English 11
Midterm Exam Review
Name: _______________________________
Date: ________________________________
Your exam will consist of vocabulary review, daily grammar practice, and questions from Into the Wild,
as well as an essay on Into the Wild.
Vocabulary Review – 20 questions from unit 1:
The following is an example of how the vocabulary section will be formatted:
sagacious
a. foolish
b. fearless
c. sensible
d. sensory
To practice and study for this section, it would be helpful for you to brainstorm synonyms for each of
your vocabulary words in unit 1:
Affinity:
Fledgling:
Hackneyed:
Incessant:
Opulence:
Proximity:
Sagacious:
Supplant:
Unassailable:
Voluminous:
Brusque:
Dispassionate:
Effervescent:
Indefatigable:
Misanthrope:
Morose:
Nonchalance:
Progeny:
Stoic:
Voracious:
Coaslesce:
Decadence:
Exemplary:
Exuberance:
Incidental:
Insolvent:
Parsimonious:
Prodigal:
Surreptitious:
Writhe:
Brevity:
Clemency:
Frivolous:
Heist:
Lampoon:
Querulous:
Reproach:
Respite:
Torpor:
Unscathed:
Copious:
Dearth:
Eloquent:
Jargon:
Levity:
Meander:
Peripheral:
Substantiate:
Unobtrusive:
Vacillate:
Daily Grammar Practice:
You will have fifteen questions on Daily Grammar Practice concepts. Prepare for this by applying your
notes to the following sentence:
Monday – Parts of Speech:
not only did benjamin franklin invent the bifocals but he also created the first library
Tuesday – Parts of a sentence:
not only did benjamin franklin invent the bifocals but he also created the first library
Wednesday - Clauses and Sentence Type:
not only did benjamin franklin invent the bifocals but he also created the first library
Thursday – Capitalization and Punctuation:
not only did benjamin franklin invent the bifocals but he also created the first library
Into the Wild:
You will answer 35 questions on characters, plot points and other important details in Into the Wild.
Characters:
Chris McCandless
Jim Gallien
Walt McCandless
Billie McCandless
Wayne Westerberg
Jan Burres
Carine McCandless
Jon Krakauer
Carl McCunn
John Waterman
Ronald Franz
Samel, Thompson and Samuel
Gaylord Stuckey
Gail Borah
Alexander Supertramp
Everett Ruess
Gene Rossellini
Terms/ Places:
Denali
Stampede Trail
Bullhead City
Datsun
Virginia
Emory University
The Slabs
Lake Mead
“Magic Bus”
Teklanika River
Davis Gulch
Carthage
ESSAY: Also, prepare notes to respond to one of the following Essential Questions:
1.
Is Chris McCandless a hero in American culture? If so, what qualities does he possess that many
Americans long for or strive toward? If he is not a hero, what prevents him from being one?
2.
Is Chris a transcendentalist? What ideas of Thoreau and Emerson does McCandless identify with and
embody?
3.
In life, what is most important: friends, family, or self? How do you rank them? How does Chris rank
them? Would you say that he would rank them differently at different places in the story? At the end of
the day, is the individual most content when he or she places the most importance in the needs of friends,
family, or self? Comment on McCandless’ note in Doctor Zhivago: “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN
SHARED” (189).
4.
What does it mean to be successful? What doe s this book illustrate about the concept of “success”?
5.
How do we construct our own identities? What is the relationship between nature and the identity of
Americans? In what other ways do we form our identities? What is your identity?
6.
Americans have always been captivated by the idea of traveling west, or as Wallace Stegner wrote, “the
road has always led west” (15). Why do American have such an obsession with travel, the road, and the
road trip? What does it reveal about our culture and our desires that many people seek out the adventure
of the great unknown?
7.
Krakauer writes of McCandless that he wasn’t a slacker, a confused young person. Rather, he writes, “His
life hummed with meaning and purpose” (184). What do you think, ultimately, was McCandless’s
purpose? Was he successful in his purpose? What is your purpose, and what can you learn about your
own purpose by examining his?