TestID 18848
8th grade reading post test
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Class:
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Date:
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1.
There are different reasons writers use alliteration. What is the most probable reason for Helen
Keller's use of alliteration in the following quotation?
Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorow your tactile sense would fail.
A. to emphasize certain words
B. to create a certain mood
C. to connect certain words
D. to represent certain sounds
Read the poem "Annabel Lee." Then answer the following questions:
ANNABEL LEE
by Edgar Allan Poe (1849)
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;-And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee-With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud by night
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me:-Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling
And killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-Of many far wiser than wePrinted: 5/16/11 1:00 p.m.
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And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:- For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea- In her tomb by the side of the sea.
-- THE END - 2.
In the poem "Annabel Lee," the poet uses many "s," "k," "ch," and "sh" sounds in his words. These
letter sounds probably represent the sounds _________________.
A. of night
B. the sand makes as the tide comes in
C. of death
D. the sea's tide makes along the shore
3.
The repeated soft "h" sound in "...not half so happy in Heaven..." from Poe's "Annabel Lee" creates a
mood of ______________.
A. eagerness
B. gentleness
C. watchfulness
D. hopefulness
4.
The mental image formed by Poe's words "That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling..." appeals
mostly to the sense of _________.
A. touch
B. sight
C. sound
D. smell
5.
A reason an author uses metaphors is to ____________.
A. encourage someone
B. ridicule someone
C. clarify meaning
D. darken meaning
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6.
A fair weather friend is a friend who ________________________.
A. is there when the sun is shining
B. is there when you are having problems
C. is there when it is summertime
D. is there when there are fun times
7.
There are different reasons writers use alliteration. What is the most probable reason for Lorraine
Hansberry's use of alliteration in the following question?
There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing.
A. to represent certain sounds
B. to connect certain words
C. to emphasize certain words
D. to create a certain mood
Read the poem "My Papa's Waltz." Then answer the following questions:
My Papa's Waltz
by Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard with dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
8.
In the poem "My Papa's Waltz," the poet uses several "s," "z," "and "sh" sounds in his words. these
letter sounds probably represent the sounds of _____________________________.
A. the narrator's father beating time on the narrator's head
B. the narrator and his father whirling around in their dance
C. the narrator and his father sliding around in the kitchen
D. the narrator's father taking the narrator to bed
Read the poem by Eve Merriam. Then answer the question that follows.
"The rusty spigot
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sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash,
splatters,
scatters,
spurts,
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes."
9.
What is the probable effect of Merriam's use of onomatopoeia in this poem?
A. to emphasize certain words
B. to represent the sounds of running water
C. to create a soothing mood
D. to connect faucet water to raindrops
10.
Which idiom would best describe a tired, grumpy person?
A. He has a method to his madness.
B. He is a Jack of all trades, master of none.
C. He needs to pour oil on troubled waters.
D. He got up on the wrong side of the bed.
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