Read the beginning of The Importance of Being Earnest.Title: The Importance of Being Earnestby Oscar WildeThe Persons in the PlayJohn Worthing, J.P.Algernon MoncrieffRev. Canon Chasuble, D.D.Merriman, ButlerLane, ManservantLady BracknellHon. Gwendolen FairfaxCecily CardewMiss Prism, GovernessFirst ActSCENEMorning-room in Algernon’s flat in Half-Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.[Lane is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, Algernon enters.]Algernon. Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?Lane. I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.
Read the statement from a paper on The Importance of Being Earnest.The Importance of Being Earnest contains the features of a comedy of manners.
Miss Prism. . . . The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.How does the epigram affect this scene?
Read the passage from The Importance of Being Earnest.Lady Bracknell. . . . I think some preliminary inquiry on my part would not be out of place. Mr. Worthing, is Miss Cardew at all connected with any of the larger railway stations in London? I merely desire information. Until yesterday I had no idea that there were any families or persons whose origin was a Terminus.
deviceepigramjokepun
How does Wilde poke fun at Victorian society in the passage? Select three answers.
What literary device is being used when a writer intentionally describes something as being less than it actually is?
Jack.
Read the sentence.By sharing the work between us, Misaki and me created a dragon so unique that it was immediately recognizable as ours.
Which sentence uses a reciprocal pronoun correctly?
Which sentence contains a pronoun shift error?
Which sentence uses a reflexive pronoun correctly?
Read the excerpt from Act II of The Importance of Being Earnest.Algernon. [Raising his hat.] You are my little cousin Cecily, I’m sure.Cecily. You are under some strange mistake. I am not little. In fact, I believe I am more than usually tall for my age.
Read this sentence from a report on Oscar Wilde.Oscar Wilde’s humor points out that many people are not who they appear to be, which is a critique on the emphasis placed on appearance in society.
Consider these versions of The War of the Worlds.Excerpt 1, from H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds:Then came the night of the first falling star. It was seen early in the morning, rushing over Winchester eastward, a line of flame high in the atmosphere. Hundreds must have seen it, and taken it for an ordinary falling star. Albin described it as leaving a greenish streak behind it that glowed for some seconds. Denning, our greatest authority on meteorites, stated that the height of its first appearance was about ninety or one hundred miles. It seemed to him that it fell to earth about one hundred miles east of him.Excerpt 2, from Howard E. Koch's script for Orson Welles's radio adaptation:ANNOUNCER TWO: Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity.Which statement best describes the difference between these versions?
Read the excerpt from Act I of The Importance of Being Earnest.Jack. I have lost both my parents.Lady Bracknell. To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
Which of these are features of a comedy of manners? Select four answers. witty wordplayscientific explanationsconcern with appearancesdifferences between social classesdifferences between country and city life
Read the passage from The Importance of Being Earnest.Gwendolen. Let us preserve a dignified silence.Cecily. Certainly. It’s the only thing to do now. [Enter Jack followed by Algernon. They whistle some dreadful popular air from a British Opera.]Gwendolen. This dignified silence seems to produce an unpleasant effect.Cecily. A most distasteful one.Gwendolen. But we will not be the first to speak.Cecily. Certainly not.Gwendolen. Mr. Worthing, I have something very particular to ask you. Much depends on your reply.
Read the passage from The Importance of Being Earnest.Gwendolen. [To Jack.] Darling!Algernon. [To Cecily.] Darling! [They fall into each other's arms.][Enter Merriman. When he enters he coughs loudly, seeing the situation.]Merriman. Ahem! Ahem! Lady Bracknell!Jack. Good heavens![Enter Lady Bracknell. The couples separate in alarm. Exit Merriman.]Lady Bracknell. Gwendolen! What does this mean?
beautywealthyouthpurity
Read the excerpt from Act III of The Importance of Being Earnest.Lady Bracknell. There are distinct social possibilities in Miss Cardew’s profile.Algernon. Cecily is the sweetest, dearest, prettiest girl in the whole world. And I don’t care twopence about social possibilities.
anxious charactersdescriptive detailsfactual informationwitty language
Read the passage from an essay on The Importance of Being Earnest.Chasuble. . . . Your brother was, I believe, unmarried, was he not?Jack. Oh yes.Miss Prism. [Bitterly.] People who live entirely for pleasure usually are.
Read the passage from The Importance of Being Earnest.Cecily. [Coming over very slowly.] But I don’t like German. It isn’t at all a becoming language. I know perfectly well that I look quite plain after my German lesson.Miss Prism. Child, you know how anxious your guardian is that you should improve yourself in every way. He laid particular stress on your German, as he was leaving for town yesterday. Indeed, he always lays stress on your German when he is leaving for town.Cecily. Dear Uncle Jack is so very serious! Sometimes he is so serious that I think he cannot be quite well.
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