"Saying Farewell to a Faithful Pal"

"Saying Farewell to a Faithful Pal"

Analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

Multiple Choice

Read these first lines of the story:

"In the gray of dawn, I found the shovel in the garage and walked down the hill to where the lawn meets the woods. There, beneath a wild cherry tree, I began to dig."

HOW is the author developing the tone?

• using dialogue between the narrator and his dog

• describing the setting using words with a negative connotation such as "in the gray of dawn"

• describing the narrator's thoughts and feeling using words with positive connotation

Multiple Choice

What does "tone" mean?

• tone is the author's attitude or opinion about what they are writing (ex: cheerful, nostalgic, angry)

• tone is the author's purpose such as to persuade, inform, or entertain

• tone is whether the text is a story or an informational article

Multiple Choice

Read this part of the story:

As for brains, let me just say he chased his tail til the day he died, apparently he was on the verge of a major canine breakthrough.

What must "canine" mean? (use the context clues to figure it out)

• intellectual

• relating to dogs

• related to strength

Multiple Choice

Point of view means the author's or the narrator's opinion or attitude.

Which of these sentences best displays or shows the narrator's point of view about Marley?

• As the years passed, he mellowed and sleeping became his favorite pastime

• But now I had a few minutes with him before the doctor returned

• I didn’t want him to leave this world believing all his bad press. He was a great dog!

Multiple Choice

Read this part of the text that is a metaphor:

"Marley was a chewer of couches, a slasher of screens, a slinger of drool, a tipper of trash cans."

What is the effect of this metaphor?

• It explains to the reader how their dog helped the family.

• It helps the reader understand the narrator's humorous tone towards Marley's faults

• It develops the author's tone of anger at Marley for being so destructive in their house throughout his life

Multiple Choice

Read these sentences from the story: "He was as wild as a banshee and as strong as a bull."

What type of language is the author using to describe Marley?

• literal language

• words with technical meanings

• figurative language (imagery)