Reading SOL Practice 1

Windows rattled and floors shook; the sound was a giant hand shaking Lydia's sleeping shoulders.

• Allusion
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Paradox

Which of the following sentences contains the best example of alliteration?

• The wooden wagons were heavy and low-riding with loud rattling wheels, their broad planks too battered and begrimed to recall distant origins as trees.
• Each dray was pulled by horses- two, four, or sometimes six per wagon- pounding nearby Third Street.
• Because Dan Kilkenny was an iceman, the whole D street gang was in thrall to Lydia and Michael in summer.
• The hazy destination of the morning drays acquired focus.

"Decorum was traded for the fleeting comfort of ice pressed into the perfect place.  Frozen shatterings found their way into mouths, inside shirts and dresses, under chins, and atop closed eyes.  Ice was nestled into the hollows of throats and hammocked by the webbing between fingers and toes.   Ice bent the iron rule of summer for a few precious moments before the heat clamped down again.
In the above excerpt, the words "comfort" and "nestled" evoke images of- 

• Pride
• Exhaustion
• Solitude
• Pleasure

"He has a receding hairline, a scruffy beard, and a scowl like a chill wind that sends shivers down the spines of humble privates such as myself."
What is the purpose of the simile in the above description?

• To describe the narrator's confusion.
• To foreshadow later events in the selection.
• To suggest the generals' harshness.
• To establish a tone of despair in the selection.

"You have probably read an account or two of our humiliating defeat.  If not, I recommend the article by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, as it provides an accurate description of the whole disgraceful episode, including troop movements, skirmishes, and even shameful desertions."
In the above passage, the words "humiliating," "disgraceful," and "shameful" evoke what tone?

• Cautious
• Frightened
• Jealous
• Bitter

Which of the following sentences contains an example of figurative language?

• You have probably read an account of two of our humiliating defeat.
• It was at the Fairfax railway station that my salvation came in the form of a ministering angel
• Miss Barton's sacrifices are all the more extraordinary given the context in which they are offered.
• Her hand cramps from holding the pen and trying to keep pace with my ramblings.

Which of the following sentences contain an example of an allusion?

• Brian defended his latest film and lashed out at his critics like a wounded tiger.
• Sheila tapped her pencil nervously on the desk while waiting for the phone to ring.
• Utterly exhausted, he went to bed and slept like Rip Van Winkle.
• At the top of Mt. Helios, the locomotive sighed with relief, exhaling steam.

"The sun shone brightly through the leaves as a solitary butterfly hovered just above the newly opened blossom of a vibrant blue iris."
In this sentence, the tone is set through the author's use of-

• simile
• allusion
• imagery
• symbolism

"Blanche, who stops sewing, says, 'Kate, please stop.  My head is splitting.'"
When Blanche says, "My head is splitting," she is speaking-

• analytically
• symbolically
• figuratively
• informally

"When Makeah heard the joyful news, he felt lighter than he had in days.  He smiled, and it was as if a heavy black cloak was lifted from his shoulders."
In this sentence, the cloak represents Makeah's-

• Relief
• Sadness
• Clothing
• Actual weight