Grade 8 Modified
Unit 3- Setting and Mood
Directions:
Answer the following questions about The Sea.
1.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
The imagery in the line above appeals to the sense of
A. touch.
B. sight.
C. smell.
D. taste.
2.
The giant sea-dog moans
To which sense does the imagery in the line above appeal?
A. hearing
B. taste
C. touch
D. smell
3.
Licking his greasy paws
The imagery in the line above best appeals to the sense of
A. taste.
B. smell.
C. hearing.
D. sight.
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4.
Which line contains details that help you visualize the sky?
A. line 9: Licking his greasy paws
B. line 11: And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud
C. line 13: Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs
5.
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.
The imagery in the lines above creates a feeling of
A. peace.
B. courage.
C. hope.
6.
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
The imagery in the lines above creates a feeling of
A. anger.
B. playfulness.
C. suspensefulness.
7.
What mood is created in lines 15-17?
A. lighthearted
B. sad
C. tense
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8.
What following group of words helps to describe the setting?
A. “giant”, “hour”, “wet”, “howl”
B. “sea”, “night”, “beach”, “June”
C. “quiet”, “tune”, “paws”, “May”
9.
Which of the following examples contains imagery?
A. So quiet, so quiet
B. And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’
C. The moon rocks in the stormy cloud
10.
Which description helps you to imagine the sound of the waves?
A. And howls and hollos long and loud
B. When even the grasses on the dune
C.
11.
Licking his greasy paws
In lines 15-20, which of the following best describes the setting?
A. Nighttime on a quiet beach
B. On a quiet, calm beach in the spring
C. Daytime on a stormy beach
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Directions:
Read the selection Winter Dog by Allistair MacLeod on pages 2-3 in your Assessment
Selections Booklet and then answer questions 12-21 that follow.
12.
The details in the excerpt tell you that the setting is
A. the basement of a house.
B. the bedroom of a child.
C. a snow-covered yard.
13.
Which detail helps you imagine the setting?
A. "the white plane of the snow"
B. "their muffled clothes"
C. "the edge of the scene"
D. "an imaginary end zone"
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14.
Through the window and out on the white plane of the snow, the silent, laughing
children now appear. They move in their muffled clothes like mummers on the whitest
of stages. They dance and gesture noiselessly, flopping their arms in parodies of heavy,
happy, earthbound birds. They have been warned by the eldest to be aware of the
sleeping neighbors so they cavort only in pantomime, sometimes raising mittened
hands to their mouths to suppress their joyous laughter. They dance and prance in the
moonlight, tossing snow in one another’s direction, tracing out various shapes and
initials, forming lines which snake across the previously unmarked whiteness.
The details in the lines above help you visualize the
A. dog.
B. house.
C. children.
15.
Through the window and out on the white plane of the snow, the silent, laughing
children now appear.
What mood is created by the details in the lines above?
A. peaceful
B. worried
C. humorous
16.
Which description helps you visualize the children playing?
A. "they have been warned by the eldest"
B. "they dance and prance in the moonlight"
C. "they seem unreal even to me"
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17.
Which detail is a clue to the time of day in the setting?
A. unmarked whiteness
B. in the moonlight
C. fenced-in yard
18.
I see the flash of his silhouette, outlined perhaps against the snow or the light cast by
the street lamps or the moon. It arcs upwards and seems to hang for an instant high
above the top of the fence and then it descends on the other side. He lands on his
shoulder in a fluff of snow and with a half roll regains his feet and vanishes within the
shadow of his owner’s house.
The description in the lines above helps you visualize the dog
A. jumping over a fence.
B. sitting under a street lamp.
C. hiding in the shadows.
19.
You could say that this excerpt has a narrow scope because it describes
A. various kinds of snowflakes.
B. one specific morning.
C. a single cup of coffee.
20.
Then he is gone. As suddenly as he came. I strain my eyes in the direction of the
adjoining street, towards the house where I have often seen him, always within a yard
enclosed by woven links of chain.
What word best describes the mood of the above passage?
A. joyful
B. mysterious
C. frustrated
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21.
Based on the husband’s conversation with his wife in lines 44-52, what can you infer
about how he feels about the dog?
A. The dog annoys him.
B. He likes the dog.
C. He is scared of the dog.
Directions:
Answer the following questions about both selections.
22.
The presence of a dog in both “The Sea” and Winter Dog creates
A. tension-filled settings.
B. happy moods.
C. scary tones.
23.
Both authors use sensory details that help the reader visualize a dog that is
A. hungry.
B. frightened.
C. playful.
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Directions:
Read the selection The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan on pages 4-5 in your Assessment
Selections Booklet and then answer questions 24-34.
24.
You could say that this excerpt has a narrow scope because it
A. mentions various ski resorts.
B. illustrates different types of skiing moves.
C. provides details about one skiing incident.
25.
Which description helps you visualize the narrator?
A. “using the herky-jerky movements of a female Frankenstein”
B. “a metal contraption that resembled a giant turntable in the sand”
C. “push the carousel faster and faster, until it reached the speed required to play”
26.
The setting in this excerpt changes from
A. winter to summer.
B. Switzerland to the United States.
C. a ski resort to a hospital.
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27.
The details in lines 1–13 tell you that the setting is
A. a mountain at a ski resort.
B. an elevator in a hotel.
C. a river in a forest.
28.
Lines 10-55 focus on what memorable event in the narrator’s life?
A. going skiing for the first time
B. watching a movie about Frankenstein
C. taking a childhood vacation
29.
Which words give clues to the excerpt’s setting?
A. “invited’ “down,” and “warning”
B. “walk,” “playground,” and “contraption”
C. “skis,” “chairlift,” and “precipice”
30.
Which sensory detail best helps you visualize something moving at a high speed?
A. “a giant turntable”
B. “a runaway semi”
C. “a bunny slope”
31.
Which detail helps you best visualize a skiing accident?
A. “a tangle of skis and poles”
B. “Three turns later, he disappeared from view”
C. “Although the temperature was below freezing”
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32.
The image of dominoes in line 65 helps the reader visualize
A. white snow against a dark sky.
B. a line of skiers knocking each other down.
C. people relaxing inside of a ski lodge.
33.
Reread lines 61-66.
Before me was a precipice of sheer ice. All the fears of a lifetime gather in one
terrifying vision. I would be squashed flat, my brains smashed like a rotten melon,
rivulets of blood staining the clean white snow.
What mood is created by the details in the above passage?
A. frightened
B. peaceful
C. happy
34.
Which of the following best describes the main conflict of the selection?
A. The author broke a pair of skis in half.
B. The author traveled from Switzerland to the United States.
C. The author was afraid of skiing and was not very good at it.
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Vocabulary
Directions:
Use context clues and your knowledge of idioms to answer the following questions.
35.
Never mind that I was still some two miles from the bottom of the mountain and it
might take me hours to reach it safely.
In the lines above from The Opposite of Fate, the idiom never mind means
A. feel anger toward.
B. go quickly.
C. do not worry about.
36.
After their argument, Katie and Sara’s friendship was on the rocks.
In the sentence above, the idiom on the rocks means
A. next to some stones.
B. by a mountain.
C. near disaster.
37.
He rolls on the beach all day.
Which sentence uses rolls as it is used in the line above from the poem?
A. The dress required two rolls of silk.
B. The teacher called roll every morning.
C. Our dog rolls on the carpet.
38.
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud
Which sentence uses rocks as it is used in the line above?
A. A huge wave rocks his tiny boat.
B. I tripped over some rocks in the street.
C. Elly's ring was full of sparkling rocks.
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Writing and Grammar
Directions:
Answer the following questions about the comparison-contrast essay on Page 6.
51.
Which subjects are being compared and contrasted in the essay?
A. plants and flowers.
B. cooking and gardening.
C. Garrett and Heidi.
52.
Which sentence contains the thesis statement?
A. sentence 2
B. sentence 4
C. sentence 5
53.
Each sibling like a hobby that is quite different from the other sibling’s pastime.
To maintain subject-verb agreement in the above sentence, change like to
A. likes.
B. have liked.
C. are liking.
54.
Despite their differences in hobbies, both Garrett and Heidi positively affects my
life by teaching me important lessons.
To maintain subject-verb agreement in the above sentence, change affects to
A. is affecting.
B. affecting.
C. affect.
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55.
Hes’ always trying to think of interesting ways to cook meat’s and vegetables on the
grill?
Choose the correct way to fix the punctuation in sentence 6.
A. Hes always trying to think of interesting ways to cook meats and vegetable’s on the
grill?
B. He’s always trying to think of interesting ways to cook meats and vegetables on the
grill.
C. Hes’s always trying to think of interesting ways to cook meat’s and vegetable’s on the
grill.
56.
Garrett, however, taught me the importance of patience:
Identify the transition word in the above sentence.
A. Garrett
B. however
C. the
57.
Garrett showed me that its important to have patience when you cook!
Choose the correct way to fix the punctuation in the above sentence.
A. Garrett showed me that it's important to have patience when you cook.
B. Garrett showed me that its important to have patience when you cook.
C. Garrett showed me that its's important to have patience when you cook!
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58.
Which sentence acts as a transition between ideas in the essay?
A. sentence 15: Garrett showed me that its important to have patience when you
cook!
B. sentence 16: Unlike Garrett, Heidi hates to cook.
C. sentence 17: She would much rather be working in her garden.
59.
To maintain subject-verb agreement in sentence 26, change "teaches" to
A. teach.
B. was teaching.
C. is teaches.
60.
To maintain subject-verb agreement in sentence 27, change "is" to
A. was.
B. are.
C. am.
61.
The Garrett and Heidi are important to the writer because they
A. teach valuable lessons.
B. describe difficult activities.
C. show good choices.
62.
The writer organizes the essay by
A. describing Heidi's hobby first and then Garrett's hobby.
B. illustrating both hobbies in every paragraph.
C. addressing each sibling's hobby in a separate paragraph.
D. showing each sibling's likes and dislikes in alternating sentences.
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Directions:
Read the following paragraph and answer questions 63-65 and then questions 66-70.
(1) Some people like cats. (2) Other people are dog lovers. (3) Cats and dogs are both
lovable animals and have distinct traits. (4) Cats enjoy sleeping and lying around;
however, dogs are more playful. (5) Dogs also require more care than cats. (6) Cats can
be left alone while dogs need more supervision.
63.
Identify the thesis sentence in this paragraph.
A. sentence 1
B. sentence 2
C. sentence 3
64.
Identify the transition word in sentence 4.
A. enjoy
B. also
C. however
65.
In this essay, the writer compares and contrasts
A. sleeping and playing.
B. two different pet owners.
C.
dogs and cats.
66.
Choose the correct way to maintain subject-verb agreement for the following
sentence.
Rhythm and blues _________ a popular musical form for years.
A. has been
B. to be
C. been
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67. Choose the correct way to maintain subject-verb agreement for the following
sentence.
Carmen and her friend _________ competing for the council presidency.
A. can
B. are
C. is
68.
Choose the sentence that uses correct punctuation.
A. My teacher said we should’nt get out of our seats.
B. My teacher said we shouldnt’ get out of our seats.
C. My teacher said we shouldn’t get out of our seats.
69.
Choose the possessive form of the noun underlined in the sentence.
The immigrants early experience in America were discouraging, but their lives
improved with time.
A. immigrants’s
B. immigrants’
C. immigrant’s
70.
Choose the possessive form of the noun underlined in the sentence.
Is that Doris backpack under the desk?
A. Doris’s
B. Doris’
C. Dorises
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