An Unfair Question

Look at the ad below:

Make a prediction.  This ad is mostly likely for:

a. climate change awareness
b. Miracle Grow
c. bug spray
d. a political ad showing how bad the economy is











Scroll down for the answer.






Unfair question?  YES!  However, be ready for these on the state test.  Don't panic (let the other students do that).  Instead, make your best guess on the information provided, answer the question, and move on.  Don't look back.  Don't waste your focus agonizing over a question that seems unfair.

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c. is the correct answer.  This comes from a line of similar ads, all with things that eat bugs (frogs, anteaters) holding the sign will work for food since the bug spray is so effective.

Christmas Break

Studying for the EOC is fine and all, but take some time off and enjoy the holidays!  We'll be back in January.   However, if you are really just desperate, why don't you make your own EOC style question and send it to me as a Christmas gift?

The Grinch Returns!

Read the passage below from Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas:


Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!


Compare this to the same passage as read in the cartoon version of this story:


Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns, pampoogas, pantookas, and drums!
Checkerboards, bizilbigs, popcorn, and plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney.

Since Dr. Seuss wrote both the book and the cartoon script, why do you think he changed up the words?

a. He needed to make it longer

b. He felt the rhyme should change

c. Since writing the book he had become famous for making up words, so he made up some new ones for the cartoon.

d. Boris Karloff, the voice for the character, suggested the changes be made to fit his style of acting better.

Scroll down for the answer.

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a. is incorrect.  Sometimes scripts are changed to make them longer or shorter, but this doesn't change the time of the reading at all.

b. is incorrect.  The rhyme doesn't change in the two versions.

c. is correct!

d. is incorrect. The script in this case was changed before the voice actor was even picked.

I Believe!

 Read the second half of this poem by Ogden Nash, "The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus"

The children wept all Christmas Eve And Jabez chortled up his sleeve. No infant dared to hang up his stocking For fear of Jabez' ribald mocking. He sprawled on his untidy bed, Fresh malice dancing in his head, When presently with scalp a-tingling, Jabez heard a distant jingling; He heard the crunch of sleigh and hoof Crisply alighting on the roof.

What good to rise and bar the door? A shower of soot was on the floor. What was beheld by Jabez Dawes? The fireplace full of Santa Claus! Then Jabez fell upon his knees With cries of "Don't," and "Pretty please." He howled, "I don't know where you read it, But anyhow, I never said it!"

"Jabez," replied the angry saint, "It isn't I, it's you that ain't. Although there is a Santa Claus, There isn't any Jabez Dawes!" Said Jabez with impudent vim, "Oh, yes there is; and I am him! Your magic don't scare me, it doesn't"--- And suddenly he found he wasn't!

From grimy feet to grimy locks, Jabez became a Jack-in-the-box, An ugly toy with springs unsprung, Forever sticking out his tongue. The neighbors heard his mournful squeal; They searched for him, but not with zeal. No trace was found of Jabez Dawes, Which led to thunderous applause, And people drank a loving cup And went and hung their stockings up.

All you who sneer at Santa Claus, Beware the fate of Jabez Dawes, The saucy boy who mocked the saint. Donder and Blitzen licked off his paint.

Based on the poem above, what word could substitute for "zeal" (assuming we were not worried about rhyme or meter):

a. excitement
b. luck
c. sadness
d. dancing











Scroll down for the answer.















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While it is not an exact match, the best answer from the choices given is a. excitement


Do you believe?

Don't Laugh at Santa Claus

 Read this excerpt from Ogden Nash's poem, "The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus"

Like whooping cough, from child to child,
He sped to spread the rumor wild:
'Sure as my name is Jabez Dawes
There isn't any Santa Claus!'
Slunk like a weasel of a marten
Through nursery and kindergarten,
Whispering low to every tot,
'There isn't any, no there's not!'
The children wept all Christmas eve
And Jabez chortled up his sleeve.
No infant dared hang up his stocking
For fear of Jabez' ribald mocking.

Another word that could be used for “chortled” would be:
a. snorted
b. cried
c. shoved
d. snickered

Scroll down for the answer.

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Jabez Dawes is laughing at the kids in a mean manner. We need a word that means as close to laughing as possible. Even if you do not know what snickered means, you should be able to rule out the other three. d. is the correct answer.

Bah Humbug!

In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Ebeneezer Scrooge sees the ghost of Jacob Marely.  He refuses to believe that he is seeing a ghost.  He explains it by saying:

"You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!"

The words in bold face and black type are an example of:

a. Situational Irony
b. Allusion
c. Metaphor
d. Pun








Scroll down for the answer.









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d. is correct since he is making a play on grave (serious) and gravy (yum!)

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Read the following passage taken from How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss:

Then he growled, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For, tomorrow, he knew...
...All the Who girls and boys
Would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

 
What is the main purpose for the repetition of the word "noise"?
 
a. it rhymes with toys
b. for the rhythm and meter of the poem
c. to show how annoying the Whos are with their noise
d. for its alliterative properties
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Scroll down for the answer
 
 
 
 



 
 
 
 
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c. is the correct answer.  The word is repeated draw attention to how much it annoys the poor Grinch.