Font size
Worksheets"The Landlady"
Total questions: 37
Worksheet time: 34mins
Billy reads a sign outside of a house that reads Bed and Breakfast. He walks up to the house and looks in the window. What two things seem inviting to Billy when he looks through the window of the old house?
He sees a dachshund lying in front of the fireplace
He sees a parrot in a birdcage
He sees a hot water bottle under the covers of the bed
He sees the newspaper with dangerous headlines on it.
The Landlady and Billy talk about different things. One conversation they have is about other guests and previous guests from years ago. Presently, the landlady explains that there are no other guests because ........
there is a war going on
she is very particular and choosy about who stays there
there is only one room available
she can't stand too much commotion in the house
As Billy signs the guestbook, he looks at the other two names and wonders where he's heard them before. The landlady comes into the room with a tea tray and he tells her that he's heard those names before. Right as he remembers where he's seen those names, the landlady distracts Billy by....
asking him if he wants milk and sugar with his tea
asking "Eaton schoolboy? No! That can't possibly be right" and continues to describe him
asking Billy about his job and when he's leaving in the morning
talking about her stuffed animals
Billy sat on the sofa and drank his tea. After some conversation, Billy took another sip of his tea and didn't like it because it tasted a little like bitter almonds. The tea tasted funny because....
she pickled walnuts in the same pot that she made tea in
a certain type of poison tastes like bitter almonds
the tea was really old and turned sour
the tea was kept in a leather pouch
In this story, Billy's main conflict can be described as...
character vs. nature
character vs. technology
character vs. character
character vs. self
In their conversation about the former guests, the landlady tells Billy that the other young men never left and that they were upstairs on the fourth floor. Then, she refers to them in the past tense. The reader can best conclude that ....
her previous guests are stuffed and are stored upstairs
her previous guests escaped and took her other pets with them
her previous guests died of natural causes
her previous guests never left because they enjoy the landlady's company
How old is Billy?
16
17
18
19
The Landlady was written by
Gary Soto
Ronald Dingle
Roald Dahl
Gary Paulsen
What does Billy see through the window of the B&B?
He imagines they serve awful watery cabbage
He sees a dachshund lying in front of the fireplace
He sees the landlady drinking a cup of tea
He doesn't see a greedy landlady.
What puzzles Billy about the guestbook?
He believes the names are of famous politicians
All the names on the list are men
the last guest stayed here 2 years ago
He is sure he read the names in the newspaper
(noun) fronts of buildings
facade
porter
rapacious
blemish
(adj) agreeable; pleasant
rapacious
amusing
congenial
peculiar
(verb) called to mind
tantalizing
dithering about
compulsion
conjured
(adj) greedy
rapacious
tantalizing
dotty
lapsed
(adj) evoking interest, attention, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way
dotty
proceedings
emanating
compelling
(noun) the state of being forced to do something
tantalizing
Cambridge
compulsion
preserved
(adj.) teasing by remaining unavailable or by withholding something desired by someone; tempting
cricketer
peculiar
tantalizing
dithering about
(adj) strange
dotty
emanating
peculiar
lapsed
(noun) a small mark or flaw
blemish
cricket
compulsion
facade
Which word below can be defined as:
"quick or energetic"
brisk
swanky
dithering about
tantalizing
Which word below can be defined as:
"the face or front of a building"
facades
blemish
peer
porter
__________ is the use of clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in the plot.
Foreshadowing
Style
Suspense
Theme
Which of the sentences below would NOT be an example of foreshadowing?
“But the air was deadly cold…”
“The wind was like a flat blade of ice on his cheeks”
“But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here.”
"Billy thanked him and picked up his suitcase and set out to walk the quarter-mile to The Bell and Dragon."
Which of the following details provides the best hint about the landlady’s secret?
The front of the building is rather shabby.
The downstairs window is brightly lit.
The landlady explains that she stuffs all her dead pets.
The landlady serves tea and cookies to Billy before he goes up to his room.
Billy was seventeen years old. He was wearing a new navy-blue overcoat, a new brown trilby hat, and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine. He walked briskly down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly these days. Briskness, he had decided, was the one common characteristic of all successful businessmen. The big shots up at the head office were absolutely fantastically brisk all the time. They were amazing.
What do we know about Billy based on this paragraph?
He was excited to start his new job.
He is young and inexperienced.
He is a great insurance salesman.
He is desperate to find a place to live.
There is a recurring theme throughout the story, "Things aren't what they seem." Which statement best illustrates this theme?
There were no other hats or coats in the hall. There were no umbrellas, no walking sticks— nothing.
On the second-floor landing she said to him, “This floor is mine.”
She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays.
“Oh, I am, my dear, I am, of course I am. But the trouble is that I’m inclined to be just a teeny weeny bit choosy and particular—if you see what I mean.”
Choose the quotes that best display the landlady's eagerness to have another victim. (More than one answer)
“It’s all ready for you, my dear,” she said. She had a round pink face and very gentle blue eyes.
“I saw the notice in the window,” he said, holding himself back.
He pressed the bell—and out she popped! It made him jump.
“I was on my way to The Bell and Dragon,” Billy told her. “But the notice in your window just happened to catch my eye.”
Billy started sipping his tea. She did the same. For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke. But Billy knew that she was looking at him.
Why does the landlady most likely watch Billy as he drinks his tea?
Because she is a creepy old lady.
To see when the poison is ingested.
He reminds her of her son.
She is interested in his story.
“Now wait a minute,” he said. “Wait just a minute. Mulholland . . . Christopher Mulholland . . . wasn’t that the name of the Eton schoolboy who was on a walking tour through the West Country, and then all of a sudden . . .”
“Milk?” she said. “And sugar?”
What is the landlady's purpose for saying this line?
She was trying to get Billy to drink the tea.
She was appearing to be polite.
She was thinking about her son.
She was attempting to distract him from recalling where he had heard the names of the 2 men.
Which statement best foreshadows Billy's fate?
“That’s good. Because later on, if I happen to forget what you were called, then I could always come down here and look it up. I still do that almost every day with Mr. Mulholland and Mr. . . . Mr. . . .”
She patted the empty place beside her on the sofa, and she sat there smiling at Billy and waiting for him to come over.
Billy started sipping his tea. She did the same. For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke. But Billy knew that she was looking at him.
Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital?
Which statement below is a valid theme of the story?
People are not always who they seem to be.
Bed and Breakfasts are usually safe establishments.
Never look for a place to stay the night after dark.
Women are natural caretakers.
Which of the following events is most important to the development of the plot?
Billy feels like a lucky fellow to have found the bed and breakfast.
Billy accepts the landlady's offer to stay at the bed and breakfast for five and sixpense a night.
The landlady shows Billy to his room.
Billy unpacks his suitcase and washes his hands.
Which excerpt below best shows how Billy first feels about the landlady?
“Good gracious me,” he said. “How absolutely fascinating.”
She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school-friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays.
I’m always ready. Everything is always ready day and night.
On the carpet in front of the fire, a pretty little dachshund was curled up asleep with its nose tucked into its belly.
Which sentence from the introduction includes foreshadowing that something bad will happen to Billy?
But the air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of ice on his cheeks.
By the time he got to Bath it was about nine o’clock in the evening and the moon was coming up out of a clear starry sky over the houses opposite the station entrance.
“Excuse me,” he said, “but is there a fairly cheap hotel not too far away from here?”
Billy thanked him and picked up his suitcase and set out to walk the quarter-mile to The Bell and Dragon.
