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WorksheetsThere Will Come Soft Rains Review
Total questions: 52
Worksheet time: 33mins
How does the reader learn where and when "There Will Come Soft Rains" takes place?
The date and location are burned into the side of the house.
The reader must figure it out using a variety of clues throughout the story.
An electronic device states the time, date, and location at the beginning of the story.
There is a newspaper on the kitchen table that shows the date and location of the story.
Where are the human beings in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
They are at work or at school.
They have moved to a different city.
They have been killed by a nuclear bomb.
They are being held prisoner in the basement of an automated house.
Which details show what has happened to the owners of the house in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
The stove prepares a breakfast that goes uneaten.
Mrs. McClellan likes to listen to poetry in the evenings.
The house keeps itself clean and protects itself from harm.
The shapes of four people are burned into the side of the house.
At the beginning of "There Will Come Soft Rains," the stove prepares eight pieces of toast, eight eggs, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two glasses of milk. What can you conclude is most likely to be true about the McClellan family, based on this information and other details?
The family is having guests over for breakfast.
Two of the family members are allergic to milk.
The stove usually burns the toast and undercooks the eggs.
There are four family members, and two of them are children.
How does the automated house "die" in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
It is blown up in a nuclear blast.
The electronic mice tear it down.
It catches on fire and is unable to put the fire out.
The owners move away, and the house stops functioning.
In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” what are the parents doing at the time of the tragedy?
They are downstairs in the basement.
They are outside working in the garden.
They are sitting together in the nursery.
They are playing bridge at the card table.
What is surprising about what happens to the dog in “There Will Come Soft Rains”?
The robot mice are trained to recognize the dog but do not help it.
The house tries to provide medical aid to the dog but it refuses help.
The dog gets sick even though it has no outward symptoms of illness.
The hungry dog cannot get food even though the house can still cook.
Why was the city "rubble and ashes"?
There was an earthquake
There was a nuclear explosion
There was a hurricane
There was a wildfire
What causes the house to catch fire?
Lightening
An electrical shortage
Food burning in the oven
A tree branch through the window
How does the house respond to the fire?
It tries to put it out
It doesn't do anything
It goes about it's regular routine
It opens all the windows and doors
What finally happens to the house?
It's able to put out the fire
It burns down
It scares away all animals
It's left standing in spite of the fire
What does "silhouette" mean?
The outline of something against a lighter background
To shutdown
An irrational fear brought on by mental illness
Bubbled and blistered from heat
Why is the opening of the story ironic? "In the living room the voice-clock sang, 'Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, seven o'clock!' as if it were afraid that nobody would."
It isn't really 7:00 AM
There is no one in the house to get up and hear the clock.
The story is set in the future, but clocks are still used.
The clock says tick tock instead of actually ticking.
How does the voice clock respond to the fact that no one reacts to it?
It asks why no one is responding.
It turns itself off.
It becomes louder.
It continues doing it's job.
Which of the following is an example of personification?
The room was ablaze in an instance.
At ten o'clock the house began to die.
The wall sprays let down showers of mechanical rain.
The quenching rain ceased.
What is unusual about all of the characters in this story?
They are all very patient
They work hard
They are all machines/robots
"There Will Come Soft Rains" was influenced by what historical events?
Chernobyl
World War 2
World War 1
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Why is the poem important when reading the story?
Because the poem is in the story
Because the same person wrote both
Because the poem has similar themes to the story
Because the story is based off the poem
In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," what inference can be made about the house's technology based on its automated functions?
The technology is outdated and inefficient.
The technology is advanced and self-sufficient.
The technology requires constant human supervision.
The technology is primarily decorative.
What is the primary theme of Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" that can be recognized across different cultures?
The inevitability of war.
The resilience of nature.
The advancement of technology.
The importance of family.
How does the setting of "There Will Come Soft Rains" contribute to the atmosphere of the story?
It creates a sense of chaos and disorder.
It evokes a feeling of warmth and comfort.
It establishes a mood of isolation and desolation.
It suggests a lively and bustling environment.
What insight about human dependency on technology can be gained from reading "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
Technology is a reliable substitute for human interaction.
Technology can function independently without any human input.
Over-reliance on technology can lead to a loss of human skills.
Technology is always beneficial to society.
What can be inferred about the fate of humanity in "There Will Come Soft Rains" based on the story's setting?
Humanity has thrived and expanded.
Humanity has been eradicated by a disaster.
Humanity is in hiding from a threat.
Humanity is living in harmony with nature.
Which of the following is an example of a literary theme that crosses cultures, as seen in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
The pursuit of wealth.
The conflict between tradition and modernity.
The impact of technology on society.
The importance of individualism.
How does the absence of human characters in "There Will Come Soft Rains" affect the story's atmosphere?
It creates a sense of peace and tranquility.
It emphasizes the dominance of nature.
It highlights the emptiness and loss.
It suggests a future filled with hope.
What is the significance of the poem recited by the house in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
It foreshadows the return of humans.
It underscores the theme of nature's indifference.
It celebrates technological advancements.
It mourns the loss of human life.
What insight about the future of technology can be drawn from "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
Technology will always require human oversight.
Technology will eventually replace all human roles.
Technology may continue to function even without humans.
Technology will become obsolete without human use.
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."
Both share the theme that nature is indifferent to humans destroying themselves.
Both share the theme that life would carry on if humans were to destroy themselves in war.
Both share the theme that nature is beautiful and springtime is filled with rain.
Both share the theme that nature doesn't like to be disturbed.
What is the significance of the poem 'There Will Come Soft Rains' in the context of the story?
It is a favorite poem of the family who lived in the house.
It is a poem that the house's AI system randomly selected.
It reflects the theme of nature's indifference to humanity's fate.
It is a poem written by one of the characters in the story.
At four o’clock the tables folded like great butterflies back through the paneled walls.
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Allusion
Outside, the garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. After a long wait the door swung down again.
Personification
Simile
Metaphor
Imagery
At eight-thirty the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone.
Simile
Personification
Metaphor
Irony
What kinds of mechanical creatures clean the house?
Birds
Snakes
Mice
What happens to the dog?
He is killed by the house
He dies of starvation and neglect
He dies in the nuclear blast
What literary device is used in reference to the house?
Simile
Hyperbole
Personification
Explain its significance or effect/impact on the plot of the story:
At four o’clock the tables folded like great butterflies back through the paneled walls.
Explain its significance or effect/impact on the plot of the story:
And the voices wailed Fire, fire, run, run, like a tragic nursery rhyme, a dozen voices, high, low, like children dying in a forest, alone, alone.
Deep freeze, armchair, film tapes, circuits, beds, and all like skeletons thrown in a cluttered mound deep under.
Simile
Allegory
Allusion
Metaphor
Heat snapped mirrors like the first brittle winter ice.
Simile
Metaphor
Imagery
Irony
The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air.
Personification
Irony
Imagery
Simile
The fire backed off, as even an elephant must at the sight of a dead snake. But the fire was clever. It had sent flames outside the house, up through the attic to the pumps there.
Personification
Metaphor
Irony
Allusion
How does the author arrange the chronological order in this story?
He discusses how the dog’s hunger increases.
He uses a robotic voice that serves as a calendar and time stamp.
He numbers each section, beginning with the number 1.
He uses a robotic voice that serves as a calendar.
What could be a THEME of the story?
Advances in technology will always have a positive outcome.
Human nature is guilty for its own bad ending, and nature nor technology will care about us.
Automated houses will be very helpful to people of the future to bring families closer.
Nature will need humankind to continue on
What happens after the tree bough crashes through the kitchen window?
Breakfast is prepared.
The robotic mice come out to clean up the mess.
The family calls a tree service to trim trees in the yard.
A bottle of cleaning solvent breaks open on the stove and sets the house on fire.
What is the tone of the house?
pleasant
demanding
angry
sad
What is the most likely meaning of the word attending as it is used in this sentence?
The man stayed at his daughter’s bedside while she had the flu, attending to her by giving her water and wiping her
brow when she woke throughout the night.
taking charge of
making believe that
helping or caring for
listening carefully to
If a writer manipulated words to create an advertisement, what did the writer do?
treated words badly
used words skillfully
corrected another writer's mistakes
persuaded people to like her writing
Which of the following situations is most likely to make a person feel tremulous?
performing a solo while experiencing stage fright
learning an exam has been moved to a later date
getting a good grade on a research paper
hearing one's favorite song on the radio
Read this passage from “There Will Come Soft Rains.”
The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs.
But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.
Which answer choice gives the most important reason the author chose to make this comparison?
to show that the house works without a purpose now that the people it served are gone
to show that the house continues to function exactly as it did when people lived there
to show that the house has destroyed the people instead of serving them
to show that the house was once a popular and well-attended church
In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” the house starts out cheerful and efficient and changes as the story progresses. Which description best explains how the house is personified during the fire?
It becomes uncaring and stops trying to work.
It becomes frantic and works at an insane pace.
It becomes more cheerful and denies any problem.
It becomes detached and works even more efficiently.
What type of parallel element can be found in the following sentence?
The house’s exterior resembled a nineteenth-century farmhouse, with majestic black columns,
a wooden porch swing, and a large black door.
parallel adverbs
parallel verb phrases
parallel adverb phrases
parallel adjective phrases
Which sentence correctly uses parallel verb phrases?
An electronic maid had cooked dinner, had cleaned the dishes, and then was put away for the night by the house's owner.
The dust was swept up by the electronic vacuum, and the floors were cleaned by an automated mop.
The garage door has opened automatically, and the car is driven away by a robot chauffeur.
Tiny lawnmowers have been circling the lawn, and each blade of grass is carefully clipped.
