Date of Final Exam ______________
Name
Faria
10th Grade English
Date:
Honors English 10
2014 Semester 2 Final Study Guide
Part 1: Literary Terms Define each term in your own words.
AnecdoteExcerptMemoirMonologue-
Define each term in your own words and provide an example.
ImagerySensory Details-
Figurative LanguageSimileMetaphorPersonificationOnomatopoeiaAlliterationAssonanceRhyme-
Date of Final Exam ______________
Part 2: Elements of Plot
Label and explain the parts of the plot line below.
Rising Action
Exposition
Part 3: Author’s Background
How does an author’s background affect his or her writing?
Explain why it is important to consider the background of an author when analyzing the text.
How would the author’s background come into play if someone were writing a piece about
their days in high school?
What are we discussing when we talk about Historical Context?
Why is this important to consider?
Why was the Historical Context important to consider in “Beware of the Dog”?
How would it have changed if the basic storyline was the same, but it took place in modern day
Europe?
Date of Final Exam ______________
Part 4: Mood and Tone
Define Tone-
The following excerpts are taken from Edward Abbey’s work “The Great American Desert” and
“The Journey Home.” Read each excerpt and explain the tone of the piece. These excerpts were found
at http://grammar.about.com/od/shortpassagesforanalysis/a/AbbeyLists.htm
Anyway--why go into the desert? Really, why do it? That sun, roaring at you all day long. The fetid,
tepid, vapid little water holes slowly evaporating under a scum of grease, full of cannibal beetles,
spotted toads, horsehair worms, liver flukes, and down at the bottom, inevitably, the pale cadaver of a
ten-inch centipede. Those pink rattlesnakes down in The Canyon, those diamondback monsters thick
as a truck driver's wrist that lurk in shady places along the trail, those unpleasant solpugids and
unnecessary Jerusalem crickets that scurry on dirty claws across your face at night. Why? The rain
that comes down like lead shot and wrecks the trail, those sudden rockfalls of obscure origin that
crash like thunder ten feet behind you in the heart of a dead-still afternoon. The ubiquitous buzzard,
so patient--but only so patient. The sullen and hostile Indians... The ragweed, the tumbleweed, the
Jimson weed, the snakeweed. The scorpion in your shoe at dawn. The dreary wind that blows all
spring, the psychedelic Joshua trees waving their arms at you on moonlight nights. Sand in the soup
du jour. Halazone tablets in your canteen. The barren hills that always go up, which is bad, or down,
which is worse. Those canyons like catacombs with quicksand lapping at your crotch. Hollow,
mummified horses at night, iron--shod, clattering over the slickrock through your camp. The last tin of
tuna, two flat tires, not enough water and a forty-mile trek to Tule Well. An osprey on a cardon
cactus, snatching the head off a living fish--always the best part first. The hawk sailing by at 200 feet,
a squirming snake in its talons. Salt in the drinking water. Salt, selenium, arsenic, radon and radium
in the water in the gravel in your bones. Water so hard it bends light, drills holes in rock and chokes
up your radiator. Why go there? Those places with the hardcase names: Starvation Creek, Poverty
Knoll, Hungry Valley, Bitter Springs, Last Chance Canyon, Dungeon Canyon, Whipsaw Flat, Dead
Horse Point, Scorpion Flat, Dead Man Draw, Stinking Spring, Camino del Diablo, Jornado del
Muerto . . . Death Valley.
Explain the tone in the previous excerpt-
What figurative language was used?
Why the desert, when you could be strolling along the golden beaches of California? Camping by a
stream of pure Rocky Mountain spring water in colorful Colorado? Loafing through a laurel slick in the
misty hills of North Carolina? Or getting your head mashed in the greasy alley behind the Elysium Bar
and Grill in Hoboken, New Jersey? Why the desert, given a world of such splendor and variety?
Explain the tone in the previous excerpt-
How can you tell?
Briefly compose a piece about something you feel strongly; it could be positive or negative. Be
sure to let your tone show through in your piece.
Date of Final Exam ______________
Define Mood-
The following excerpt was taken from a student’s freewrite from last week. Read the excerpt
and explain the mood of the piece.
She awoke. Expecting to open her heavy eyes and see the familiar images of her room
in which she slept every night. The nightmare her head created wasn’t transient, and still
chilled her spine when she gained her eyesight. She examined the room she was in, just now
adapting to the light, and became horrified. Her thoughts became sepulchral and flashing
images of her murder were running through her brain. This wasn’t her room. This wasn’t her
bed. She fell asleep last night listening to her favorite soporific tune, and woke up in a vapid,
cold basement. In the basement, bones and small wooden dolls were blazoned throughout the
room. She knew this wasn’t a nightmare or a dream; it was too real.
Explain the mood in the previous excerpt-
How can you tell?
What are some sensory details that this student used?
Rewrite this piece to change the mood that is created.
Mood and tone are cousins, but what is the difference? Explain.
Date of Final Exam ______________
Part 5: Poetry
Explain the difference between poetry and prose.
Explain the following types of poetry.
SonnetFree VerseBalladWhat is the rhyme scheme of the following poem?
Thrill Ride
Up. Up.
Click, click.
Wind blows
sharp in my ears.
My heart jumps. Skips.
It’s up. It’s up higher.
It’s up, up the highest.
Hands grasp at the clouds.
Then a forever pause. Still. Waiting.
Finally. Whoosh!
Steep drop
down,
down,
down.
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What kind of poem is this?
How can you tell?
What is the rhyme scheme of the following poem?
UNAWARE
by Kaitlyn Guenther
What kind of poem is this?
Isolation quickly overwhelms me
Begging for forgiveness, a fallen hand
Desolation I now begin to see
Hanging by a thin thread, a single strand
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I watch them… Their fears, their misbehaviour
Mistreat, abuse…. Completely unaware
I am the land, their glorious saviour
Someday they will learn to treat me with care
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I wish they would learn to trust each other
To join as one, to stand strong together
A bond, a band and a mighty brother
Forever as one, a powerful tether
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You may not know, that fear is their captor
So you may not see each special factor
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How can you tell?
Date of Final Exam ______________
Part 6: Theme
Define ThemeThe Hare and the Tortoise
A HARE one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise, who replied, laughing: "Though you be
swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race." The Hare, believing her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to
the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course and fix the goal. On the day appointed for the
race the two started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace
straight to the end of the course. The Hare, lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and
moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue.
Topic: Perseverance
Theme Statement:
Slow and steady wins the race.
The Dog and the Wolf
A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by. "Ah,
Cousin," said the Dog. "I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin of you. Why do you not
work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly given to you?" "I would have no objection," said the Wolf, "if I
could only get a place." "I will easily arrange that for you," said the Dog; "come with me to my master and you
shall share my work." So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there the Wolf
noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog's neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had
come about. "Oh, it is nothing," said the Dog. "That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep
me chained up; it chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it." "Is that all?" said the Wolf. "Then good-bye to you,
Master Dog."
Topic:
Freedom
Theme Statement:
Better to die __________ than to live _______________.
The Four Oxen and the Lion
A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but
whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met
by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to
pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all
four.
Topic:
Theme Statement:
Part 7: Writing
Simple SentenceExample:
Compound SentenceExample:
Complex SentenceExample:
What is the difference between paraphrasing and summary?