______________________________
___________________________
Student’s Full Name
Teacher’s Name
______________________________
Class Period
ENGLISH 10
SEMESTER ONE EXAM
December 11, 2014
Rajendra Hall
10:20 A.M. – 12:20 P.M.
The written component of this examination is 2 hours long.
There are a total of 70 marks.
Instructions:
 There will be a five-minute reading period before you begin writing your exam. During
this time, you may not have a pen or pencil in your hand. The proctor will announce the
start and end of the reading time. The proctor will then instruct you to begin the exam
period.
 This exam has 2 sections:
 PART 1: PASSAGE ANALYSIS (20 marks)
 PART 2: LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY (50 marks)
 Answer PART 1 and PART 2 in the exam booklet provided.
 Write neatly in blue or black ink. You may single space or double space. Write on
both sides of the paper.
 If you finish early, read through the questions and your answers.
 You may not leave the examination hall early.
Materials Allowed:
 You may have pens, pencils ,highlighters and a clear water bottle on your desk.
 EAL Students only may have a translating dictionary.
 No additional materials are permitted.
PART 1: PASSAGE ANALYSIS (20 marks)
Choose EITHER Passage 1 (Poetry) OR Passage 2 (Prose) and write TWO separate paragraphs in
response to the prompts.
Your paragraph will be assessed on:
Knowledge and Understanding
I
nterpretation and Analysis
Organisation and Development
Language and Style
__________________________________________________________________________________
Passage 1: POETRY OPTION
To A Daughter Leaving Home
When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping1 along
beside you
as you wobbled2 away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding3
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud4
of your crash as I
sprinted5 to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping6, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping7
behind you like a
1
running or moving with a long bounding stride
moving unsteadily from side to side
3 making your mouth into a round “O”
4
a dull, heavy sound, such as that made by an object falling to the ground
5 run at full speed over a short distance
6 pedaling the bicycle at full speed
7 when something is waving about in the wind
2
handkerchief1 waving
goodbye.
Linda Pastan
Instructions: Respond to TWO of the three prompts in paragraph form. Each answer is worth 10
marks. (20 marks)
1. Identify the imagery in the poem and comment on its effects.
2. What is the overall tone of the poem and how does it help reveal the theme?
3. What is the effect of the structure and form of the poem?
Passage 2: PROSE OPTION
From The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
My Name
In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness,
it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father
plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.
It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine. She was a horse woman too,
born like me in the Chinese year of the horse – which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born
female – but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their
women strong.
My great-grandmother. I would’ve liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so
wild she wouldn’t marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her
off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier2. That’s the way he did it.
And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the
way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she
got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have
inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.
At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the
roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not
quite as thick as sister’s name – Magdalena – which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least
can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza.
I would like to baptize3 myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one
nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze or X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will
do.
Instructions: Respond to TWO of the three prompts in paragraph form. Each answer is worth 10
marks. (20 marks)
1. Comment on the figurative language in the text (such as similes and metaphors) and its effects.
1
a square cloth usually used for blowing or wiping one's nose
2
chandelier: a fancy hanging light with several light bulbs or candles
3 baptize: to symbolically initiate into a religion; to give a new name to
2. Comment on the tone of the passages and its effects.
3. Comment on how this passage connects to the theme of language and identity.
Sandra Cisneros : American writer and poet. Born on December 20, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois. One of seven children and the
only daughter, she has written extensively about the Latina experience in the United States. Cisneros is best known for The
House on Mango Street (1984), which tells the story of a young Latina woman coming of age in Chicago. Cisneros has
explored many literary forms in her work, and has received numerous awards, including the MacArthur Foundation
Fellowship in 1995 and the Texas Medal of the Arts Award in 2003. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
PART 2: LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY (50 marks)
Choose ONLY ONE of the topics below and write a five-paragraph literary analysis essay. Note:
While direct quotations are not required, specific textual references and in-depth textual analysis are.
Your essay will be assessed on:
Knowledge and Understanding
Interpretation and Analysis
Organisation and Development
Language and Style
Essay Topics for Lord of the Flies
1. Choose ONE symbolic object or motif and discuss how Golding uses this symbol to show the
breakdown of order on the island.
2. How does setting act as a key literary component to revealing character and/or developing
conflict?
3. What is mankind’s essential illness?
4. Choose ONE character (not Piggy) and discuss what he represents on the island and the
progression of his character.
Essay Topics for The Catcher in the Rye
1. Discuss three symbols in the novel, and specifically, how they work together to develop one
theme.
2. Discuss three (or more) characters in the novel and how they are used to develop one theme.
3. Explain how the title relates to the events of the novel and its themes.
4.
Discuss phoniness and hypocrisy as they are portrayed in the novel.