Language Arts Exam # 1 – High School
2012-13 Governor’s Cup Practice Questions
Student Instructions:
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
Write your complete ID code on your answer sheet.
For each question, choose the BEST answer. If you change your answer, erase well.
1. In this book's section about energy, the writer declares, "Generally, management of many is the same as
management of few." What is this classic, written by Sun Tzu?
A. The Art of War
B. The Book of Changes
C. The Spring Annals
D. I Ching
2. Complete this verse from Psalm 23 (KJV): “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil, for thou __________; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
A. art my protector
B. art with me
C. art my shield
D. hath promised me everlasting life
3. This phrase describes the period of French literature that included Racine, Corneille, and Moliere. What phrase
is also applied to the period of Virgil, Horace, and Ovid?
A. Ciceronian Age
B. Julian Age
C. Augustan Age
D. Claudian Age
4. This play examines whether man-made decrees or divine laws are more important. In what play by Sophocles
does a sister defy her uncle to bury her brother?
A. Hecuba
B. Suppliant Women
C. Seven Against Thebes
D. Antigone
5. This play produced in 424 B.C. attacks Cleon, who took control of Athenian policy after Pericles. What comedy
by Aristophanes opens with two servants of Demos who are costumed to resemble two generals, Nicias and
Demosthenes?
A. The Knights
B. Lysistrata
C. The Birds
D. The Frogs
2012-13 Governor’s Cup Practice Questions – Page 1
6. A Druid prophecy said she would be the death of heroes, but she still fell in love with Naoise, whom King
Conchobar of Ulster slew. Which Old Irish literary heroine is "of the Sorrows" in a Synge play?
A. Elaine
B. Brigid
C. Isolde
D. Deirdre
7. Pilgrims to Shiraz still visit the tomb of this mystical poet, who died about 1390. His ghazals often celebrate the
drinking of wine, which he saw as a mystic metaphor. Which Persian poet and philosopher is known for his
Divan?
A. Rumi
B. Hafiz
C. al-Mutannabi
D. al-Jawhiz
8. The earliest examples of these poems date to the 12th century, and deal with the stresses and difficulties of
feudal life. What name describes Old French epics such as The Song of Roland?
A. chansons de geste
B. romans de la rose
C. villanelles
D. trouveres
9. In 1781, the Catholic Church condemned this writer's 1555 work. Identify the writer who, many believe,
predicted Adolf Hitler and World War II in his Centuries.
A. Erasmus
B. Spinoza
C. Nostradamus
D. Abelard
10. Scholars consider this work, which dates from the 1400s, one of the earliest novels. It is written in dialogue, and
was one of the first works to present everyday romance, as opposed to courtly love. Which Spanish work tells
the story of Calisto and Melibea?
A. The Courtesan
B. The Way of Perfection
C. The Interior Castle
D. The Celestina
11. Shelley wrote that this character carried off a maiden in her celestial chariot. Which character in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet is "the fairies' midwife," who drives her chariot by men's noses as they sleep to show them
their secret hopes in dreams?
A. Queen Mab
B. Ariel
C. Thisbe
D. Titania
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12. He wrote a number of plays, of which sixteen survive, and a collection of short stories, titled Exemplary Novels.
Which writer introduced the world to a knight errant named Don Quixote?
A. Juan Ramon Jimenez
B. Miguel de Cervantes
C. Garcilaso de la Vega
D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca
13. His works include two comedies, The Illegitimate Son and The Father of the Family, and the novels The Nun
and Jacques the Fatalist. What French writer was the driving force behind the 18th-century French
Encyclopedia?
A. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
B. Francois Mauriac
C. Voltaire
D. Denis Diderot
14. Match the French dramatist with his work.
1.
2.
3.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Pierre Corneille
Molière
Jean Racine
x.
y.
z.
The Imaginary Invalid
The Cid
Bajazet
1 - x; 2 - z; 3 - y
1 - x; 2 - z; 3 - y
1 - y; 2 - x; 3 – z
1 - z; 2 - x; 3 - y
15. A 1770 poem about Reverend George Whitefield's death brought this young poet attention in the literary world.
Which poet launched both the black American and the black female literary traditions?
A. Phillis Wheatley
B. Anne Rowlandson
C. Susanna Rowson
D. Anne Bradstreet
16. In the prologue, Mr. Wignell tells the audience, "Exult each patriot heart!--this night is shewn / A piece, which
we may fairly call our own." Which 1787 Royall Tyler comedy became the first English-speaking comedy
written in the United States?
A. Ralph Roister Doister
B. The Patriot
C. Yankee Doodle
D. The Contrast
17. One biography of this poet was subtitled A Study in Literary Failure. Name this "Poet of the Revolution,"
whose verses include "The Wild Honey Suckle" and "The Indian Burying Ground."
A. Michael Wigglesworth
B. Philip Freneau
C. Charles Brockden Brown
D. Edward Taylor
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18. His most famous poem shares its title with his most famous poetry collection, published in 1896. Which
Cambridge Latin professor wrote "A Shropshire Lad"?
A. Matthew Arnold
B. Alfred, Lord Tennyson
C. Gerard Manley Hopkins
D. A. E. Housman
19. Set in Coketown, this novel centers around Louisa, her husband, and a young politician. Identify this novel
about the Gradgrind and Bounderby families, written by Charles Dickens.
A. Bleak House
B. Barnaby Rudge
C. The Pickwick Papers
D. Hard Times
20. This dramatist, poet, and novelist led the Romantic movement in France. Who wrote Notre Dame de Paris and
Les Miserables?
A. Victor Hugo
B. Alexandre Dumas Pere
C. Alexandre Dumas Fils
D. George Sand
21. The British "graveyard poets" inspired this 1814 poem. Which poem by William Cullen Bryant closes with,
"Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch / About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams"?
A. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death"
B. "In Memoriam"
C. "Thanatopsis"
D. "Dulce et Decorum Est"
22. This author wrote for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune and worked for women's rights, then met her
husband while in Italy. Which author co-founded and edited The Dial, a Transcendentalist magazine?
A. Harriet Beecher Stowe
B. Louisa May Alcott
C. Margaret Fuller
D. Ann Radcliffe
23. This work fictionalized President Jefferson as an early governor of New York, William the Testy. Name this
book, which Washington Irving wrote using a pen name.
A. A History of New York
B. The Last of the Mohicans
C. Tales of the Alhambra
D. The Power of Sympathy
24. For what novel, based on a true World War II incident, did Michael Ondaatje win a Booker Prize in 1992?
A. Pincher Martin
B. The English Patient
C. Lucky Jim
D. The Paper Men
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25. Salman Rushdie has been awarded the Booker of Bookers and the Best of the Booker. For what novel about
India did he win the 1981 Booker Prize?
A. The Satanic Verses
B. Imaginary Homelands
C. Midnight's Children
D. Fury
26. This British writer won the Cheltenham Prize for The Unconsoled. What author won a Booker Prize for The
Remains of the Day?
A. Kingsley Amis
B. Yann Martel
C. Iris Murdoch
D. Kazuo Ishiguro
27. In this novel, Toru, a young college student, is madly in love with Naoka. Which bestselling novel by Haruki
Murakami takes its title from a Beatles song?
A. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
B. Norwegian Wood
C. All You Need Is Love
D. Nowhere Man
28. This 18th-century poem was a success in England because it satisfied readers' desires to know more about the
commodity mentioned. Name this poem by Caribbean writer James Grainger.
A. "Tobacco"
B. "A Spot of Rum"
C. "Spanish Gold"
D. "The Sugar Cane"
29. What genre of literature, akin to U.S. tales of the Old West, takes its name from the South American equivalent
of a cowboy?
A. gaucho
B. hombre
C. jinete
D. caballero
30. He said his purpose as a novelist was to guide others by shedding light on abuses and evils. Identify this English
author, who won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature for The Forsyte Saga.
A. William Golding
B. Aldous Huxley
C. John Galsworthy
D. George Orwell
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31. His first collection, 17 Poems, was published in 1954, followed by such volumes as Secrets Along the Way,
Night Vision, and Baltics. What Swedish poet was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature?
A. Tomas Transtromer
B. Eyvind Johnson
C. Erik Axel Karlfeldt
D. Par Lagerkvist
32. In his 2007 nonfiction book entitled A Writer's People, this author discusses such influences as Gustave
Flaubert. What Trinidad-born writer of Indian descent earned the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001?
A. Jamaica Kincaid
B. Derek Walcott
C. Claude McKay
D. V. S. Naipaul
33. His play The Matchmaker inspired the hit musical Hello, Dolly!, but The Skin of Our Teeth brought plagiarism
charges. Who wrote Our Town?
A. Eugene O'Neill
B. Tom Stoppard
C. Noel Coward
D. Thornton Wilder
34. This novel tells the story of a mediocre newspaperman who returns to his ancestral home in Newfoundland with
his two daughters. What novel won a 1994 Pulitzer Prize for E. Annie Proulx?
A. Brokeback Mountain
B. The Shipping News
C. Postcards
D. Sweet and Hard Cider
35. Match the playwright to his play.
1.
2.
3.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Arthur Miller
Tennessee Williams
Edward Albee
x.
y.
z.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
All My Sons
The Night of the Iguana
1 – y; 2 – z; 3 – x
1 – x; 2 – y; 3 – z
1 – z; 2 – x; 3 – y
1 – y; 2 – x; 3 – z
36. For decades, he was America's favorite poet, winning Pulitzer Prizes in 1924, 1931, 1937, and 1943. Which
poet wrote "Mending Wall" and "The Road Not Taken"?
A. Carl Sandburg
B. Robert Frost
C. William Carlos Williams
D. Theodore Roethke
2012-13 Governor’s Cup Practice Questions – Page 6
37. Her 1922 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, One of Ours, created a stir because it was about World War I. What
could a woman know about war? Which novelist also wrote O Pioneers?
A. Julia Peterkin
B. Pearl S. Buck
C. Margaret Mitchell
D. Willa Cather
38. In this book, Willie Keith misses the moment when the new captain, Lieutenant Commander Queeg, assumes
command. What novel won a 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Herman Wouk?
A. The Caine Mutiny
B. Catch-22
C. From Here to Eternity
D. The Last of the Tin-Can Sailors
39. In this novel, Abel, a Native American recently returned from war, is torn between industrialized America and
his father's traditional world. Which novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for N. Scott Momaday?
A. The Way to Rainy Mountain
B. The Ancient Child
C. House Made of Dawn
D. In the Presence of the Sun
40. Because of this book, the Ku Klux Klan beat and left its author for dead in 1964. Which John Howard Griffin
work details his experiences disguised as a black man in the Deep South?
A. Notes of a Native Son
B. Black Like Me
C. Go Tell It on the Mountain
D. Not Without Laughter
41. While better known for his novels, this author has written several acclaimed short story collections. Who wrote
the volumes Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, and Four Past Midnight?
A. Dean Koontz
B. R. L. Stine
C. H. P. Lovecraft
D. Stephen King
42. According to Seamus Heaney, this book's first line, "There was no hope for him this time," cheered up all the
Irish because someone finally told the truth. What short story collection by James Joyce includes "The Dead"
and "Grace"?
A. Finnegans Wake
B. Dubliners
C. Ulysses
D. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
2012-13 Governor’s Cup Practice Questions – Page 7
43. Match the author to the short story he or she wrote.
1.
2.
3.
A.
B.
C.
D.
“Flowering Judas”
“A Rose for Emily”
“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”
x.
y.
z.
William Faulkner
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Katharine Anne Porter
1 – y; 2 – x; 3 – z
1 – x; 2 – z; 3 – y
1 – y; 2 – z; 3 – x
1 – z; 2 – x; 3 – y
44. By what literary technique does an author interrupt the story to relate a past event that happened to a character,
either to fill in background or delay important details?
A. flashback
B. foreshadowing
C. frame narrative
D. functional shift
45. In this technique, an author interrupts her story to discuss the subject of the story or to discuss storytelling as an
art form. Which literary technique does Chaucer use when he has the narrator tell readers to turn to the next
Canterbury Tale if they don’t like the Miller’s Tale?
A. kinesics
B. metafiction
C. weltschmerz
D. deconstruction
46. Identify the tense in the following sentence's main clause: It had snowed before we left school.
A. past
B. past progressive
C. past perfect progressive
D. past perfect
47. My senior literature teacher, a graduate of Wingo High School, introduced me to the plays of Samuel Beckett.
What kind of phrase provides additional information, as in the preceding sentence, or renames a noun?
A. participle
B. gerund
C. infinitive
D. appositive
48. Match the word of French origin with its meaning in English.
1.
2.
3.
A.
B.
C.
D.
débouché
déclassé
dégagé
x.
y.
z.
nonchalant
outlet for troops or goods
lowborn
1 – y; 2 – z; 3 – x
1 – x; 2 – z; 3 – y
1 – y; 2 – x; 3 – z
1 – x; 2 – y; 3 – z
2012-13 Governor’s Cup Practice Questions – Page 8
49. The French phrase carte blanche is used in English to mean that someone has been given full authority in a
matter. What does the phrase literally mean?
A. blank document
B. playing card
C. bill of fare
D. uncharted map
50. The words "ligature" and "ligament" contain a Latin root. What is the meaning of the Latin root ligare?
A. to cut
B. to stretch
C. to tie
D. to move
2012-13 Governor’s Cup Practice Questions – Page 9
High School – Language Arts - Exam # 1
2012-13 Governor’s Cup Practice Questions
1. A
27. B
2. B
28. D
3. C
29. A
4. D
30. C
5. A
31. A
6. D
32. D
7. B
33. D
8. A
34. B
9. C
35. A
10. D
36. B
11. A
37. D
12. B
38. A
13. D
39. C
14. C
40. B
15. A
41. D
16. D
42. B
17. B
43. D
18. D
44. A
19. D
45. B
20. A
46. D
21. C
47. D
22. C
48. A
23. A
49. A
24. B
50. C
25. C
26. D