Unit 6 Short Story Skills Review

In general, what do foreshadowing and pacing have in common?

• Both refer to a writer’s creation of a rhythm in the story’s narrative.

• Both are techniques that a writer can use to create suspense in a story.

• Both are types of mental images that evoke feelings for story characters.

• Both provide hints or clues about events that will occur later in a story.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.3

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Read this passage from paragraph 9 of "The Leap."

When her hands did not meet her husband’s, my mother tore her blindfold away. As he swept past her on the wrong side, she could have grasped his ankle, the toe-end of his tights, and gone down clutching him. Instead, she changed direction. Her body twisted toward a heavy wire and she managed to hang on to the braided metal, still hot from the lightning strike.

How does the mother’s action foreshadow a later event in the story?

• It hints that she will make a difficult decision to avoid danger in order to save only herself.

• It hints that she will struggle with a moral dilemma regarding an important relationship.

• It hints that her emotional detachment will lead her to abandon someone she loves.

• It hints that her quick thinking and determination will prevail in the face of danger.

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CCSS.W.11-12.9

Nathan stared in disbelief as the screeching train car jumped from the track and rolled toward the road. Meanwhile, his mother was driving home from work. She turned on the radio and mindlessly hummed along to the song that was playing. 

How does the writer use pacing in this passage?

• The writer digresses from an intense scene to slow down the pacing and create suspense.

• The writer compares a fast-paced event with a slow-paced one to show contrasting character traits.

• The writer speeds up the pacing to emphasize the speed that events are happening.

• The writer slows down the pacing to make the story easier to understand.

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CCSS.W.11-12.3B

In the context of a literary work, what is a symbol?

• an explanation, either stated or implied, about why a character in the work acts as he or she does

• an object, person, place, or idea in the work that not only has a literal meaning but also represents something beyond itself

• a word, image, event, or other element whose repetition points to an important idea in the work

• a theme in the work that is revealed through dialogue rather than through a conflict and its resolution

Tags

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Olivia sat on the edge of her bed, waiting for the alarm clock to force her onto her feet. She watched the rain spatter her window and sighed. “Will today be any better?” she wondered. As dawn began to lighten the eastern sky, she took a deep breath and rose, ready to find out.

Which of the following best explains the symbol(s) in this passage?

• The bed represents a cage Olivia feels she is trapped in.

• The rain represents sadness, and the dawn represents hope.

• The clock represents wasting time, and the bed represents laziness.

• The sky represents Olivia’s desire to be free to pursue her dreams.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.1

Which of the following best describes text structure?

• the various reasons a writer has for writing a text

• how a writer organizes ideas, details, and events

• the point of view from which a text is narrated

• none of the above

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

Read the first sentences from Section I of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'

A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck.

What is the author’s purpose for starting the story this way?

• to plunge the reader into a dramatic moment

• to help readers understand what the man must be feeling

• to provide background about why the man is being hanged

• all of the above

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Read this passage from "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. "True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell." What technique does the author use in the passage to achieve a specific purpose?

• third-person limited point of view to explain a character’s thoughts

• chronological order to show the sequence of story events

• stream of consciousness to reveal the narrator’s state of mind

• shifts in perspective to add variety to the tone and sense of time

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

What is the writing technique asyndeton?

• the omission of a coordinating conjunction

• the use of several conjunctions in close succession

• repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence

• the combination of two independent clauses and one dependent clause

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CCSS.L.11-12.3

Read this sentence from "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

"He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it."

Which underlined words identify where asyndeton is used?

• dug his fingers into

• the sand, threw it

• over himself in handfuls

• in handfuls and audibly

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