Tom Sawyer

 Read the following passage from Tom Sawyer:

“[They] covered themselves with dust and glory.” 

The above line is an example of:

a. zeugma

b. dramatic irony

c. hyperbole

d. alliteration

Scroll down for the answer.

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The correct answer is a. zeugma.  What the heck is zeugma?  It doesn't matter.  There is no dramatic irony going on.  There is no hyperbole.  There is no alliteration.  The only time you guess a word you do not know is when you know all the other answers are false.  In this case, you should have been able to recognize all the other answers as false and, with some trepidation, picked zeugma.

It was also used in the book Project Hail Mary: 

"I wake up covered in medical equipment and pain."

Still think I made it up?  Look here for a thorough explanation of zeugma:

http://literarydevices.net/zeugma/

What? What?

 Look at this cartoon strip:

What is most likely the word that was blanked out in the last panel?

a. something profane
b. "bingo"
c. "irony"
d. no word was there, just ". . ."








Scroll down for the answer.





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O.K., this shouldn't have been too hard.  Let's stop and think.  A teacher is putting this up, so chances are that he is not going to put something profane on the site.  So we can rule out A.  Irony is something unexpected and it would be unexpected that an irony detector detects everything but irony, so C. is a good answer.  While it might look as if he is repeating her last word, "Bingo" makes no sense, so we can rule out B.  D. would only work if the cartoonist was expecting you to figure out the joke, so it might could work.  So we have b, which works, and d, which might would work.  Always go with the sure thing.  C. is the correct answer.

My Pretty Rose Tree

 Read the following poem by William Blake:

My Pretty Rose Tree

A flower was offered to me,
Such a flower as May never bore;
But I said, 'I've a pretty rose tree,'
And I passed the sweet flower o'er.

Then I went to my pretty rose tree,
To tend her by day and by night;
But my rose turned away with jealousy,
And her thorns were my only delight.

Why is the speaker's "only delight" the thorns of the rose tree?

a. the speaker is not fond of flowers, which is why he passed over the flower offered him
b. the speaker's girlfriend/wife is upset with him because of another woman is hitting on him
c. the speaker is a bitter old man with nothing but memories of better days
d. the speaker should have taken the rose offered
e. who the heck knows?


  








Scroll down for the answer.







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In this poem, the rose is symbolic of a woman.  One woman offered herself to him and he refused because he is faithful to his wife/girlfriend.  However, his wife/girlfriend is jealous and this causes problems in their relationship.

Off with Her Head!

Read the following poem by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends:

ALICE

She drank from a bottle called DRINK ME
And up she grew so tall,
She ate from a plate called TASTE ME
And down she shrank so small
And so she changed, while other folks
Never tried nothin’ at all

The rhyme scheme of the poem is AB AB CB. Why does the author change the rhyme scheme in line 5?

a. He couldn't find another rhyme for ME.

b. To draw attention to the poem's meaning.

c. Because it is an allusion to Alice in Wonderland.

d. To change the pace of the poem.











Scroll down for the answer.







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a. is completely incorrect. Poets are very resourceful and can find a rhyme for almost any word.

b. is correct. The poem is about not being afraid to try new things.

c. is incorrect. While it is an allusion, the change in rhyme has nothing to do with it.

d. is incorrect. While changing the rhyme scheme may change the pace in some poems, it does not in this one.

Use a Rag!

 What literary term is being employed to make this ad effective?

a. archetype
b. allusion
c. irony
d. personification






Scroll down for the answer.





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This ad is to make you think about saving the planet by not using too many paper towels.  This is only made possible if the towel color is green, since green is an archetypal symbol of life. The correct answer is a.

One who loved not wisely, but too well

 Look at the Othello poster below:

Based in the poster above, one of the themes of Othello is:

a. jealousy

b. hatred

c. fidelity

d. love

Scroll down for the answer.

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All of the answers are basic themes in Othello, but only one of them can be inferred from the poster.  The question clearly states "Based on the poster...."  With that in mind, we can see the green eye of the man in the poster and since green eyes are symbolic of jealousy, the correct answer is a.

Jupiter Is a Jerk

Read the following fable by Aesop:

Two neighbors came before Jupiter and prayed him to grant their hearts’ desire. Now the one was full of avarice, and the other eaten up with envy. So to punish them both, Jupiter granted that each might have whatever he wished for himself, but only on condition that his neighbor had twice as much. The Avaricious man prayed to have a room full of gold. No sooner said than done; but all his joy was turned to grief when he found that his neighbor had two rooms full of the precious metal. Then came the turn of the Envious man, who could not bear to think that his neighbor had any joy at all. So he prayed that he might have one of his own eyes put out, by which means his companion would become totally blind.

What is most likely the moral of this story?

a. Be careful what you wish for.

b. Vices are their own punishment.

c. To be envious is better than to be greedy.

d. It is better to give than to receive.

Scroll down for the answer.

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a. is incorrect.  The first man gets his wish for a room full of gold .  There is nothing wrong with it.  He can't enjoy it because he is so greedy that he can't stand for his neighbor to have more.  This is the best wrong answer.

b. is correct.  See above.  The greedy man can't enjoy his own wish because somebody has more.  The envious man wastes his wish on losing an eye so that his neighbor would lose both.  It was their own vices that led to their unhappiness.

c. is incorrect.  This is completely wrong.  Both are bad and neither is praised over the other.

d. is incorrect.  It is nice, but the only giving here is punishments.