7th Grade Semester Test Spring 2013
Use the following poem for questions 1-8.
Casey at the Bat – Ernest Lawrence Faye
It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but an inning left to play.
So when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go, leaving there the rest
With hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Casey could get a whack at that-We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."
But Flynn preceded Casey, and likewise so did Blake,
And the former was a pudd’n, while the latter was a cake;
So on that stricken multitude, deathlike silence sat,
For there seemed little chance of Casey getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
When the dust had lifted, all saw what had occurred:
Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-huggin’ third.
Then from five thousand throats, there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey's manner, as he took his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on his face.
And when responding to the cheers he lightly doffed his hat,
No one in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
Every eye was on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt;
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.
Now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said
From the benches, filled with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of honest charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising uproar; he made the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two!"
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold; they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
The sneer has fled from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go.
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville--Mighty Casey has struck out.
1. What type of poem is “Casey at the Bat”?
A. Limerick
B. Haiku
C. Narrative
D. Sensory
2. What type of figurative language is featured in “So on that stricken multitude, deathlike silence sat” (11)?
A. Metaphor
B. Personification
C. Hyperbole
D. Idiom
3. Name the sound device contained in “So on that stricken multitude, deathlike silence sat” (11).
A. Onomatopoeia
B. Assonance
C. Repetition
D. Alliteration
4. What type of figurative language is featured in “And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;”
(14)?
A. Metaphor
B. Personification
C. Hyperbole
D. Idiom
5. Which choice represents a possible theme for “Casey at the Bat”?
A. Large crowds can be distractive.
B. Luck can be a wonderful thing.
C. Overconfidence can lead to underachievement.
D. Keep your eye on the ball.
6. In line 37, “visage” most nearly means what?
A. Lip
B. Expression
C. Tone
D. Strength
7. The poem is divided into four-line stanzas otherwise known as what?
A. Couplets
B. Triplets
C. Quatrains
D. Quadruplets
8. In the first stanza, the consistent repetition of the long “a” sounds is an example of what sound device?
A. Assonance
B. Consonance
C. Onomatopoeia
D. Alliteration
Read the poem “The Ballad of Captain Super” and answer questions 9-13.
The Ballad of Captain Super
by John Ham
Big as life, the Captain graced
the highest roof in town,
An eagle in his mountain perch
he scanned the world around.
A vocal chorus reached his eara crisis had been born!
Cap summoned all his steely strength,
recalling what he’d sworn:
Protect the decent, right the wrongs,
and always, just in time,
rescue frightened children from
practitioners of crime.
The Captain hurtled forth and down,
an angel from on high,
and landed softly as a brickthe Captain couldn’t fly.
9. Which line contains a metaphor?
a. the highest roof in town.
b. An eagle in his mountain perch,
c. Protect the decent, right the wrongs,
d. The Captain hurtled forth and down,
10. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem’s first two stanzas?
a. aabb ccdd
b. abab cdcd
c. abcb defe
d. abcd efgh
11. What literary device is used in the comparison “he knew what move he had to make as masters do in
chess”?
a. hyperbole
b. analogy
c. metaphor
d. personification
12. Which of the following best restates the meaning of the word scanned as it is used in the poem?
a. looked over carefully
b. made a digital image
c. glanced around quickly
d. noted a poem’s rhythm
13. What is the theme of “The Ballad of Captain Super”?
a. Even the strongest and bravest can make mistakes.
b. Real greatness comes only from humble circumstances.
c. Average, everyday people can make the world a better place.
d. People should learn a skill before trying to perform that skill.
14. The above image is an example of what type of figurative language?
A. Imagery
B. Onomatopoeia
C. Simile
D. Metaphor
Use the comic strip below to complete questions 15-18.
1
2
15. Which box demonstrates the conflict?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
3
4
16. Which box demonstrates the climax?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
17. Which box demonstrates the resolution?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
18. Which box demonstrates the rising action?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
Read the poem below and answer questions 19-23.
Slam, Dunk, & Hook
by Yusef Kommunyakaa
5
10
15
Fast breaks. Lay ups. With Mercury’s1
Insignia2 on our sneakers,
We outmaneuvered3 the footwork
Of bad angels. Nothing but a hot
Swish of strings like silk
Ten feet out. In the roundhouse
Labyrinth4 our bodies
Created, we could almost
Last forever, poised in midair
Like storybook sea monsters.
A high note hung there
A long second. Off
The rim. We’d corkscrew
Up & dunk balls that exploded
The skullcap of hope & good
Intention. Bug-eyed, lanky,
All hands & feet…sprung rhythm.
1
20
25
In Roman mythology, Mercury was the messenger
of the gods. He wore sandals that had small wings on
them.
2
Insignia: a mark or sign that indicates rank,
authority, or honor
3
If you outmaneuver someone, you used clever
movements to defeat that person.
4
Here, roundhouse refers to wide, swinging arm
movements, and a labyrinth is a confusing,
complicated arrangement.
35
40
We were metaphysical5 when girls
Cheered on the sidelines.
Tangled up in a falling,
Muscles were a bright motor
Double-flashing to the metal hoop
Nailed to our oak.
When Sonny Boy’s mama died
He played nonstop all day, so hard
Our backboard splintered.
Glistening with sweat, we jibed6
& rolled the ball off our
Fingertips. Trouble
Was there slapping a blackjack7
Against an open palm.
Dribble, drive to the inside, feint8,
& glide like a sparrow hawk.
Lay Ups. Fast breaks.
We had moves we didn’t know
We had. Our bodies spun
On swivels of bone & faith,
Through a lyric slipknot
Of joy, & we knew we were
Beautiful & dangerous.
5
Here, metaphysical means beyond the limits of the
physical world.
6
To jibe is to be in harmony with one another.
7
A blackjack is a flexible, leather-covered weapon,
used to hit an opponent.
8
Feint: to move in a way that’s meant to trick an
opponent.
19. The above poem can best be described as a:
A. ballad
B. concrete
C. free verse
D. limerick
20. Lines 21-23 are an example of:
A. simile
B. metaphor
C. hyperbole
D. personification
21. Line 5 is an example of:
A. onomatopoeia
B. alliteration
C. assonance
D. imagery
22. Which of the following lines is an example of a simile?
A. Our bodies spun/On swivels of bone & faith,
B. All hands & feet…sprung rhythm.
C. we jibed/& rolled the ball off our/Fingertips.
D. Dribble, drive to the inside, feint,/& glide like a sparrow hawk.
23. In line 9, what is the meaning of the underlined word?
A. hovering
B. polite
C. dignified
D. jumping
Use the short story below to answer questions 24-28
Rookie
by Jerry B. Jenkins
The kids were lined up at home plate
1
and asked to stand in the batter’s box, one
at a time, with a bat. They were to swing and
drop the bat and run all the way around the
bases, touching each one. They were timed
from the plate to the plate.
1
home plate: the main base in baseball where the
runner starts and the points are scored.
Most of the kids swung, set the bat down,
then ran. They ran in a huge circle, touching
each base and ranging almost into right field
on their way to second and into left on their
way to third. Several slid into home. Most
slowed and jumped on the plate with both
feet.
When Elgin’s turn came, he stepped
quickly into the box. He stood in left-handed
to give himself an edge toward first.
“When you’re ready,” said one of the two
men with a stopwatch. “You a lefty or are
you just tryin for an advantage?”
“Switch-hitter2, sir.”
“Sure you are. Which hand you throw
with?”
“Right.”
“Bat righty for this.”
Elgin’s face burned. He moved to the
third base side of the plate, stepped and
swung hard. He was moving before he
dropped the bat, and within three strides was
at top speed. The other hopefuls stared and
punched each other. “Whoa, look at that
kid!”
Elgin was hardly two feet out of the base
paths all the way around, digging, charging,
flying around the infield in what seemed the
shortest distance possible. Everyone
watched in silence as he got ahead of
himself on the way to the plate and almost
stumbled, then righted himself and sped
across the plate.
“Man!”
“Wow!”
Elgin smiled self-consciously and
stole a peek at his mother in the bleachers.
She raised a fist and smiled.
The timers looked at their watches and
then at each other. They showed each other
the times they had clocked. “Can’t be right,”
one said.
“The watch doesn’t lie. He looked pretty
quick.”
“He didn’t look this quick. I don’t think a
fourteen-year-old has run this time. I think
maybe I was late punching in at the start.”
“Me too? We were both off?”
“Could’ve been. He got out of the box
fast.”
The time recorder approached with a
clipboard. “Time?”
“We’re not sure.”
“What do you mean?”
2
switch-hitter: a player who can bat right-handed or
left-handed.
Both displayed their watch faces.
“You want me to write that down? Or
should I just note that both clockers think
they’re funny? C’mon, what’s the time? I
expected him to have the fastest time, but
faster even than the big kids, and by more
than a second? Are we sure this kid’s only
eleven?”
“He’s ten.”
“Sure he is.”
“Woodell!”
“Sir?”
“When you catch your breath, get back
in line. We need to be sure of your time.”
Elgin looked at his mother with a shrug,
as if to say, “When I catch my breath?” He
was hardly panting.
Twenty minutes later, when Elgin was
up again, it seemed word had spread across
all the diamonds. Kids and coaches from all
three tryout areas watched the big ten-yearold who ran like no kid they had ever seen.
Elgin was aware of all the attention, and if
anything, it made him faster.
24. You would most likely read this selection to
A. find out how to join your local baseball team
B. learn about the rules of baseball
C. be entertained by a story about an unusually fast baseball player
D. find out which batting technique will improve your game
25. Based on Elgin’s attitude at the end of the passage, we can infer that
A. he will not be allowed to play with the older kids
B. his second time will be even better than his first
C. all of the attention will make him too nervous
D. the fourteen-year-olds will have the fastest times
26. Carlos is writing a report on the fastest athletes in 2011. The best source for Carlos to use to find 2011
track records would be
A. a dictionary
B. an encyclopedia
C. an atlas
D. an almanac
27. One conflict in this story is between
A. Elgin and his mom
B. Elgin and his classmates
C. Elgin and the coach
D. Elgin and the baseball bat
28. In paragraph 10, the word righted means
A. fell
B. steadied
C. argued
D. encouraged
Use the advertisement to answer questions 29-33.
29. By featuring Taylor Swift, this advertisement uses the _____ technique.
a. testimonial
b. bandwagon
c. transfer
d. none of the above
30. The term “natureluxe” suggests that this product is _____.
a. cheap and unnatural
b. exotic and smooth
c. rich and natural
d. artificial and expensive
31. The target audience for this ad is most likely _____.
a. aspiring musicians who want to get discovered
b. female athletes who need long-lasting makeup
c. soccer moms who want a makeover
d. young women who want a natural look
32. If COVERGIRL wanted to add more facts to this ad, which of the following should they choose?
a. “COVERGIRL feels great on my skin!”
b. “I feel beautiful when I use this product!”
c. “This product is made from 98% natural ingredients.”
d. “This is my favorite new product!”
33. By comparing this product to a “breath of fresh air”, the advertisers are using a ______.
a. metaphor
b. simile
c. onomatopoeia
d. personification
Use the following reading passage for questions 34-40
Adventurous Storyteller – Jack London
Jack London, one of America’s major writers of adventure tales, was born in California in 1876. During his life, London
worked at many jobs. His broad life experiences would become the background for his writing.
London loved to read. As a teenager, he spent many hours educating himself at the Oakland, California, public library. He
attended college at the University of California at Berkeley, he stayed for only six months. He thought Berkeley was “not lively
enough” and wanted to do something more exciting.
London wrote stories about working people and the hard times they had making a living. He knew their problems first hand.
He worked as a sailor, rancher, factory employee, railroad hobo, and gold prospector, to name just a few of his many jobs.
London grew up near the waterfront in Oakland. He loved the water. When he was fifteen years old, he bought a small
sailboat called a sloop. Later he sailed to Japan on a schooner, which is a much larger sailing boat.
Like many people of the time, London caught the Klondike Gold Rush Fever. In l897 he headed for Alaska. He didn’t find
gold, but he discovered something even more valuable. He discovered that people enjoyed listening to the stories he made up
with his vivid imagination. London entertained the miners with story after story. Later, using his experiences during the Gold
Rush, he created many more colorful stories.
London resolved to live a full, exciting life. He once said, “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent
glow, then a sleepy and permanent planet.”
Each day, he pushed himself. Once London determined that he was going to be a writer, nothing could stop him. His goal
was to write at least one thousand words every day. He refused to stop even when he was sick. In eighteen years, the writer
published fifty-one books and hundreds of articles. He was the best-selling and highest-paid author of his day. Many people
also considered him to be the best writer.
White Fang and The Call of the Wild are his most famous stories and is about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. Readers
can enjoy Jack London’s energy and his talent for telling wonderful stories each time he opens one of his novels.
34. Choose the best way to correct the following run-on sentence:
He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley, he stayed for only six months.
a.
b.
c.
d.
He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley, however, he stayed for only six months.
He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley: he stayed for only six months.
He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley, but he stayed for only six months.
He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley yet he stayed for only six months.
35. Choose the best correction for the following sentence:
White Fang and The Call of the Wild are his most famous stories and is about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness.
.
a. White Fang and Call of the Wild are his most famous stories, and is about surviving in the Alaskan
wilderness.
b. White Fang and Call of the Wild are his most famous stories and are about surviving in the Alaskan
wilderness.
c. White Fang and Call of the Wild are his most famous stories, and it is about surviving in the Alaskan
wilderness.
d. White Fang and Call of the Wild is his most famous stories, and is about surviving in the Alaskan
wilderness.
36. White Fang and The Call of the Wild are his most famous stories and are about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness.”
Which word means almost the same as surviving as it is used in the sentence?
a.
b.
c.
d.
ceasing
defending
persisting
concealing
37. Choose the best correction for the following sentence:
Readers can enjoy Jack London’s energy and his talent for telling wonderful stories each time he opens one of his
novels.
a. Readers can enjoy Jack London’s energy and his talent for telling wonderful stories each time they
open one of his novels.
b. Readers can enjoy Jack Londons’ energy and his talent for telling wonderful stories each time they
open one of his novels.
c. Readers can enjoy Jack London’s energy and his talent for telling wonderful stories each time they
open one of their novels.
d. Readers can enjoy Jack London’s energy and his talent for telling wonderful story’s each time they
open one of his novels.
38. Which event happened the year Jack London was born?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Dracula was first published.
A horrible earthquake struck.
The Klondike Gold Rush began.
The first telephone was made.
39. Choose the best correction for the following sentences:
He once said, “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, then a sleepy and
permanent planet.”
a. He once said “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, then a sleepy and
permanent planet.
b. He once said: “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, then a sleepy and
permanent planet.
c. He once said “I would rather be a superb meteor every atom of me in magnificent glow then a sleepy and
d.
permanent planet.
He once said “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and
permanent planet.
40. What type of figurative language is used in the following sentences?
He once said, “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and
permanent planet.”
a.
b.
c.
d.
Analogy
Hyperbole
Idiom
Personification