setting

Which questions about a story will the setting answer?

• What is the author’s attitude toward the characters?

• Where and when does the story take place?

• Who are the people the story is about?

• Why and when did the author write the story?

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Setting can give clues about a story’s ________.

• plot

• conflict

• mood

• all of the above

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

Which of the following might describe the setting of a story?

• a frog and a witch

• happy and loving

• a high school in 1956

• love is stronger than fear

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

If the passage below were set in a snowy park where children were playing, what could you infer?

Lena laughed loudly. “I can’t believe you did that!” she said, smiling.

• Lena might have been gently hit by a snowball.

• Lena might be lost.

• Lena might be playing a boardgame or card game.

• Lena might be talking to herself.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

Which description of a setting would best create a mood of loneliness for a story?

• “The sun was bright, and the breeze was warm in the park. In the distance, there was the pleasant noise of children laughing.”

• “The restaurant was packed. The waitress balanced three dishes on her arm and moved carefully around the large, round tables. Everyone’s plates were full.”

• “At the amusement park, the ticket counter hadn’t opened yet. It was still too early. But the warm smell of hot dogs and pretzels was already filling the air with the promise of fun.”

• “The sky was gray that cool November afternoon in the empty playground. The swings were rusted. The wood was rotted. There was silence except for the wind blowing through the dead leaves.”

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

In the passage below, what can you infer about the setting of the story?

When the men reached Oregon, they stepped out of their wagons and embraced. The journey was long and dangerous, but they made it. Soon, their families would follow their trail in their own wagons, leaving their homes in the East to meet them in this brand new land: the West.

• The story might take place on a different planet.

• The story might take place in the past.

• The story might take place in a desert.

• We can’t make any inferences about the setting from this passage.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

What can you infer about the setting based on the passage below?

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cooking stove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar—except a small hole, dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap-door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.

• The story is set in a place where the weather is always mild and pleasant.

• The story is set near a river that sometimes floods.

• The story is set on a farm where only very rich people can afford to live.

• The story is set on a farm where there are sometimes cyclones.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

The setting can affect a character's mood in a story.

• True

• False

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

In addition to plot and character, setting can shape the mood of a story. A story’s mood is its general atmosphere or overall feeling. The mood of a story can be energetic, nervous, peaceful or many other feeling words.

Which of the following settings suggest a tense and nervous mood?

• A city playground full of laughing, playing children and parents.
• A long line of people waiting for a few concert tickets.
• A stream running through a quiet, isolated forest.
• An empty mall parking lot early on a Sunday morning.

Tags

CCSS.L.3.3A

CCSS.L.4.3A

CCSS.L.5.3A

CCSS.L.6.3A

CCSS.L.6.3B

Which sentence IS about the setting?

• Sarah could not remember her name.

• Sarah could barely see in the fog.

• Sarah wanted to get home.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3