Cumulative Exam — Cumulative exam Answers

Read the line from “Child of the Americas.”An immigrant and the daughter and granddaughter of immigrantsThe author’s word choice suggests a feeling of

Study the image from Art Spiegelman’s Maus.How does Spiegelman’s visual representation of the Holocaust aid with comprehension?

Read this statement from an argumentative speech.The 15 percent increase in orchestra enrollment is in-your-face proof that publicity pays off.What is most needed to strengthen this statement?

Read the excerpt from Flannery O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.”Mr. Shiftlet was so shocked that for about a hundred feet he drove along slowly with the door stiff open. A cloud, the exact color of the boy’s hat and shaped like a turnip, had descended over the sun, and another, worse looking, crouched behind the car. Mr. Shiftlet felt that the rottenness of the world was about to engulf him. He raised his arm and let it fall again to his breast. “Oh Lord!” he prayed. “Break forth and wash the slime from this earth!”The turnip continued slowly to descend. After a few minutes there was a guffawing peal of thunder from behind and fantastic raindrops, like tin-can tops, crashed over the rear of Mr. Shiftlet’s car.Which is a metaphor?

Read this excerpt from "Not a Dove, But No Longer a Hawk." I wonder, when I look at the bombed out peasant hamlets, the orphans begging and stealing on the streets of Saigon and the women and children with napalm burns lying on the hospital cots, whether the United States or any nation has the right to inflict this suffering and degradation on another people for its own ends.How do the allusions in this excerpt reinforce the meaning of the passage?

Read the paragraph.(1) Each state should enact a law that makes wearing seat belts mandatory for all passengers and drivers in cars and trucks. (2) Statistics show that seat belts reduce serious crash-related injuries and deaths by fifty percent. (3) As a result of laws like this in various states, seat belt usage in the United States has dramatically increased in the past thirty years. (4) Some people believe that the government does not have the right to force people to be safe, and that these laws are unfair. (5) The bottom line is that seat belts are proven to save lives; therefore, everyone should be forced to wear one if they want to travel by car or truck.Which sentence is the author’s conclusion?

Read this excerpt from part 5 of Zeitoun.It was a test, Zeitoun thinks. Who among us could deny that we were tested? But now look at us, he says. Every person is stronger now. Every person who was forgotten by God or country is now louder, more defiant, and more determined. They existed before, and they exist again, in the city of New Orleans and the United States of America. What assumption does the narrator make in this excerpt?

Read the excerpt from “First Generation” of Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia.She considers the vagaries of sports, the happenstance of El Líder, a star pitcher in his youth, narrowly missing a baseball career in America. His wicked curveball attracted the major league scouts, and the Washington Senators were interested in signing him but changed their minds. Frustrated, El Líder went home, rested his pitching arm, and started a revolution in the mountains.Which best explains how Garcia’s word choice helps establish her voice in the excerpt?

Read the excerpt from Anthem.This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction. These sentences articulate which philosophical concept?

Read the excerpt from Elie Wiesel’s All Rivers Run to the Sea.Why were those trains allowed to roll unhindered into Poland? Why were the tracks leading to Birkenau never bombed? I have put these questions to American presidents and generals and to high-ranking Soviet officers. Since Moscow and Washington knew what the killers were doing in the death camps, why was nothing done at least to slow down their “production”? That not a single Allied military aircraft ever tried to destroy the rail lines converging on Auschwitz remains an outrageous enigma to me.How does Wiesel’s choice of genre prove beneficial in the excerpt?

Read this excerpt from “First Generation” of Dreaming in Cuban.Square by square, she searches the night skies for adversaries then scrutinizes the ocean, which is roiling with nine straight days of unseasonable April rains.What is the meaning of the underlined word?

What is the main goal of a thesis statement?

Read the sentence.During the Cold War, scientists competed in the "space race.”

What is meant by the term “intelligent planet” as it is used in "The Intelligent Planet"?

Read the sentence.It was difficult to extinguish because the fire was too hot.What is the best way to revise this sentence?

Read the excerpt from the song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”Once I built a tower, up to the sun, Brick, and rivet, and lime,Once I built a tower, Now it's done— Which reality of the Great Depression does the excerpt convey?

Read the excerpt from Their Eyes Were Watching God.To her way of thinking all these things set her aside from Negroes. That was why she sought out Janie to friend with. Janie’s coffee-and-cream complexion and her luxurious hair made Mrs. Turner forgive her for wearing overalls like the other women who worked in the fields.What does the phrase “to friend with” mean?

Read the excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. How does King conclude this claim?

Which sentence most needs to be revised to eliminate a split infinitive?

Read the paragraph from a student’s critical analysis essay.In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson talks about independence through his use of big words and fancy argument skills. First, Jefferson states his thesis, which makes it seem important that the colonists get independence. Next, Jefferson gives evidence against the king of England and how he mistreats the American colonies. Finally, Jefferson suggests that colonists should stop paying taxes and fight, which is the obvious answer to the colonists’ problems.What is the best way for the student to revise the essay?