ENGLISH 11 HONORS EXAM STUDY GUIDE
SPRING 2013
As you prepare for the English 11 Honors Midterm Exam, carefully review the strategies and skills
that we mastered over the course of first semester. Your exam will be primarily application of those
strategies and skills.
Your exam will include the following sections:
A. COMMAS, SEMICOLONS, AND COLONS – Directions: Read each sentence carefully, and note the
answer key numbers in parentheses. Use the following key to fill in the correct punctuation.
A: No Punctuation
B: Comma
C: Semicolon
D: Colon
Sample Questions 1-5:
At the beginning (1) of the year (2) I didn’t understand punctuation (3) however (4) I do (5) now.
B. GRAMMAR REVIEW – Directions: Read each of the following sentences, and determine if there is
an error. If there is no error, fill in A. If there is an error, fill in B. Consider parallelism,
misplaced/dangling modifiers, commas, colons, and semicolons.
Sample Question 6:
Walking down Main Street, the trees were so beautiful.
Sample Question 7:
The robber ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and down the alley he sprinted.
Sample Question 8:
Matthew admires people who have courage and integrity.
C. ANALYSIS – Directions: Susan Brownell Anthony was a nineteenth-century champion of the cause
of woman’s suffrage. In 1872, she was indicted and later convicted of the “crime” of voting when she
led a group of women to the polls in the presidential election. She refused to pay the $100 fine which
was imposed. The following speech was delivered in 1873. Read the speech carefully before you
choose your answers. The boldface and underlined text will assist you in your focus when answering
specific questions.
Friends and fellow citizens, I stand before you tonight under indictment for the alleged crime of having
voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote. It shall be my work this
evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply
exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National
Constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny.
The preamble of the Federal Constitution says:
"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America."
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole
people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure
them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people--women as well
as men. And it is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty
while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democraticrepublican government--the ballot.
For any state to make sex a qualification that must ever result in the disfranchisement of one entire half
of the people, is to pass a bill of attainder, or, an ex post facto law, and is therefore a violation of the
supreme law of the land. By it the blessings of liberty are forever withheld from women and their
female posterity. To them this government has no just powers derived from the consent of the
governed. To them this government is not a democracy. It is not a republic. It is an odious aristocracy;
a hateful oligarchy of sex; the most hateful aristocracy ever established on the face of the globe; an
oligarchy of wealth, where the rich govern the poor. An oligarchy of learning, where the educated
govern the ignorant, or even an oligarchy of race, where the Saxon rules the African, might be
endured; but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the
mother and sisters, the wife and daughters, of every household--which ordains all men sovereigns, all
women subjects, carries dissension, discord, and rebellion into every home of the nation.
Webster, Worcester, and Bouvier all define a citizen to be a person in the United States, entitled to
vote and hold office.
The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our
opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not. Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no
state has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or
immunities. Hence, every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several
states is today null and void, precisely as is every one against Negroes.
Sample Question 9:
Which word(s) in the first paragraph reinforce Anthony’s argument in the speech?
I. “fellow”
II. “alleged”
III. “committed”
A. I only
B. II only
C. I and II only
D. II and II only
E. I, II, and III
Sample Question 10:
The strength of Anthony’s statement in lines 18-20 rests primarily on the fact that
A. it shows how educated she is.
B. she is clearly a person.
C. she exhibits respect for white male citizens.
D. it is a reminder that she is very active in the government.
E. it suggests that he ancestors helped form the Union.
Sample Question 11:
From the paragraph that begins with “For any state to make sex a qualification,” it can be
inferred that in 1873
A. the idea of “consent of the governed” was in disrepute.
B. males often used the law as an excuse to mistreat their female relatives.
C. educational difference was a bigger issue than racial difference.
D. women generally had lower economic status than men.
E. another civil war was imminent because of the voting issue.
Sample Question 12:
Anthony’s primary argument in this speech is argument based on
A. definition
B. precedent
C. emotion
D. ad hominem attacks
E. bandwagon appeal
D. SYNTHESIS ESSAY – The following prompt is based on the accompanying four sources. This
question requires you to synthesize a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. Synthesis
refers to combining the sources and your position to form a cohesive, supported argument and
accurately citing sources. Your argument should be the focus of your paper; the sources should
support this argument. Avoid merely summarizing sources.
Answers for Sample Questions
1. A
2. B
3. C
4. B
5. A
6. B
7. B
8. A
9. C – The word “committed” does not carry any implications. The word “fellow” implies that
Anthony considers herself to be a citizen; therefore, according to her argument, she is entitled to vote.
The word “alleged” implies that Anthony does not consider what she did a crime; she believes she was
simply exercising her constitutional right as a citizen.
10. B – By pointing out the fact that the Constitution refers to “people” in general, not just to white
males, Anthony established that she, who is clearly a person, is entitled to all the rights guaranteed
under the Constitution. The question of who formed the Union is not addressed; the wording of the
preamble is the only issue.
11. D – Anthony says that America has become an “oligarchy of sex” and an “oligarchy of wealth,
where the rich govern the poor.” This implies that men had a higher economic status than women did.
12. A – Anthony’s argument is based upon the definitions and “citizen” and “people.” If her listeners
agree that women are, by definition, included in the category of “people,” and that the “people” of the
U.S. have the right to vote, they must agree that women have the right to vote.