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Practice on Setting

Total questions: 15

Worksheet time: 30mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

Which questions about the story will the setting answer?

a)

What is the author's attitude toward the characters?

b)

Where and when does the story take place?

c)

Who are the people the story is about?

d)

Why did the author write the story?

2.

Which one of these is NOT an element of setting

a)

Time

b)

Place

c)

Conflict

d)

Mood

3.

Time in a setting can refer to all of the following EXCEPT

a)

A time period

b)

How much time passes in the story

c)

Time of day

d)

How long it takes you to read the story

4.

"Place" in a setting can refer to all of the following EXCEPT

a)

The location of the story

b)

Where you are when you read the story

c)

The country the story takes place in

d)

The city the story takes place in

5.

"Mood" in a setting refers to

a)

How the main character feels

b)

How the setting makes the reader feel

c)

How the setting makes the writer feel

6.

What is the setting of the passage below?


One summer day, Randolph the Bright slept alone in his room in the castle at Reddington. The light of morning seeped slowly through his curtains. Randolph blinked against the day, smiling as his dream came to a peaceful conclusion.

a)

winter in a train station of a busy city

b)

a hospital in the future

c)

a summer morning in a castle

d)

a grocery store in the 1980s

7.

In the passage below, what can you infer about Randolph using clues from the setting?


One summer day, Randolph the Bright slept alone in his room in the castle at Reddington. The light of morning seeped slowly through his curtains. Randolph blinked against the day, smiling as his dream came to a peaceful conclusion.

a)

Randolph is a mean person.

b)

Randolph is a prince or king.

c)

Randolph has an older sister.

d)

The setting doesn’t give us any clues about Randolph.

8.

If the passage below were set at Lena’s birthday party, what could you infer?


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

a)

Lena might have received an unexpected present.

b)

Lena might be a very selfish character.

c)

Lena might be mad at her best friend.

d)

Lena might be talking to her uncle.

9.

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.

a)

Lena might have been gently hit by a snowball.

b)

Lena might be lost.

c)

Lena might be playing a boardgame or card game.

d)

Lena might be talking to herself.

10.

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

a)

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

b)

“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.”

c)

“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.”

d)

“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.”

11.

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.

a)

The story might take place on a different planet.

b)

The story might take place in the past.

c)

The story might take place in a desert.

d)

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

12.

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.

a)

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

b)

The story is set near a river that sometimes floods.

c)

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

d)

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

13.
Setting tells you where and when a story occurs. Setting includes two things: time and place. Time includes the time period. It can also include elapsed time, or how much time passes for the characters. The place is where a story happens, including details about what that space looks, sounds or smells like or what it is like to live there.

Read the following passage from Alice in Wonderland: 

Once in the wood, she was anxious to get back to her right size again, and then to get into that lovely garden. But how? Peeping over a mushroom, she beheld a large blue caterpillar sitting on the top with its arms folded...

Which detail from the text provides a clue to the place where this passage takes place?

a)
“Once in the wood…"
b)
“A large blue caterpillar..”
c)
“...get back to her right size again...”
d)
“...with its arms folded”
14.
How do you know what the setting of a story is? Sometimes, a narrator will tell you where and when the story occurs right away. Often, though, you’ll have to look for clues to determine the setting. Try to find words or phrases that tell you what it looks like or sounds like where the characters are. Characters can also give clues about the setting. Be sure that your inferences about the setting are backed up by evidence from the text.

Read the following passage:
As Maribelle hurried down the street, the wind swept the snow along the sidewalk and hid her footsteps, so that it looked as if no one had passed. Above her, the cold, silent skyscrapers of the city loomed. The whole block was eerily silent in the snowstorm, and she pulled her coat tightly around her. Maribelle had only moved here a few months before. She came because she wanted to be a singer. But right now, she was frightened.

Which detail from the passage indicate the setting?
a)
“Above her, the cold, silent skyscrapers of the city loomed.”
b)
“Maribelle had only moved here a few months before.”
c)
“But right now, she was frightened.”
d)
“She came because she wanted to be a singer.”
15.
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)
A city playground full of laughing, playing children and parents.
b)
A long line of people waiting for a few concert tickets.
c)
A stream running through a quiet, isolated forest.
d)
An empty mall parking lot early on a Sunday morning.