Accelerated Sophomore English Final Exam Semester 1 2013-14
I. Grammar – Matching or Multiple Choice Questions 1 - 45
Parts of speech
a. noun
b. action verb
c. linking verb
d. adjective
e. adverb
ab. pronoun
ac. Preposition
ad. conjunction
Sentence Patterns
a. S-V
b. S-V-O
c. S-LV-C
d. S-V-IO-O e. S-V-O-OC
Usage
Study the packets especially the review exercises in each packet.
ae. interjection
II. Communication Theory and Informative Speech Questions 46-62
Audience Analysis - Analyzing speaking situation
Narrowing a Topic - Purpose sentence – what they are and who they benefit and how to write them
Thesis sentence - what they are and who they benefit and how to write them
Narrowing a topic- process of, considerations when narrowing,
Using Support Materials - Types of support - fact, statistic, quotation, example and how to use them
and why to use them.
Research - Focusing research - how and why
Source cards - definition and format
Information note cards - definition and format
Types of sources - encyclopedias, almanacs, electronic databases
Plagiarism - definition and how to avoid
Organization - Organizational patterns - chronological, topical, spatial, problem-solution – what they
are and when to use them.
III. Through the Tunnel – Literary Analysis and Vocabulary
For this part of the test, you will be reading a new story and applying the skills and concepts we have learned
this semester. The short story “Through the Tunnel” is in your literature book on page 150.
Read the story first and then look at the questions on pages 156 and 157 to help you understand the story.
Literary Analysis and Comprehension – Questions 63-79 will be about theme, point of view, character, plot,
juxtaposition, narrative structure, symbol, and setting.
Vocabulary – Questions 80-90 will be matching items that require you to match the word to its definition.
Questions 91-98 ask you to figure out how the word is being used in context. Questions 99-110 ask you to
identify the part of speech of the word as it is used in a sentence.
promontory
inquisitive
incredulous
contrition
luminous
supplication
clambered
innumberable
myriad
gout
convulsive
IV. Short Essay
Through the Tunnel Literary Analysis
1. In A Separate Peace, Finny’s burning of the Iliad is a symbolic act denying the war’s existence. In the short
story “Through the Tunnel,” Jerry’s voyage through the tunnel is symbolic. Analyze how Doris Lessing uses
the voyage through the tunnel as a symbolic act.
2. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles develops a coming of age theme in which he shows that coming of age
involves a loss of innocence. Doris Lessing also develops a coming of age theme in her story “Through the
Tunnel.” What is Lessing’s coming of age theme and how does she develop it?
Through the Tunnel Communication Analysis
1. Diagram the underlined part of the conversation below.
Jerry swam a little closer; they turned and watched him with narrowed, alert dark eyes. Then one smiled and
waved. It was enough. In a minute, he had swum in and was on the rocks beside them, smiling with a desperate,
nervous supplication. They shouted cheerful greetings at him, and then, as he preserved his nervous,
uncomprehending smile, they understood that he was a foreigner strayed from his own beach, and they
proceeded to forget him. But he was happy. He was with them.
When Jerry came up, the boys were all on the diving rock, preparing to attempt the feat again. And now, in
a panic of failure, he yelled up, in English, "Look at me! Look!" and he began splashing and kicking in the
water like a foolish dog.
They looked down gravely, frowning. He knew the frown. At moments of failure, when he clowned to claim
his mother's attention, it was with just this grave, embarrassed inspection that she rewarded him. Through his
hot shame, feeling the pleading grin on his face like a scar that he could never remove, he looked up at the
group of big brown boys on the rock and shouted, "Bonjour! Merci! Au revoir! Monsieur, monsieur!" while he
hooked his fingers round his ears and waggled them.
2. What is Doris Lessing characterizing about Jerry? Using your diagram from the previous question, write a
paragraph in which you explain your analysis of Jerry. Be sure to use the appropriate communication terms as
you analyze the verbal and nonverbal components of the passage as well as any communication breakdowns.
3. Using the Johari Window theory, explain how Jerry changes in the story “Through the Tunnel.”
Speech Analysis
4. Read the speech introduction on the next page. Mark it up using the guidelines below. Then write a short
essay in which you analyze the effectiveness of the introduction and defend your analysis.
In the introduction on the next page, mark the following items:
1. Put a bracket next to the part of the introduction that is the attention getter.
2. Put a star next to the part of the introduction in which the speaker establishes credibility.
a. How is credibility established?
personal experience
citation of source
3. Put a check mark next to the part of the introduction where the speaker establishes relevance to
the audience.
a. How is the relevance established?
use of personal pronouns
reference to lives of audience
4. Underline the thesis sentence.
5. Put a circle around the preview of main points.
a. How many main points will this speaker be discussing?
Introduction
Ladies and Gentlemen, today I would like to present to you a speech about the very first man to appear
on the cover of Time Magazine in 1925.
A man who participated in a look-alike contest of himself and lost.
A man who was absolutely loathed by the infamous Adolf Hitler.
But Hitler recognized the popularity of this man and decided to grow a moustache just like this man’s in
order to gain popularity with his own people. This man’s films, although they are very old, are still
widely considered today as some of the greatest of all time. I remember when I was younger I would
watch YouTube videos of his short silent humorous films. But as I grew older, I came to appreciate his
true masterpieces. This man also has an asteroid named after him. In the asteroid belt between Mars
and Jupiter lies the asteroid 3623 Chaplin named after director, composer, and actor Charles, better
known as Charlie, Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin’s difficult childhood exposed him to the thrill of acting, a
talent that he pursued until he became one of the most famous actors and directors of all time. Today we
will travel Chaplin’s difficult road looking first at his troubled childhood, second the beginning and
growth of his career, and finally the troubling but rewarding end of his career.
On the next page, write a short essay evaluating the effectiveness of this introduction. Make sure you
 have a thesis/claim that answers the question
 structure your essay logically
 avoid using only number/order transitions
 use specific evidence from the text to support your analysis
 proofread to eliminate errors
 use word and sentence structures that clarify meaning and do not impede meaning
Short Essay - Critical Reading and Response
5. Read the essay below. Choose one of the following three options for your response. Each response should
be two paragraphs.
1. a. Summarize paragraph 1 of the essay
b. Respond to one of the flaws identified in the paragraph either agreeing or disagreeing.
2. a. Summarize paragraph 2 of the essay
b. Discuss how the novel’s point of view helps to clarify Knowles’s point about ignorance in the human
heart.
3. a. Summarize paragraph 3 of the essay
b. Discuss at least three different meanings of the novel’s title. What are three different separate peaces
in the novel?
Essay - Source: Anne Hiebert Alton, in an essay for Novels for Students, Gale, 1997.
Despite its many strengths, A Separate Peace contains a few flaws. Its detailed descriptions of setting
are rarely well-integrated into the narrative. In addition, many of the minor characters (with the exception of
Leper and Brinker) are poorly developed: Mr. Prud'homme appears as a foolish cipher, and the few women in
the novel—such as the faculty wives, Leper's mother, or Hazel Brewster, the town belle—are mere stock
characters. Furthermore, Knowles' symbolism falls short of its potential. While Gene implies that the tree holds
great significance for him as something which is no longer intimidating or unique but to which he is still drawn,
he goes no further with his speculations. However, this lack of development was intentional: as Knowles
comments in his "The Young Writer's Real Friends," "If anything appeared which looked suspiciously like a
symbol, I left it on its own .… I know that if I began with symbols, I would end with nothing; if I began with
certain individuals I might end up by creating symbols." Finally, Gene's vantage point from fifteen years later is
problematic, for it raises questions about the unreliability of his narrative and creates a disquieting sense of
vagueness. We see Phineas only as Gene remembers him, thus Phineas is a construction of Gene's memory. In
addition, Gene's refusal to pursue the question of whether or not he's truly changed is disturbing: while he
insists he's improved since his days at school, noting his achievements of security and peace after having
survived the war and gained worldly success, his tone suggests a lack of conviction. Moreover, though he
implies that he's imbued some of Phineas' vitality, this doesn't appear in his narrative, and we're left to wonder
whether he's really grown.
Nevertheless, Gene's narrative provides us with one valuable insight into the effects of humanity's
unthinking tendencies. After the second accident, Phineas comments to Gene: "'It was just some kind of blind
impulse you had in the tree there .… It wasn't anything you really felt against me, it wasn't some kind of hate
you've felt all along. It wasn't anything personal."' Here, Knowles makes the point that it's exactly this sort of
impulsive and impersonal action which causes war, death, and conflict in the world—and it happens constantly
and repeatedly. Gene supports this notion, realizing that "wars were not made by generations and their special
stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart." This is what happened
between him and Phineas, and what he believes happened to bring the world to war.
The real meaning of A Separate Peace lies in its title. Phineas' imaginary worlds create a peace separate
from the world at war, and he invites others—and especially Gene—into this peaceful sphere. As the champion
of Phineas' world, Gene delights in "this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the
escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace." In the end,
however, Gene arrives at his real peace—if he indeed does—apart from Phineas. Though he says that Finny's
life and death taught him a way of living—"an atmosphere in which I continued now to live, a way of sizing up
the world with erratic and entirely personal reservations"—he reaches this atmosphere only after separating
himself from Phineas and finding his own identity. This process is ongoing, and entails Gene's
acknowledgement that the real enemy is within himself and, indeed, within each of us: we're all liable to
corruption from within by our own envy, anger, and fear. In the end, inner peace is achieved only after fighting
one's own, private war of growing up. In this sense, the war is symbolic also of the inner struggle from
adolescence to maturity.
V. Prepared Paper – Through the Tunnel
As evidence of learning that you know how to write about literature, you will write a two paragraph prepared
paper that answers the following question. Use what you have learned from the two prepared papers that you
did on A Separate Peace.
Topic: How does Doris Lessing use the two beaches to develop the coming of age theme in the short
story “Through the Tunnel?”
Submission Guidelines:
• Paper is due on the day of the final exam and submitted to Turnitin.com by 11:59 on the day of your exam.
• Submit a hard copy of the paper on the day of the exam.
• If you are exempting the exam, you still need to do the paper, which must be submitted in both hard copy to
me and Turnitin.com. Hard copy is due on the day of the exam and Turnitin.com is due by 11:59 on the day of
the exam. You can submit the hard copy earlier.
Paper Guidelines:
Two paragraphs
Word processed
Double spaced
Content Guidelines:
Thesis: TAG and ASQ - spell the author’s name and the title of the novel correctly! Write a clear, concise
sentence that communicates the main idea of your paper using the key words of the prompt.
Full Statement of theme: Should come after the thesis.
How many quotations should you use?
You should use at least two quotations.
How should you use quotations?
Quotations should be:
• cited – blah blah blah” (25).
• worked smoothly into your paper – introduce the quote and insert it grammatically into your sentence.
• analyzed and not used to storytell – all quotes should have analysis after them in a separate sentence.
• selected carefully – anything you can say in your own words does not need a quotation.
Does the paper need an introduction and a conclusion?
No – use impromptu format. Begin with your thesis followed by the definition of theme and then go right into
your topic sentence.