ELA 11 EQT 3 Practice Test
Read the next two poems. Then answer the questions that follow them.
Spring in New Hampshire
Claude McKay
Too green the springing April grass,
Too blue the silver-speckled sky,
For me to linger here, alas,
While happy winds go laughing by,
5 Wasting the golden hours indoors,
Washing windows and scrubbing floors.
Too wonderful the April night,
Too faintly sweet the first May flowers,
The stars too gloriously bright,
10 For me to spend the evening hours,
When fields are fresh and streams are leaping,
Wearied, exhausted, dully sleeping.
“Spring in New Hampshire” by Claude McKay. Courtesy of the Literary Representative for the Works
of Claude McKay, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library,
Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
Reading Comprehension
Use “Spring in New Hampshire” to answer these questions.
____
1. In lines 1–2, the writer establishes the mood through his use of —
A.
B.
C.
D.
____
2. The personification of the winds in line 4 conveys a sense of —
A.
B.
C.
D.
____
metaphor
diction
personification
imagery
lost happiness
innocent joy
unrequited love
great excitement
3. The rhythm of the poem changes at the beginning of which line?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5
Line 6
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____
4. The repetition of the word too in lines 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9 emphasizes the —
A.
B.
C.
D.
____
intense beauty of nature
great loneliness of the speaker
utter pointlessness of work
new freshness of springtime
5. 5. How does each stanza contribute to the poem’s meaning?
A. The speaker rejoices at being outside in the first stanza and rejects performing menial jobs
in the second stanza.
B. In the first stanza, the speaker describes an April afternoon, and in the second stanza the
speaker describes an April evening.
C. The speaker is lured away from work by an April day in the first stanza and from rest by
an April night in the second stanza.
D. In the first stanza, work renders the speaker indifferent to nature, and in the second stanza
the speaker is exhausted.
____
6. Which phrase best describes the speaker’s attitude toward the audience?
A.
B.
C.
D.
____
7. The personification of the streams in line 11 emphasizes the —
A.
B.
C.
D.
____
confinement of the speaker
dangers of nature
bewilderment of the speaker
freedom of nature
8. Which image from the poem appeals to the reader’s sense of smell?
A.
B.
C.
D.
____
Criticizing the audience for seeking pleasure
Rejecting the audience’s values and concerns
Admiring the audience’s commitment to hard work
Sharing with the audience the joys of the season
Too blue the silver-speckled sky (line 2)
Washing windows and scrubbing floors (line 6)
Too faintly sweet the first May flowers (line 8)
exhausted, dully sleeping (line 12)
9. The poem’s diction helps create a style that is —
A.
B.
C.
D.
spare and cold
formal and complex
rich and descriptive
abstract and vague
Use the excerpt from How Reading Changed My Life to answer these questions.
____ 10. This selection stresses the author’s belief that reading —
A. will make a person smarter
B. helps people experience other places
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C. makes a troubled childhood better
D. lets a person avoid real life
____ 11. From the author’s comments about her childhood, the reader can tell that her wandering was —
A.
B.
C.
D.
a symbol of her love for books
an attempt to escape her home
an expression of her ambitions
the result of her not fitting in
____ 12. From the author’s description of her scholarship test, the reader can tell that —
A.
B.
C.
D.
the school had a challenging reading program
her parents had helped her prepare for the test
the other girls did not share her love of reading
she was the only girl at her table who had read the book
____ 13. Which statement expresses what paragraph 7 is mainly about?
A.
B.
C.
D.
I would rather read than go to school.
My home was outside Philadelphia.
I really lived somewhere else.
Books always seemed real to me.
____ 14. From the author’s description in the last sentence in paragraph 8, the reader can tell that her childhood —
A.
B.
C.
D.
was full of friendship, fun, and games
was sometimes just like any other child’s
did not have any ordinary childhood joys
had nothing in it but books and reading
____ 15. Which sentence best expresses what paragraph 10 is mainly about?
A.
B.
C.
D.
The author always felt she was alone in her love of books.
For the author, books were better than children’s games.
The author learned much about life and herself from books.
For the author, books were more perfect than everyday life.
____ 16. Which detail from paragraph 10 helps convey the main idea?
A.
B.
C.
D.
All the other children preferred playing outside.
The author learned the difference between right and wrong from reading.
The author felt like she was in a different dimension.
Books were a parallel universe for the author.
____ 17. Which sentence best expresses what paragraphs 11–13 are mainly about?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Many people prefer reading to any other activity in life.
Important people have shared the author’s love of books.
Many people have risked their lives for literacy.
The author is influenced by women she admires.
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____ 18. Oprah Winfrey’s childhood experiences differ from the author’s because Winfrey —
A.
B.
C.
D.
was criticized for reading too much
had a lovely childhood in a lovely place
drew a lifetime of inspiration from books
lived most intensely through books
Use context clues and your knowledge of connotation and denotation to answer the
following questions about words in How Reading Changed My Life.
____ 19. What connotation does the word wild have in paragraph 3?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Danger
Freedom
Desolation
Energy
____ 20. What connotation does the word diminished have in paragraph 4?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Immensity
Chaos
Unhappiness
Disappointment
____ 21. What connotation does the word sprawled have in paragraph 8?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Relaxation
Punishment
Disorder
Security
____ 22. What connotation does the word different have in paragraph 10?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Superiority
Prejudice
Individuality
Exclusion
Use context clues and your knowledge of homographs to answer the following questions
about words in How Reading Changed My Life.
____ 23. In which sentence does the word block have the same meaning as in paragraph 1?
A. Her school was only one block away from her grandmother’s apartment building.
B. With a quick block, the basketball player ruined his opponent’s final shot.
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C. The child placed one block on top of another until she had built a tower.
D. The plumber said any debris could block the drain, leaving water in the sink.
____ 24. In which sentence does the word rest have the same meaning as in the end of paragraph 6?
A.
B.
C.
D.
The score called for the flutes to rest while the oboe played a solo.
Many cultures hold funerals to honor loved ones going to their final rest.
The hikers were ready to rest after reaching the mountain’s summit.
She gave the rest of her sandwich to a student who had forgotten his lunch.
____ 25. In which sentence does the word curb have the same meaning as in paragraph 10?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Mr. Smith asked her to curb her dog when she walked it in the neighborhood.
Some riders use curb bits to keep their horses under greater control.
The teacher reminded the students to curb their speaking during the film.
He waited at the curb for the light to change before crossing the street.
____ 26. In which sentence does the word glare have the same meaning as in paragraph 11?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Thomas offered a smile, but Elizabeth would only glare at him.
With their colorful clothes, they would glare in the drab crowd.
I shaded my eyes from the spotlight’s harsh glare and said, “Hello?”
She wanted nothing more than to hide from her mother’s angry glare.
Revising and Editing
Directions
Read this passage and answer the questions that follow.
(1) People have to make choices about life. (2) “A Wagner Matinee” examines the
effects of one character’s choices. (3) Willa Cather, the author, explores this idea. (4) From
Aunt Georgiana’s physical appearance and the narrator’s observations, we see that her choice
brings loss.
(5) Her nephew Clark narrates the story. (6) Clark learns Aunt Georgiana will be
returning for a visit. (7) Clark reveals the painful consequences of Aunt Georgiana’s choice.
(8) Clark remembered her as “pathetic and grotesque.” (9) Her appearance when she
arrives matches this description and more. (10) Her clothes are dirty, unshapely, and
unfashionable. (11) Her false teeth is “ill-fitting” and her leathery skin yellowed. (12) Aunt
Georgiana’s posture is stooped, and “her shoulders were now almost bent together over her
sunken chest.” (13) Her hands are “stretched and twisted.”
(14) Clark describes her as a Boston lady who meets a “handsome country boy.” (15)
To everyone’s shock, Aunt Georgiana “eloped with him, eluding the reproaches of her family
and the criticisms of friends by going with him to the Nebraska frontier.” (16) This impulsive
choice—abandoning her life in Boston—leads to Aunt Georgiana’s great sacrifice.
(17) Clark’s recollections of Aunt Georgiana provides clues to her former self. (18)
She had been a piano teacher in Boston. (19) Clark points out that she “was a good pianist.”
(20) Aunt Georgiana passed on a love of music to Clark.
(21) Her move to the Plains, however, means the loss of music. (22) She tells her
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nephew not to “‘love it so well, Clark, or it may be taken from you. (23) Oh! dear boy, pray
that whatever your sacrifice may be, it be not that.’”
(24) As a spur of the moment treat, Clark takes his aunt to a concert of Wagner
music. (25) However, Aunt Georgiana’s loss comes into a more painful focus through the
music. (26) As the concert begins, Clark notes that his aunt “clutched my coat sleeve.” (27)
The music causes her fingers to twitch. (28) The music moves her to tears.
(29) At the end, Aunt Georgiana begs to stay. (30) She does not want to leave the
concert hall or return to Nebraska.
____ 27. It is important to know that Clark thinks of Aunt Georgiana as “pathetic and grotesque” because —
A.
B.
C.
D.
the essay focuses only on Aunt Georgiana’s ugliness
Aunt Georgiana has always been an unattractive person
Clark is contrasting her current ugly life with her former beautiful life
Aunt Georgiana also thinks that Clark is pathetic and grotesque
____ 28. Choose the correct way to revise sentence 8.
A. “Pathetic and grotesque” is how Clark remembered her.
B. Clark will remember her as “pathetic and grotesque.”
C. “Pathetic and grotesque” was Clark’s remembering of her.
D. Clark remembers her as “pathetic and grotesque.”
____ 29. The quotation in sentence 11 supports a key point of the essay that Aunt Georgiana’s —
A.
B.
C.
D.
trip home was by train
nephew is the narrator of her story
love of music remains solid
appearance shows her hard life
____ 30. What change, if any, should be made in sentence 11?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Add quotation marks around Her
Change is to was
Change is to are
Make no change
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