7th ELA 2nd 4.5 Study Guide
Question #1
Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
The QUAINT garden contained benches and waterfalls.
Question #2:
Choose the word with a negative connotation.
The ______ of workers left in a hurry.
A. mob B. group
Question #3:
Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
Would you care to DINE on exotic cuisine? _____________________
Question #4:
Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
Sally SMIRKED at Ethan. ________________________
Question #5:
Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
The children's NOISE gave mom a headache. ________________________
Question #6:
Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
My FIRM boss insists on quality work. __________________________
Question #7:
Choose the word with a negative connotation.
A flower's _______ led me into the room.
A. odor B. scent
Question #8:
Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
After the CURT nod, I was afraid to answer. ________________________
Question #9:
Choose the word with a positive connotation.
The ________ women floated gracefully into the room.
A. scrawny B. slender
Question #10:
Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
The student's CHATTER bothered the new teacher. ______________________
Question #11:
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Is the connotation in this sentence positive, negative, or neutral?
The INQUISITIVE child was not afraid to ask questions. ______________________
Question #12:
Choose the word with the negative connotation.
That _______ cologne filled the room.
A. inexpensive B. cheap
Summary and Main Idea
Directions: Read each passage and…
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Create a title for the passage related to the main idea.
Accurately summarize the text.
Your summary must describe all key ideas from the text.
DO NOT include opinions or personal info in your summary.
Highlight or underline key ideas in each passage.
Picture this: a herd of elephants flies past you at sixty miles per
hour, followed by a streak of tigers, a pride of lions, and a bunch of clowns. What do you
see? It must be a circus train! One of the first uses of the circus train is credited to W.C.
Coup. He partnered with P.T. Barnum in 1871 to expand the reach of their newly
combined shows using locomotives. Before circus trains, these operators had to lug
around all of their animals, performers, and equipment with a team of more than 600
horses. Since there were no highways, these voyages were rough and took a long time.
Circuses would stop at many small towns between the large venues. Performing at
many of these small towns was not very profitable. Because of these limitations,
circuses could not grow as large as the imaginations of the operators. After they began
using circus trains, Barnum and Coup only brought their show to large cities. These
performances were much more profitable and the profits went toward creating an even
bigger and better circus. Multiple rings were added and the show went on. Today,
Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus still rely on the circus train to transport
their astounding show, but now they use two.
13. Main idea related title for the passage:
Circus Trains: Changing the Way They Operated
14. Summarize the passage in your own words:
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Circuses used to have a difficult time travelling and had to stop at many small towns
along the way. Trains allowed circuses to travel easily from large city to large city.
How do you say “Holy cow” in French? The fastest thing in France may just be the
fastest ground transportation in the world. The TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse: French for
very high speed) is France’s national high speed rail service. On April 3 rd, 2007, a TGV
test train set a record for the fastest wheeled train, reaching 357.2 miles per hour. In
mid 2011, TGV trains operated at the highest speed in passenger train service in the
world, regularly reaching 200 miles per hour. But what you may find most shocking is
that TGV trains run on electric power not petrol. Now if you’ll excuse me; I have a record
to catch.
15. Main idea related title for the passage:
TGV: A Record Setting Train
16. Summarize the passage in your own words:
The TGV is a French train that set a record for the fastest wheeled train and the fastest
passenger train service.
Giddy-up, cowboys and girls! In the Southwest during early half of the 1800s, cows
were only worth 2 or 3 dollars a piece. They roamed wild, grazed off of the open range,
and were abundant. Midway through the century though, railroads were built and the
nation was connected. People could suddenly ship cows in freight trains to the
Northeast, where the Yankees had a growing taste for beef. Out of the blue, the same
cows that were once worth a couple of bucks were now worth between twenty and forty
dollars each, if you could get them to the train station. It became pretty lucrative to
wrangle up a drove of cattle and herd them to the nearest train town, but it was at least
as dangerous as it was profitable. Cowboys were threatened at every turn. They faced
cattle rustlers, stampedes and extreme weather, but kept pushing those steers to the
train station. By the turn of the century, barbed wire killed the open range and some
may say the cowboy too, but it was the train that birthed him.
17. Main idea related title for the passage:
The Train: Mother of the Cowboy
18. Summarize the passage in your own words:
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Cows were not worth a lot of money until they could be easily transported to the East
after the invention of the train. Many people then became cowboys despite the dangers
they faced.
Electric trolley cars or trams were once the chief mode of public transportation in the
United States. Though they required tracks and electric cables to run, these trolley cars
were clean and comfortable. In 1922, auto manufacturer General Motors created a
special unit to replace electric trolleys with cars, trucks, and buses. Over the next
decade, this group successfully lobbied for laws and regulations that made operating
trams more difficult and less profitable. In 1936 General Motors created several front
companies for the purpose of purchasing and dismantling the trolley car system. They
received substantial investments from Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips
Petroleum, and other parties invested in the automotive industry. Some people suspect
that these parties wanted to replace trolley cars with buses to make public
transportation less desirable, which would then increase automobile sales. The decline
of the tram system in North America could be attributed to many things—labor strikes,
the Great Depression, regulations that were unfavorable to operators—but perhaps the
primary cause was having a group of powerful men from rival sectors of the auto
industry working together to ensure its destruction. Fill it up, please.
19. Main idea related title for the passage:
Death of the Electric Tram
20. Summarize the passage in your own words:
This passage is about how many large companies that served the automotive market
conspired to dismantle the electric trolley car system and replace them with less desirable
buses.
Nonfiction Reading
“Garbage”
Directions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Refer to
the text to check your answers when appropriate.
(1) Garbage cans are not magical
portals. Trash does not disappear when
you toss it in a can. Yet, the average
American throws away an estimated
(4)As landfill space increases, interest
in composting grows. Compositing is
when people pile up organic matter,
such as food waste, and allow it to
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1,600 pounds of waste each year. If
there are no magic garbage fairies,
where does all that trash go? There are
four methods to managing waste:
recycling, landfilling, composting, and
incinerating. Each method has its
strengths and weaknesses. Let's take a
quick look at each.
(2)Recycling is the process of turning
waste into new materials. For example,
used paper can be turned into
paperboard, which can be used to make
book covers. Recycling can reduce
pollution, save materials, and lower
energy use. Yet, some argue that
recycling wastes energy. They believe
that collecting, processing, and
converting waste uses more energy
than it saves. Still, most people agree
that recycling is better for the planet
than landfilling.
(3)Landfilling is the oldest method of
managing waste. In its simplest form,
landfilling is when people bury garbage
in a hole. Over time the practice of
landfilling has advanced. Garbage is
compacted before it is thrown into the
hole. In this way more garbage can fit in
each landfill. Large liners are placed in
the bottom of landfills so that toxic
garbage juice doesn't get into the
ground water. Sadly, these liners don't
always work. Landfills may pollute the
local water supply. Not to mention that
all of that garbage stinks. Nobody wants
to live next to a landfill. This makes it
hard to find new locations for landfills.
decompose. The product of this
decomposition is compost. Compost
can be added to the soil to make the
soil richer and better for growing
crops. While composting is easy to do
onsite somewhere, like home or
school, it's hard to do after the
garbage gets all mixed up. This is
because plastic and other inorganic
materials must be removed from the
compost pile or they will pollute the
soil. There's a lot of plastic in garbage,
which makes it hard to compost on a
large scale.
(5)One thing that is easier to do is
burning garbage. There are two main
ways to incinerate waste. The first is to
create or harvest a fuel from the
waste, such as methane gas, and burn
the fuel. The second is to burn the
waste directly. The heat from the
incineration process can boil water,
which can power steam generators.
Unfortunately, burning garbage
pollutes the air. Also, some critics
worry that incinerators destroy
valuable resources that could be
recycled.
(6)Usually, the community in which
you live manages waste. Once you put
your garbage in that can, what
happens to it is beyond your control.
But you can make choices while it is
still in your possession. You can
choose to recycle, you can choose to
compost, or you can choose to let
someone else deal with it. The choice
is yours.
21. Which best explains why the author begins the text by talking about magical
garbage fairies?
a. He is putting a common misconception to rest.
b. He is trying to get the reader's attention.
c. He is addressing his concern in a serious way.
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d. He is supporting his argument with evidence.
22. Which best defines the meaning of incineration as it is used in the text?
a. To bury waste materials in a large hole
b. To allow waste products to decompose and become fertilizer
c. To burn waste materials and harvest the energy
d. To turn waste materials into products like book covers
23. Which was not cited in the third paragraph as an issue with landfilling?
a. Landfills are smelly.
b. Usable materials are wasted in landfills.
c. Landfills may pollute the water supply.d. It is difficult to find locations for
landfills.
24. Which conclusion could best be supported with text from the passage?
a. Each method of waste management has its drawbacks.
b. Recycling is without a doubt the best way to handle waste.
c. Incineration is the best way to process waste.
d. All large cities should create massive compost piles.
25. Which best expresses the main idea of the fourth paragraph?
a. Landfills take up a lot of space.
b. Composting is good for the soil but it can be hard to do.
c. The process of composting is very complicated and scientific.
d. There is a lot of plastic garbage in landfills.
26. Which best expresses the meaning of the word compacted as it is used in the third
paragraph?
a. Garbage is burned before it is thrown in a hole.
b. Garbage is put in trucks before it is thrown in a hole
c. Garbage is crushed smaller before it is thrown in a hole.
d. Garbage is put in a can before it is thrown in a hole.
27. Which best expresses the author's main purpose in writing this?
a. To convince readers to recycle and compost
b. To persuade readers that recycling is a waste of resources
c. To compare and contrast recycling and landfilling
d. To inform readers of methods of waste management
28. Which is not included in this text?
a. A description of how trash is collected
b. A description of the uses of compost
c. A description of the two methods of incinerating trash
d. A description of how landfills have advanced over time
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29. Which best explains why composting is not feasible on a large scale?
a. People wouldn't want to touch all of that gross rotting food.
b. It would smell too bad in densely populated cities.
c. It would attract rodents that would spread disease.
d. Plastic would get into the compost and turn it into a pollutant.
30. Which title best expresses the main idea of this text?
a. The Magic of Recycling: Bringing Back What Was Once Lost
b. Methods of Waste Management: Pros and Cons
c. Recycling, Landfilling, or Composting: Which is Best For You?
d. Do Your Part: How to Save the Earth by Recycling and Composting
31. Which two methods of waste management do you believe are best for society?
Support your argument with text.
Begin your answer with
According to the text…
In the passage…
In paragraph three of the text, ...
32. Which two methods of waste management do you believe are worst for society?
Refer to the text in your argument. (i.e. Cite evidence).
Begin your answer with
According to the text…
In the passage…
In paragraph three of the text, .
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33. Summarize the article. Be sure to cover the pros and cons of the four methods of
waste management.
See directions for summary and main idea and the powerpoint on my webpage. Pros
are the positives while cons are the negatives for the methods of waste management.
Simple and Compound Sentences
A simple sentence is a sentence that had one subject part and one predicate part.
A compound sentence is a sentence that contains two or more simple sentences
joined by and, or, or but.
A compound subject has two or more simple subjects that have the same predicate.
The subjects are joined by and.
A compound predicate is a predicate that has two or more verbs with the same
subject. The verbs are connected by and or or.
In a compound sentence, use a comma before and, or, or but when they join simple
sentences.
In a series of three or more nouns or verbs, use commas to separate them.
Circle the correct answer. Independent clauses = blue
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34. We bought tickets to the hockey game.
Simple
Compound
35. We sat toward the center of the rink.
Simple
Compound
36. Hockey is a fast game, and fans shriek with excitement.
Simple
Compound
37. Hockey players are careful, but they still get hurt often.
Simple
Compound
38. The goalie on each team stays near the end of the rink.
Simple
Compound
39. Players obey the rules, or they receive penalties.
Simple
Compound
40. Hockey is a popular sport in many countries around the world.
Simple
Compound
41. Hockey players move quickly, or they miss a goal.
Simple
Compound
Circle Compound Subject if the sentence has a compound subject. Circle Compound
Predicate if the sentence has a compound predicate
42. Fred, Toby, and I formed a hockey team last month.
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Compound Subject
Compound Predicate
43. We bought equipment made uniforms and found an ice rink.
Compound Subject
Compound Predicate
44. The coach and his assistant helped us at the start.
Compound Subject
Compound Predicate
45. Toby printed tickets and sold them after school.
Compound Subject
Compound Predicate
46. Teachers, students and friends came to our first game.
Compound Subject
Compound Predicate
47. Boys and girls played on each team.
Compound Subject
Compound Predicate
Independent clauses=blue
Dependent clauses=purple
In a compound sentence, use a comma before and, or, or but when they join simple sentences.
In a complex sentence, you will find 1 independent clause and 1 or more dependent clauses. Dependent
clauses begin with subordinate conjunctions like because, so that, if, since, etc.
48. Kerry called the fire department, and they arrived very quickly.
Compound
Complex
49. After he got home, my father read us a story.
Compound
Complex
50. We couldn’t go to the beach because the car broke down.
Compound
Complex
51. The magician pulled a rabbit from his hat, but the audience did not applaud.
Compound
Complex
52. The baby elephant followed its mother because the lion was very close.
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Compound
Complex
53. The forest was dark and gloomy, yet the children ran into it fearlessly.
Compound
Complex
54. The campers stayed in the tent while the cold rain fell.
Compound
Complex
55. Jane and Louise bought popcorn before the movie started.
Compound
Complex
56. Peter worked hard on his homework, yet he didn’t finish it.
Compound
Complex
57. The baseball player ran to second base when the pitcher dropped the ball.
Compound
Complex
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