. to show how mighty and powerful the speaker is
  4. to ridicule the poor construction of the structure
  1. Which of the following was likely John Gardner’s primarily purpose for writing Grendel?
  1. to translate the Beowulf epic for modern readers
  2. to make the tale more historically accurate
  3. to present the tale from a different point of view
  4. to discover whether or not an epic poem could be successfully translated into prose fiction

Refer to the following paragraph—for which each sentence is numbered--when responding to items 9-13.

(1)In the mid-14th century, the Black Death swept across Europe. (2)The plague had traveled across North African trade routes. (3)Its victims suffered from symptoms such as a high fever and bad headaches and usually died. (4)In some cities, corpses were gathered in the streets. (5)The stench of bodies permeated the air. (6)By the year 1400, the awfully plague had killed approximately 25 million Europeans.

9. What is the most effective way to revise sentence 2?

A. For a while, the plague had traveled along North African trade routes and European trade routes.

B. The plague had traveled over North African trade routes and over European.

C. The plague had traveled along North African and European trade routes.

D. The plague had traveled along, over North African and European trade routes.

10. What change, if any, should be made in sentence 3?

A. Insert an apostrophe in Its.

B. Insert a comma after fever.

C. Change died to dead.

D. Make no change.

11. What is the most effective way to combine sentences 4 and 5?

A. In some cities, corpses were gathered in the streets so that the stench of bodies permeated the air.

B. In some cities, corpses were gathered in the streets where the stench of bodies permeated the air.

C. In some cities, corpses were gathered in the streets, where the stench of bodies permeated the air.

D. In some cities, whose corpses were gathered in the streets where the stench of bodies permeated the air.

12. What change, if any, should be made in sentence 6?

A. Change had killed to has killed.

B. Insert a comma after killed.

C. Change awfully to awful.

D. Make no change.

13. Where is the best place to insert this sentence?

Nearly two-thirds of the population of many European cities died within the first two years of the epidemic.

  1. At the beginning of the paragraph
  2. After sentence 2
  3. After sentence 3
  4. After sentence 6

Questions 14-25. Read the following poem carefully before you choose your answers.

“Patty’s Charcoal Drive-In”

First job. In tight black shorts and a white bowling shirt, red lipstick and bouncing pony tail, I present each overflowing tray as if it were a banquet. I’m sixteen and college-bound, 5 this job’s temporary as the summer sun, but right now, it’s the boundaries of my life. After the first few nights of mixed orders and missing cars, the work goes easily. I take out the silver trays and hook them to the windows, 10 inhale the mingled smells of seared meat patties, salty ketchup, rich sweet malteds. The lure of grease drifts through the thick night air. And it’s always summer at Patty’s Charcoal Drive-In – carloads of blond-and-tan girls 15 pull up next to red convertibles, boys in black tee shirts and slick hair. Everyone knows what they want. And I wait on them, hoping for tips, loose pieces of silver 20 flung carelessly as the stars. Doo-wop music streams from the jukebox and each night repeats itself, faithful as a steady date. Towards 10 p.m., traffic dwindles. We police the lot, pick up wrappers. 25 The dark pours down, sticky as Coke, but the light from the kitchen gleams like a beacon. A breeze comes up, chasing papers in the far corners of the darkened lot, as if suddenly a cold wind had started to blow 30 straight at me from the future – I read that in a Doris Lessing book – but right now, purse fat with tips, the moon sitting like a cheeseburger on a flat black grill, this is enough. 35 Your order please.

14. The use of the present tense throughout the poem helps reinforce the speaker’s

  1. Ambivalence regarding her work as a waitress
  2. Surprise at the rich variety within her routine at the drive-in
  3. Sense of timelessness during that summer at the drive-in
  4. Failure to value other dimensions of life beyond pleasure seeking
  5. Regret for the brevity of their summer job at the drive-in

15.The speaker experiences a tension primarily between

  1. The superficiality of the drive-in customers and her own sensitivity to her environment
  2. The artificiality of the drive-in and the reality of the natural world
  3. Her desire to please others and her attempt to define her own identity
  4. Her satisfaction with her job at the drive-in and her undefined future life
  5. Her need for money and her quest for knowledge

16. The speaker considers her work at the drive-in to be

  1. Predictable and uncomplicated
  2. Educational and enlightening
  3. Unexpectedly demanding
  4. Increasingly disagreeable
  5. Genuinely amusing

17.Lines 30-33 seem to suggest the

  1. Possibility of an ominous change
  2. Need to make serious long-term plans
  3. Power of nature to disrupt idyllic scenes
  4. Rapid changes in the moods of adolescents
  5. Hope of a better future

18.The interjection in line 34 serves primarily to

  1. Emphasize the breadth of the speaker’s reading experience
  2. Foreshadow the final line of the poem
  3. Comment ironically on the speaker’s prospects for the future
  4. Alter the effect of the preceding image
  5. Suggest that the speaker thinks too highly of herself

19.In line 36, the description of the moon helps to do which of the following?

  1. Emphasize the speaker’s sense of foreboding
  2. Link the changeable nature of the moon to that of the speaker
  3. Convey a sense of the speaker’s limitations
  4. Cause the speaker to assess how her present position is relevant to her goal of becoming a writer
  5. Show how the speaker’s current situation influences her perception of her environment

20.Which of the following lines best conveys the speaker’s sense of time while at the

drive-in?

  1. “I’m sixteen and college-bound” (5)
  2. “and I wait on them, hoping for tips” (19)
  3. “flung carelessly as the stars” (21)
  4. “and each night repeats itself” (23)
  5. “Towards 10 P.M., traffic dwindles” (25)

21. Which two lines come closest to contradicting each other?

  1. Lines 5 & 13
  2. Lines 6 & 14
  3. Lines 18 & 23
  4. Lines 19 & 38
  5. Lines 27 & 30

22. The speaker and the drive-in customers are portrayed through descriptions of their

  1. Mannerisms and tones of voice
  2. Attitudes toward life
  3. Clothing and physical appearance
  4. Relationships to material possessions
  5. Tastes in music and literature

23.Which of the following literary devices is MOST used in the poem?

  1. Allusion
  2. Simile
  3. Synecdoche
  4. Paradox
  5. Understatement

24. Line 18 refers to

a. food and drinks

b. desires by young men going beyond food and drinks

c. desires of young women going beyond food and drinks

d. the waitress’s keen memory of what the “regulars” always order

e. both b and c

25. What “word play” may be contained in (or inferred from) the title of this poem?

A. the restaurant is owned by a womanC. “Patty’s” and hamburger “patties”

B. “charcoal” and burnt foodD. “Drive-In” and “movies”

Consider the following note and passage when responding to items 26-30 Select the best answer choice from those provided.

(This excerpt is from Pride and Prejudice, a novel published in 1813, begins as Elizabeth Bennett receives a visit from Mr. Darcy. Darcy is a wealthy man who discouraged one of his friends from becoming romantically involved with Elizabeth’s sister because the Bennett family is not rich.)

“I might as well inquire,” replied she, “why with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil? But I have other provocations. You know I have. Had not my own feelings decided against you, had they been indifferent, or had they even been favourable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister?”

26. Which is the best meaning of provocations as Elizabeth uses the word in line 4 of the paragraph?

A.justifications for acting this way

B.worrisome problems to solve

C.obligations to family to consider

D.hopes for the future

27. How many characters are speaking in this passage?

A. 1B. 2C. 3D. 4E. It’s impossible to determine the number.

28-29-30.(Counts as three answer items)—Paraphrase (do not summarize) the passage into modern English.