Analyzing Short Stories

"He was aware that his case was terminal, and he waived all rights to legal redress, should the procedure go wrong."

In this passage, the phrase "legal redress" most likely means:

• attention from the cops

• financial ruin

• pressing charges

• a law degree

• organ donation

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

Cletus plopped his feet down on the queen's coffee table, unaware that this was a serious faux pas in royal environment.

In this context, the foreign term "faux pas" most likely means.

• a medical procedure

• a magic trick

• a gesture of kindness

• an inappropriate choice

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

In the short story "The Dinner Party", the guest who comments how women are more likely than men to freak out in a crisis, screams when he realizes there is a snake in the room, while the woman he was talking to didn't react even as the snake crawled across her foot. This is an example of:

• metaphor

• irony

• parallel construction

• hyperbole

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

..."It was assumed that the porcine organ would be too voluminous..." likely means:

• Someone thought it would be too big.

• Someone thought it might be too small.

• Someone thought it might be too unhealthy.

• Someone though it might be too old.

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

Patient D was dying at the beginning of the story, then he miraculously recovers after the procedure, and the medical team leader says his heart is "a Ferarri engine." This is an example of:

• metaphor

• simile

• alliteration

• hyperbole

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

An ideal of a character, theme, situation or symbol which is universally recognized across genres and cultures is:

• an allegory

• an archetype

• a literary device

• a pun

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

Which of the following sentences contains an example of foreshadowing?

• Twenty people sit like stone images while he counts.

• Two days after the operation, he ate six lunch meals in one sitting.

• In India, a bowl of milk means one thing.

• The only side effect noted at the time concerned his diet.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.11-12.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.5

Mrs. Brock asked her students if they had completed the assignment, but they looked away and became evasive, so she knew the answer was probably no.

In this sentence, "evasive" most likely means:

• angry and loud

• avoiding answering

• excited and proud

• sad and afraid

Tags

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

“He always calls me his Darling Daughter Deza, and I am supposed to answer that he is my Dearest Delightful Daddy. He calls Jimmie the Genuine, Gentle Jumpin’ Giant, and Jimmie’s supposed to call him his Fine Friendly Father Figure. Father also calls Mother the Marvelous Mammalian Matriarch, but she says she won’t respond because she refuses to play silly word games with such ‘a hardheaded husband who hasn’t heard how horrible he is’”

This passage features several examples of which of the following literary devices?

• Hyperbole

• Irony

• Personification

• Alliteration

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.2.6

“If Mrs. Butler or Sam is talking to me, I can’t hear either of them. The only thing I hear is the sound of my own pulse pounding in my ears. The way it would if I’d run all the way back. Just the boom-boom-boom of my heart and the strange swish of the sprinkler next door. A shush-shush followed by a metallic rat-a-tat-tat. Like firecrackers going off” (48).

This passage features several examples of which of the following literary devices?

• Irony

• Foreshadowing

• Archetype

• Onomatopoeia

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3