Read the excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.A snug small room; a round table by a cheerful fire; an arm-chair high-backed and old-fashioned, wherein sat the neatest imaginable little elderly lady, in widow’s cap, black silk gown, and snowy muslin apron; exactly like what I had fancied Mrs. Fairfax, only less stately and milder looking. She was occupied in knitting; a large cat sat demurely at her feet; nothing in short was wanting to complete the beau-ideal of domestic comfort. A more reassuring introduction for a new governess could scarcely be conceived; there was no grandeur to overwhelm, no stateliness to embarrass; and then, as I entered, the old lady got up and promptly and kindly came forward to meet me.
Read the paragraph.Mariska and Eddy stare at each other from across the podium. They are about to graduate high school. They have known each other for so long—since second grade—and they can communicate sentences in just one look. Mariska remembers when they first met. She was climbing on a jungle gym at the park and she falls. All the other kids laughed, but Eddy approached her and asked if she was okay. From that day on, they were best friends. From Eddy’s smile across the stage, she knew that he is thinking about the exact same thing. Choose the best two words to replace the underlined words, in order.
Read the excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.She returned; with her own hands cleared her knitting apparatus and a book or two from the table, to make room for the tray which Leah now brought, and then herself handed me the refreshments. I felt rather confused at being the object of more attention than I had ever before received, and, that too, shown by my employer and superior; but as she did not herself seem to consider she was doing anything out of her place, I thought it better to take her civilities quietly.
Read the sentence.Bailey is far superior to other dogs of his breed; he learns tricks faster and easier than any other dog I have ever owned. Which word best contributes to the positive tone of this sentence?
When Emerson states, “It by no means follows that we are not fit for society, because soirees are tedious,” in Society and Solitude, how does he support his statement?
In "Civil Disobedience," what happens right after the townspeople “locked the door on [Thoreau’s] meditations”?
Read the excerpt from “In the Greenest of Our Valleys,” by Edgar Allan Poe.Wanderers in that happy valleyThrough two luminous windows sawSpirits moving musicallyTo a lute's well-tuned lawHow do the ideas in the excerpt compare to Poe’s ideas in "The Poetic Principle"?
Read the excerpt from a short story.The cave had offered a greater challenge than the group expected. This was not a tourist’s cavern, and there was no stopping to photograph stalagmites—far from it. Each spelunker wore a headlamp, and each had gone so far as to belly crawl through a tight fissure at the urging of their guide. Riya had kept up all afternoon, ignoring her aching legs and the shadows of abundant bats. And now she awaited her turn to walk, legs splayed, across a yawning crevice. Even Old Dot had done it; she could hear the group clapping for her across the darkness. Finding footholds on the left and right, she advanced—one foot, then the other. Reaching ambitiously for jutting rock beyond her grasp, she heard a sickly crumble below and began to fall.How does the excerpt exemplify the ideas King describes in "Danse Macabre"?
Read the paragraph.The flowing skirts! The sharp jackets! The lacy details! As the play began, I felt so proud. My friend Johan and I ________ all the costumes for our school’s spring production. One day, I hoped to attend art school and work on musicals on Broadway. To see my creations worn in front of cheering New York City audiences was my dream! For tonight, though, the smiling faces in the North Shore High auditorium would certainly suffice! Which best fits in the blank?
Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
Read the excerpt from “Serenade,” by Edgar Allan Poe.And earth, and stars, and sea, and skyAre redolent of sleep, as IHow does Poe use sound devices in the excerpt?
Which best states the structure of the section entitled “Solitude” in Walden?
Thoreau’s actions in "Civil Disobedience" and the 1955 bus boycott are similar because both Thoreau and the boycotters were
Read the excerpt from "The Adventure of the Mysterious Picture."The expression was that of agony—the agony of intense bodily pain; but a menace scowled upon the brow, and a few sprinklings of blood added to its ghastliness. Yet it was not all these characteristics—it was some horror of the mind, some inscrutable antipathy awakened by this picture, which harrowed up my feelings.What effect does the tone of the excerpt have on the reader?
Read the excerpt from a short story.The apartment house had a communal attic rarely visited by its tenants. The labeled boxes and cast-off furniture offered little intrigue, so few explored its depths. Then one rainy afternoon, I ventured there seeking solitude. Roaming beyond the beams of the lone ceiling bulb, I spied only cobwebs until I rounded the corner of a hulking armoire. Beyond this antique was unrelenting shadow, but I willed myself to advance. Then a grim bellow of thunder resounded, sending me to the floor. Prostrate on the splintered beams, my hands felt a shaft of cold steel and I could but imagine the evil article I’d encountered.What technique does the author use to build suspense in the excerpt?
Read the excerpt from "To the Public” by William Lloyd Garrison.I am aware, that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation.
Read the excerpt from “Conclusion” in Walden.The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.Which best describes the purpose of the imagery in the excerpt?
Read the excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.When Mrs. Fairfax had bidden me a kind good-night, and I had fastened my door, gazed leisurely round, and in some measure effaced the eerie impression made by that wide hall, that dark and spacious staircase, and that long, cold gallery, by the livelier aspect of my little room, I remembered that, after a day of bodily fatigue and mental anxiety, I was now at last in safe haven. . . . My couch had no thorns in it that night; my solitary room no fears. At once weary and content, I slept soon and soundly: when I awoke it was broad day.
An e-mail to your boss asking for a raise in salary would most likely use what type of language?
Which of the following is a rhetorical appeal to credibility or authority?
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