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Worksheets

There Will Come Soft Rains

Total questions: 23

Worksheet time: 3hrs 37mins

Name
Class
Date
1.
What happened to the family who lived in this house? 
a)
There are no clues about the family's current location.
b)
They moved to another neighborhood.
c)
They decided to spend a weekend away from home.
d)
They died in a nuclear explosion. 
2.
Why does the first sentence turn out to be ironic? 
In the living room the voice-clock sang, "Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock!" as if it were afraid that nobody would."
a)
It really isn't 7:00. 
b)
There is no one in the house to get up or hear the clock. 
c)
The clock says tick tock instead of actually ticking.
d)
 The story is set in the future, but clocks are still used.
3.
 Which of the following describes the tone of the house's announcements?
a)
pleasant
b)
lonley
c)
sarcastic/nasty
d)
threatening
4.
How does the voice clock respond to the fact that no one reacts to it? 
a)
It asks why no-one is responding.
b)
 It becomes louder. 
c)
It turns itself off. 
d)
It continues doing it's job. 
5.
Which of the following accurately describes the nursery at 4:30?
a)
Glowing with fire, which destroys the painted animals
b)
The walls are lit up artificially with images of jungle animals, which move and make noise
c)
It is outdoors and set up like a small zoo full of jungle animals
d)
It is painted like a desert, and the animals in it make noises of distress.
6.
Which of the following functions does the house NOT perform?
a)
Cooking
b)
Cleaning
c)
Announcing time
d)
Flying
7.
Which sentence contains personification? 
a)
The room was ablaze in an instance.
b)
The wall sprays let down showers of mechanical rain.
c)
At ten o'clock the house began to die. 
d)
The quenching rain ceased. 
8.
What mood is created by a setting in which all domestic functions are performed by machines and none by humans?
a)
cheerful and exhilarating
b)
repulsive and horrifying
c)
homey and reassuring
d)
impersonal and chilling
9.
What is on the west side of the house?
a)
A garden.
b)
The kitchen.
c)
The silhouettes of the deceased family members.
d)
A dying dog.
10.
How did the dog die?
a)
Starvation and lack of human care.
b)
Nuclear blast.
c)
It was attacked by robot mice.
d)
The house killed it.
11.
What time did the house begin to die?
a)
7 am
b)
Noon
c)
5 pm
d)
10 pm
12.
Which of the following is a theme from the story?
a)
Technology is amazing and should be used whenever possible.
b)
Nuclear weapons are essential to survival.
c)
Humans should be wary of technology and it's potential to make humans disposable.
d)
Eat lots of bacon.
13.
Why is no one home?
a)
 The house is too expensive to operate.
b)
Everyone is at work or school.
c)
Everyone has been killed.
d)
 The house is for sale. 
14.
 What happened next after the tree bough crashes through the kitchen window? 
a)
The dog whines because it is hungry. 
b)
The robot mice came to clean the floor.
c)
A bottle of solvent breaks open; the house catches on fire.
d)
Breakfast is prepared.
15.
How does the author arrange the chronological order in this story? 
a)
Use of a clock which announces the time in each new section. 
b)
He numbers each section of the story. 
c)
He discusses how the dog's hunger increases.
d)
He uses a robotic voice that serves as a calendar.
16.
What is the story's setting? 
a)
 Sometime in the near future.
b)
August 4, 2026, after a nuclear blast. 
c)
May 5, 2012 
d)
In the distant future.
17.

What is unusual about all of the characters in this story?

a)

They are very patient.

b)

They are human.

c)

They work hard.

d)

They are all machines/ robots.

18.

If the house is the protagonist, who/what was the antagonist in the story?

a)

the house

b)

the fire

c)

the dog

d)

the house and thermal flash images

19.
Which of the following themes best fits "There Will Come Soft Rains"? 
a)
Be careful what you wish for, because you may get it.
b)
Times are tough all over.
c)
Technology is awful an ruins everything.
d)
While technology has many benefits, it also has the power to destroy, so be careful what you create 
20.
How does the house seem to come alive? 
a)
 The house tries to save its own life. 
b)
 The house cries when its inhabitants leave.
c)
The house has a full range of human emotions. 
d)
The house can do anything a person can do.
21.
What type of figurative language is the following sentence?
"The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its hard skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, the nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air." 
a)
simile
b)
metaphor 
c)
alliteration
d)
hyperbole
22.

What figurative language is used throughout the entire story?

a)

Hyperbole

b)

Symbolism

c)

Personification

23.

What theme does this poem and the story share?

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum trees in tremulous white;


Robins will wear their feathery fire,

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war,

not one Will care at last when it is done.


Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,

If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn

Would scarcely know that we were gone."

a)

Both share the theme that nature is indifferent to humans destroying themselves.

b)

Both share the theme that life would carry on if humans were to destroy themselves in war.

c)

Both share the theme that nature is beautiful and springtime is filled with rain.

d)

Both share the theme that nature doesn't like to be disturbed.