8th ELA RL 2.4 Practice

8th ELA RL 2.4 Practice

Multiple Choice

Read the excerpt from "Any fool can get into an ocean..." then answer the questions.

Any fool can get into an ocean

But it takes a Goddess

To get out of one.

What's true of oceans is true, of course,

Of labyrinths and poems. When you start swimming

Through riptide of rhythms and the metaphor's seaweed

You need to be a good swimmer or a born Goddess

To get back out of them

Based on the speaker's analogy, how are oceans and poems said to be alike?

• Both are easy to get into, but their effect is difficult to escape.

• Both are dangerous, captivating, and playful all at the same time.

• Both are filled with monsters you must fight to gain your freedom.

• Both pose many obstacles before you can even reach them.

Multiple Choice

Read the excerpt from "Any fool can get into an ocean..." then answer the questions.

Any fool can get into an ocean

But it takes a Goddess

To get out of one.

What's true of oceans is true, of course,

Of labyrinths and poems. When you start swimming

Through riptide of rhythms and the metaphor's seaweed

You need to be a good swimmer or a born Goddess

To get back out of them

What is the purpose of the speaker's allusion to the labyrinth?

• to compare the abilities of a powerful Green goddess to the heroic deeds of Thesus

• to suggest that readers can trap themselves insides the many layers of meaning suggested by figurative language

• to highlight the puzzling yet stirring message at the heart of the poem

• to emphasize that readers can lose themselves in a good poem, just as they would in a maze

Analyzing Analogies and Allusions

An extended comparison between two unlike things is called an analogy.

A reference to well-known stories, artworks, events, and people are called allusions.

Multiple Choice

Read the excerpt from "An Artist at Work" then answer the question.

Kang gestures, and his assistant gives him a brush, dripping with grass-green paint again. The swallow is now a tiger as the brush fiercely swipes at the bottom of the paper in short, quick strokes. The artist gestures for blue, and the tiger swipes once more. Kang stands back and surveys his creation for a minute before giving the paintbrush to his assistant, indicating that the painting is finished. "Truly amazing." the visitors exclaim, clapping enthusiastically.

The assistant removes the paper from the easel and announces,

" See me to purchase this amazing elephant painting!" For Kang is one of the painting elephants of Thailand, astonishing his visitors every day at the conversation center where he lives.

What is the purpose of the author's use of the analogy between the swallow and the tiger

• It describes a change in the artist's blending of colors and shapes.

• It describes a change in the artist's perspective as he paints.

• It describes a change to a lighter, more delicate brushstroke.

• It describes a change to a stronger, more powerful painting style.

Determining Word Meanings

Your friend sighs and says, "I've told you that a million times!" Does that mean that your friend actually told you the same thing one million times? Of course not! This expression is a hyperbole, or an exaggeration. Phrases like this are examples of figurative language, the creative use of words to express more than the literal, or usual, meaning.

Authors often use figurative language to create unusual or interesting effects.

• They may employ a simile, a comparison of two unlike things that uses like or as.

• They may use a metaphor, which is the comparison of two unlike things without the use of like or as.

• Personification, or giving human qualities to something nonhuman, is another technique authors use to make their writing more interesting.

Figurative language is

a powerful too authors often use to add humor, make descriptions more vivid, or to emphasize ideas.

Connotation

In addition to figurative language, writers may use words with strong connotations, or words that express positive, negative, or neutral feelings.

Multiple Choice

Read this excerpt from " The Seed-Shop" by Muriel Stuart

Here is a quiet and dusty room they lie,

Faded as crumbled sone or shifting sand,

Forlorn as ashes, shrivelled, scentless,dry--

Meadows and gardens running through my hand

Which of the following best describes the connotation of the meadows and gardens metaphor?

• The metaphor is neutral and simply completes the image developed in the first three lines of the poem.

• The metaphor is positive and starkly contrasts with the description in the first three lines of the poem.

• The metaphor is frightening and creates a jarring image that is completely disconnected from the earlier description.

Multiple Choice

Read " A Winter Twilight" by Angelina W. Grimke, then answer the questions.

A silence slipping around like death,

Yet chased by a whisper, a sigh,

a breath; One group of trees, lean,

naked and cold,

Inking their cress 'gainst a

sky green-gold;

One path that knows where the corn flowers were;

Lonely, apart, unyielding, one fir;

And over it softly leaning down,

One star that I loved ere the fields went brown

What do the words "inking their cress" describe as they are used in the poem?

• dark clouds at sunset

• long tree shadows

• soft wind sounds

• bare black branches

Multiple Choice

Read " A Winter Twilight" by Angelina W. Grimke, then answer the questions.

A silence slipping around like death,

Yet chased by a whisper, a sigh,

a breath; One group of trees, lean,

naked and cold,

Inking their cress 'gainst a

sky green-gold;

One path that knows where the corn flowers were;

Lonely, apart, unyielding, one fir;

And over it softly leaning down,

One star that I loved ere the fields went brown

Which phrase from the poem best helps the reader understand the meaning of "inking their cress,?"

• "Yet chased by a whisper, a sigh"

• "One group of trees, lean, naked, and cold"

• "Lonely, apart, unyielding, one fir"

• " ere the fields went brown"