Eighth Grade Language Arts
1 st SEMESTER BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT
Directions: Based on your knowledge of
Fall 2011-2012
Directions: Read each short passage or prefixes and suffixes, select the correct definition of each of the following words.
1.1.a
1. hardship sentence and answer each question that follows.
The construction workers made sure the tarp was pulled taut over the roof so that no rain would slip through.
A) Materials that are indestructible
B) A sailing vessel comprised of hardwood
C) A state of discomfort
D) A comfort zone
1.1.a
2. antitoxin
A) A very strong poison or toxin
B) A chemical that strengthens muscles
C) A substance that acts against a poison
1.1.b
5. Which of these is the best definition of the underlined word?
A) Slack; loose
B) Cover; protect
C) Tight; snug
D) Relaxed; tranquil
“Since everyone wanted to see what we had
1.1.a
1.1.a or toxin
D) A material used to fight aging
3 transoceanic
A) Movement across the ocean
B) Hovering just above the ocean floor
C) A translucent ocean fish
D) A scientist who studies ocean currents
4.
inlet
A) The interior of an envelope
B) A little passage between islands
C) To let oneself inside
D) The eye of a needle to offer, we charged grownups a nickel, kids two cents, and took in a good twenty dollars before the museum shut down due to the decease of the main attraction.”
1.1.b
6. What is the best meaning of the word decease?
A) Shrinking
B) Popularity
C) Growth
D) Death
When the two photos were juxtaposed on the detective’s desk, she could compare them and determine that one had been tampered with.
1.1.c
7. Which of these best describes the meaning of the underlined word?
A) Pinned to a wall
B) Separated by several feet
C) Placed side by side
D) Held up to the light

.
1.1.c
Sonja was not as alert as usual; she seemed lethargic at the dinner table.
8. What does the word “lethargic” mean?
A) Sluggish
B) Artistically inclined
C) Mentally keen or quick
D) A heightened state of awareness
Directions: Based on your knowledge of commonly confused words, select the correct answer for the following questions.
1.1.d
9. Which sentence has the correct word choice underlined?
A) The hospital smelled awful, and even though I was week, I ran out of there.
B) The hospital smelled awful, and even though I was week, I ran out of they’re.
C) The hospital smelled awful, and even though I was weak, I ran out of there.
D) The hospital smelled awful, and even though I was weak. I ran out of their.
1.1.d
10. Which sentence has the correct word choices underlined?
A) There speaking so quietly that I can barely hear them, but I know what there saying.
B) Their speaking so quietly that I can barely hear them, but I know what they’re saying.
C) They’re speaking so quietly that I can barely hear them, but I know what they’re saying.
D)
They’re speaking so quietly that I can barely hear them, but I know what there saying.
1.1.d
11. Which sentence has the correct word choices underlined?
A) The principal looked at our passed record to see if we past the class.
B) The principal looked at our past record to see if we past the class.
C) The principal looked at our passed record to see if we passed the class.
D) The principal looked at our past record to see if we passed.

Directions: Read this portion of the fable
“The Kid and the Wolf” and answer the questions that follow.
A Kid, returning without protection from the pasture, was pursued by a Wolf. Seeing he could not escape, he turned around, and said:
“I know, friend Wolf, that I must be your prey, but before I die I would ask of you one favor.
Will you play me a tune to which I may dance?” The Wolf complied, and while he was piping and the Kid was dancing, some hounds hearing the sound ran up and began chasing the Wolf.
1.3.a
12. Which of these is foreshadowed in the passage?
A) The Kid will escape from the Wolf.
B) The Wolf will learn how to play an instrument.
C) The Kid will dance for the hounds.
D) The Wolf will find another Kid.
1.3.b
13. Based on the Kid’s reaction to the Wolf, the Wolf was
A) a fearsome character that casts fear into the Kid.
B) a kindly character that grants one last wish.
C) a foolish character that is tricked by his prey
D) a careful character that listens to his prey.
Directions: Read this passage from Barrio
Boy by Ernesto Galarza and answer the questions that follow.
At Lincoln Elementary School, making us into Americans did not mean scrubbing away what made us originally foreign. The teachers called us, as our parents did, or as close as they could pronounce our names in
Spanish. No one was ever scolded or punished for speaking in his native tongue on the playground. . . .
It was easy for me to feel that becoming a proud American, as Miss Hopley said we should, did not mean feeling ashamed of being a Mexican.
1.3.b
14. Based on this passage, how did the teachers feel about their students?
A) They were prejudiced against them.
B) They didn’t like teaching at all.
C)
They didn’t care about them.
D) They were supportive of their Mexican students.
1.3.d
15. What is the setting of this passage?
A) An elementary school in a Spanish neighborhood in Mexico.
B) An elementary school in South
America in an English neighborhood
C) A junior high in Mexico with English students
D) An elementary school in America in a
Mexican neighborhood

Directions: Read this excerpt from a fantasy tale and answer the question that follows.
The forest glowed from all of the fairies gathered around the great oak tree. Smitely, the leader of the fairies, had called for this meeting. It seemed that the humans were cutting down too many of the trees. Now, the greatest tree of all, the Humongous Spruce, was about to fall. The forest fairies had to do something. The Humongous Spruce was home to many families of fairies, not to mention the owls, squirrels, and chipmunks.
The next day, the spruce was scheduled to be cut right after lunch, and the rest of the forest would soon follow. Smitely had a plan to stop the humans cutting down the trees. All the fairies turned their ears his way. They all agreed that his plan would succeed.
1.3.a
16. What factor is important in predicting the outcome of this passage?
A) The plan
B) The meeting
C) The cutting of the spruce
D) The fairies
Directions: Answer the following question.
1.3.e
17. How does the simile in the sentence help you to understand more completely the meaning of the underlined word?
Her new apartment was as cozy as an easy chair.
A) The simile emphasizes the comfort of the apartment.
B) The simile presents an image of the furniture in the apartment.
C) The images of the apartment and the chair contrast with one another.
D) The images of the apartment and the chair indicate safety.
Directions: Read the poem by Amanda
Granum and answer the following questions.
A HISTORY OF THE FAULTY SHOES
Tiny white lacy slipper
that I kicked off when I was a baby
Sweet little pink jellies
that I wore on the swing set and broke the strap
Soft leather moccasins
that had beads that fell off
Bright pink sneakers
that were hard to lace up
Little purple Velcro tennis shoes
that had a hole in the heel
Shiny black party shoes
that got scratched on the sidewalk
White leather sandals
that got wet in the sprinkler and shrank
Green All-Stars
that rubbed at the toe
Black Mary-Janes
that I still wear today
But who knows?
1.3.e
18. Why can this poem be considered a metaphor?
A) Because the poet wants as many new and pretty shoes as she can have and wants to get rid of the old shoes.
B) Because the poet believes that old shoes are important.
C) Because the poet compares old shoes to past experiences and comfortable memories.
D) Because the poet contrasts her current experiences with her worn out shoes.

1.3.e
19. What might the shoes symbolize?
A) Different stages of life
B) Worn out shoes
C) Bad experiences
D) Shoes the speaker liked
Directions: Read this passage and answer the question that follows.
A spring as clear as well water bubbled up from nowhere in the sand. It was as though the banks cupped green leafy hands to hold it. There was a whirlpool where the water rose from the earth. Grains of sand boiled in it. Beyond the bank, the parent spring bubbled up at a higher level, cut itself a channel through white limestone, and began to run rapidly downhill to make a creek. The creek joined Lake George, which was a part of the St. John’s River, the great river that flowed northward and into the sea.
1.3.d
21. What is the setting of this story?
A) The setting is spring or summer in the country along the banks of a creek.
B) The setting is in spring or summer in a large city along a canal.
C) The setting is in spring or summer on the beach of the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
D) The setting is in the winter along the frozen banks of a large river.
Directions: Read the poem "Whole Duty of
Children" by Robert Louis Stevenson and answer the questions that follow.
A child should always say what’s true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able
1.3.c
23. Which of these would be the best way to write the underlying message or theme in the poem?
A) The speaker wants to complain about children’s behavior.
B) The speaker believes that children should always behave.
C) The speaker is disappointed in children's awful behavior, especially at the dinner table.
D) The speaker understands children and likes them.
Directions: Read this summary of Beyond the Western Sea: The Escape from Home by
Avi and answer the question that follows.
When Irish peasants Maura O’Connell, 15, and her brother, Patrick, 12, see their home destroyed, they leave for Liverpool to board a ship for America. Their father has sent money from New York, but their mother cannot go with them, and they must make the journey and face its dangers alone.
Interwoven with their story is that of their
English landlord’s son, 11-year-old Sir
Laurence Kirkle, who has run away and is hotly pursued by friend and foe. The two story lines converge as they travel on the same ship sailing for America.
At the climax, Laurence is a stowaway in danger, and the two young Irish passengers offer him a chance to be rescued, even though in the old country, the Irish and the
English did not get along with each other.

1.3.c.
24. Based on this excerpt, what might be the theme of this novel?
A) People in common circumstances will likely argue and become enemies.
B) People of a common background should never flee their past.
C) People from opposing backgrounds join forces when in danger.
D) People who freely express their ideas and opinions can enjoy an inner
“freedom.”
Directions: Answer the following questions.
2.2b
26. What is the meaning of the term foreshadowing ?
A) to give clues of things to come
B) to move forward in a story
C) to act as the villain
D) to be set in darkness
Directions:
Read this excerpt from “The
People Could Fly” by Virginia Hamilton and answer the questions that follow.
1) Many years later, there was a great outcryin’. The bent backs straighted up. Old and young who were called slaves and could fly joined hands. Say like they would ringsing. But they didn’t shuffle in a circle.
They didn’t sing. They rose on the air. They flew in a flock that was black against heavenly blue. Black crows or black shadows. It didn’t matter, they went so high.
Way above the plantation, way over the slavery land. Say they flew Freedom.
2) They say the people could fly. Say that long ago in Africa, some of the people knew magic. And they would walk up on the air like climbin’ up on a gate. . .
3) Then, many of the people were captured for Slavery. The ones that could fly shed their wings. They couldn’t take their wings across the water on the slave ships.
The folks were full of misery, then. Got sick with the up and down of the sea. So, they forgot about flyin’ when they could no longer breathe the sweet scent of Africa.
2.2.a.
27. What point was the author Virginia
Hamilton making when she wrote the previous passage?
A) People of a common culture can work together to overcome hardships.
B) People who share common abilities will become friends.
C) People of common background should not question their past.
D) People who freely express their ideas and opinions will always enjoy freedom.
Directions: Jos é read this passage during science class. Read the passage below and answer the following questions.
Snakes are the reptiles famous for having no legs. Lizards, also reptiles, have legs that are quite small in proportion to the rest of their bodies. Turtles are reptiles whose legs are so short that the animal looks awkward to us when it is traveling on land. Other members of the same class, such as crocodiles and alligators, may be larger overall, but their legs are still proportionally small.
2.3.a.i
28. From this evidence, Jos é generalized that all reptiles have no legs or proportionally small legs. How does the passage support his generalization?
A) It provides a detailed description of the manner in which reptiles’ legs function.
B) It gives multiple examples of reptiles with no legs or small legs.
C) It describes the habitats of various reptiles.
D) It explains the feeding habits of various reptiles, living and extinct.2.3.a.i

29. What details in the paragraph support
Jos é’s generalization?
A) Snakes slither on the ground.
B) Lizards are the fastest reptile.
C) Crocodiles and alligators have large bodies.
D) Turtles, lizards, crocodiles and alligators have small, short legs.
2.3.a.i
30. What is the main idea of the passage on reptiles?
A) Snakes are the only member of the reptile class.
B) Members of the reptile class are all creatures that live in water.
C) Most members of the reptile class have small legs.
D) Alligators and crocodiles have the largest legs of all members of the reptile class.
Directions: Consider these sentences.
Mike and Tracy walked up to the boarding gate of the airplane. The attendant took their tickets. They boarded the plane.
2.3.a.v
31. How could these sentences be written as one simple sentence to mean the same thing?
A) After years of waiting, Mike and Tracy walked onto the plane. Their vacation started.
B) Mike and Tracy walked up to the door of the airplane. The attendant took their tickets.
C) The attendant took their tickets at the boarding gate of the plane, and they boarded the plane.
D) After walking up to the boarding gate,
Mike and Tracy gave the attendant the tickets and boarded the plane.
Directions: Study the sentence in the box for an error in sentence structure. Choose the answer that shows the best way to rewrite the sentence, or mark “correct as is” if the sentence is correct.
2.3.a.v
32.
Tumbling over the rocks,
Steve watched the rushing river.
A) Steve watched the rushing river tumble over the rocks.
B) Steve, tumbling over the rocks, watched the rushing river.
C) Tumbling over the rocks. Steve watched the rushing river.
D) Correct as is
2.3.a.v
33. Which is the best way to combine these two sentences into one?
My father grew up in Pennsylvania.
My father is an architect.
A) My father, who grew up in
Pennsylvania, is an architect.
B) My father, is an architect, grew up in
Pennsylvania.
C) My father grew up in Pennsylvania and my father is an architect.
D) In Pennsylvania my father grew up and is an architect.
2.3.b.ii
34. Which sentence has the correct punctuation and format?
A)
“No you can’t practice”. said the doctor;
“until your injury heals.”
B) “No you can’t practice” said the doctor
“until your injury heals.”
C) “No, you can’t practice,” said the doctor, “until your injury heals.”
D) No, you can’t practice, said the doctor, until your injury heals.

2.3.b.ii
35. Which sentence has the correct punctuation and format?
A) The judge asked the prosecutor,
“Where did you earn your law degree?”
B) The judge, asked the prosecutor,
Where did you earn your law degree?
C) The judge asked “the prosecutor
Where did you earn your law degree”?’
D)
“The judge asked the prosecutor”
Where did you earn your law degree?
2.3.b.iii
36. Select the sentence with the correct verb tense.
A) We saw it happen last Tuesday.
B) We seen it happen last Tuesday.
C) We was seeing it happen last Tuesday.
D) We has seen it happen last Tuesday.
2.3.b.iii
37. Which sentence has the correct verb choice?
A) Poet Mark Temble had never take an
English course in his life.
B) Poet Mark Temble had never taken an
English course in his life.
C) Poet Mark Temple never tooken an
English course in his life.
D) Poet Mark Temble had never took an
English course in his life.
2.3.b.iv
38. Which of these sentences uses the pronouns whose or who’s
correctly?
A) Who can tell me who’s trash this is?
B) I knew everyone whose work was exhibited at the art show.
C) Whose interested in going out for pizza after the movie?
D)
Someone who’s work was exhibited didn’t sign their name.