English 1 Fall Semester Review

Read this excerpt from Kennedy's address to the nation on June 11, 1963, and answer the question: "We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.Are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other, that this is a land of the free, except for the Negroes, that we have no second-class citizens, except Negroes, that we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes? Now the time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise."

What idea does Kennedy suggest with his repeated use of the word ""except" in this excerpt?

• to have the financial means for

• to make available, provide

• to spare or give up

• to bear without risk or disadvantage

Read these lines from The Odyssey spoken by Menelaus and answer the question: "Never, anywhere, have I seen so great a likeness

In man or woman—but it is truly strange!

This boy must be the son of Odysseus,

Telemachus, the child he left at home"

How do these lines from Book 4 expose the MAIN conflict in the relationship between Telemachus and Odysseus?

• While Telemachus had received wise counsel from Athena, he continues to harbor self-doubts due his father’s abandonment of him.

• Rather than rest on the laurels spoken by Menelaus, Telemachus instead feels oddly jealous of his father’s greatness.

• In spite of the helpful comparison with his father’s likeness, Telemachus is not confident that he has inherited equally of his father’s physical traits.

• Telemachus regards his father’s heroic legacy with many fears, including that the possibility that the comparison will favor his father.

In the wanderings of Odysseus in The Odyssey, which factor proves to be the most challenging to the hero’s cleverness in his attempts to return home to Ithaca?

• It was the hero’s trust in Calypso, whom he expected would allow him to return immediately to his wife, Penelope, that becomes the most rigorous obstacle for Odysseus to overcome.

• His encounter with Poseidon, who holds a grudge against Odysseus for blinding his son, presents the severest confrontation for the hero.

• In spite of his well-known sea-faring skills, it is the physical trials of navigating in treacherous seas, including weather, tides, and an unworthy vessel that tests Odysseus the most.

• His confrontation with the Cyclops, who has support from Poseidon, creates such formidable conflict that Odysseus must overcome brute force with deception.

Which line(s) from the poem, "An Ancient Gesture," most create(s) a tone of remorse and regret?

• Penelope did this too/And more than once: you can't keep weaving all day (lines 2-3)

• And more than once: you can't keep weaving all day/And undoing it all through the night; (lines 3-4)

• And your husband has been gone, and you don't know where, for years. (line 7)

• Suddenly you burst into tears;/There is simply nothing else to do. (lines 8-9)

Which sentence from "The Gift of the Magi" provides the best example of the author’s use of foreshadowing to create tension?

• "While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home."

• "But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called 'Jim' and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della."

• "Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride."

• "Where she stopped the sign read: 'Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.'"

Why does the author refer to the Magi in relating this story?

• The Magi’s acceptance of the characters’ loving actions was significant.

• The Magi’s purpose was to stress the significance of sacrificial love.

• The Magi’s devotion serves to inspire the characters’ choice of gifts.

• The Magi’s belief was that giving personal gifts is an essential action.

Read this sentence from "The Gift of the Magi" and answer the question: "Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied."

What does the phrase "bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher" imply in the sentence?

• Della is assertive when getting the best bargains where she shops.

• Della uses picturesque language with those who provide her with services.

• Della is attempting to trick shopkeepers who wait on her in stores.

• Della banters with the shopkeepers where she buys groceries.

Read this quotation from an interview with Bharati Mukherjee and answer the question: "The kind of criticism from literary critics and theorists who have encountered my own work stems from their belief that if you're India-born, you must write about India and you must write about an Indian woman or peasants being victimized.... It's absurd, when you think that I'm writing about the post-1965 immigration-transformed America, and that the majority of South Asians granted visas are urban, educated professionals and their families. The aim of fiction is to break down stereotypes. Unfortunately, the publishing and academic industries seem to profit more from reinforcing stereotypes."

Which excerpt from the passage best supports the ideas expressed in this interview?

• "I was born into a class that did not live in its native language. I was born into a city that feared its future, and trained me for emigration."

• "My horoscope, cast by a neighborhood astrologer when I was a week-old infant, predicted that I would be a writer, that I would cross oceans and make my home among aliens."

• "My literary agenda begins by acknowledging that America has transformed me. It does not end until I show how I (and the hundreds of thousands like me) have transformed America."

• "For all the hope and energy I have placed in the process of immigration and accommodation – I’m a person who couldn’t ride a public bus when she first arrived, and now I’m someone who watches tractor pulls on obscure cable channels – there are parts of me that remain Indian."

Comparison of two things using the words "like" or "as"

• simile

• foreshadowing

• metaphor

• oxymoron

a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

• oxymoron

• theme

• euphemism

• tone