Assessment 3 - Test Passage Fiction

1. Read this excerpt from the passage. No one but Shirley, the sophomore class president. “Oh Shakespeare’s so romantic!,” she said, “ ‘But soft, what light from yonder window breaks. It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!’ “Everyone feared she could go on if she wanted. Based on the excerpt, which word best describes the type of person Shirley seems to be?

• unoriginal
• confident
• shy
• impatient

2. Based on the information in this passage, the reader can conclude that the fall play will be -

• the original Romeo and Juliet
• Coriolanus, one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays
• an updated Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending
• a group of skits making fun of Shakespearean tragedies or wigs

3. Which of the following is the best summary of this passage?

• Most of the members of the drama club would rather not perform Romeo and Juliet.
• The drama club concludes that it is not possible to produce a traditional version of Romeo and Juliet.
• Mr. Peterson saves the day by coming up with the solution to disagreements among drama club members.
• Ideas begin to fly when drama club members discuss the possibility of performing Romeo and Juliet.

4. Read this excerpt from the passage. “We’ve got one group that agrees to wear powdered wigs, and one group that refuses to. It’s the Montagues and Capulets all over again.” “Kind of like shirts and skins in basketball!” Byron said. The author uses the phrase “shirts and skins in basketball” in order to -

• illustrate how silly the conflict in Romeo and Juliet was
• impart a sense a playfulness
• show how a literary conflict has two sides just like a basketball game
• make the reader understand why the two families hated each other

5. Read this excerpt from the passage. Juliet prefers her men to wear natural coifs, so she crosses over the ‘wig line’ and falls in love with Romeo. The young couple convinces the others that feuding over hairdos is foolish. The word coifs in this passage means -

• hairstyles
• items of makeup
• facial expressions
• articles of clothing