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.

The Martian

In the following passage from Andy Weir's novel The Martian, we have excerpts from the protagonist's daily journal that he is using to record his efforts to survive.  The protagonist has been stranded on Mars and presumed dead.  He is trying to keep the equipment he has running and generate enough food and water to keep him alive until someone can rescue him.  Read the following selection:

LOG ENTRY: SOL 36
     I've now grown accustomed to hearing the alarms blare at all times.  The fire alarm has finally stopped, now that there's no more fire.  The low oxygen alarm should stop soon.  The high humidity alarm will take a little longer.  The water reclaimer has its work cut out for today.
     For a moment, there was yet another alarm.  The water reclaimer's main tank was full.  Booyah! That's the kind of problem I want to have!
     Remember the space suit I vandalized yesterday?I hung it on its rack and carried buckets of water to it from the reclaimer. It can hold an atmosphere of air.  It should be able to handle a few buckets of water.
     Man I'm tired.  Been up all night, and it's time to sleep.  But I'll drift off to dreamland in the best mood I've been in since Sol 6.
   Things are finally going my way.  In fact, they're going great!  I have a chance to live after all!

LOG ENTRY: SOL 37
     I am screwed, and I'm going to die!
     


What literary term is the author using to increase the intensity and suspense?

a. imagery
b. dramatic irony
c. foreshadowing
d. juxtaposition

Scroll down for the answer.








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a. is incorrect.  While there is some imagery involved, it is not being used to create suspense or intensity.
b. is incorrect.  We do not know what the protagonist doesn't know.
c. is incorrect.  While there may be some foreshadowing going on, we do not have enough of the text to see if it develops into anything.  
d. is correct.  Juxtaposition is when change in two different scenes has meaning.  Here, we are all set up to think that things are finally working for him.  Then the next entry shows differently. 


O.K., I admit.  I changed a word in order to make it appropriate for all the young impressionable children out there.  I hang my head in censorship shame.

Kill the Beast!

Read the following passage.


In the book, Lord of the Flies, a plane crashes, stranding several young boys on an island with no adults.  Early in the book, we meet Ralph, a kid with golden tan skin and blond hair and Piggy, a fat boy with glasses and asthma.  Another major character they meet is Jack, the leader of the choir who has red hair and lots of freckles.


Make a prediction based only on what is given in the above passage.  Which boy will be the most violent of the three? 


a. Jack
b. Ralph
c. Piggy

Scroll down for the answer.




















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a. is the correct answer.  How could you know?  Well, all we have is their description.  Jack has red hair.  Red is an archetype (a type of symbol) that means violence.


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Didn't You Read Percy Jackson?

 Watch the commercial:

Based on the allusion presented in the commercial, we can assume that a rival for Mercedes is:

a. Mercury
b. BMW
c. Lexus
d. Cadillac











Scroll down for the answer.







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a. is the correct answer.  This should be pretty easy allusion to get.  The state test will often shy away from allusions because it relies on you knowing something outside of the text.  However, allusions to mythology are fair game, as it is expected that everyone is familiar with basic classical mythology.

Caps for Sale

Read the following passage taken from the book Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina:

Once there was a peddler who sold caps. But he was not like an ordinary peddler carrying his wares on his back. He carried them on top of his head.

First he had on his own checked cap, 

then a bunch of gray caps, 

then a bunch of brown caps, 

then a bunch of blue caps, 

and on the very top a bunch of red caps.

He walked up and down the streets, holding himself very straight so as not to upset his caps. As he went along he called,

“Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!”

In the above passage, what does the word "upset" mean?

a. tip over
b. make someone sad or irritated
c. to stand straight up
d. to move fast




















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a. is the correct answer

b. is incorrect - you didn't read, did you?  Whenever the EOC asks you what a word means and it seems to be an easy word - watch out.  Many easy words have multiple meanings.

Who Do We Ask for Help When We Don't Know Which Way to Go? Say Map!

Read the following passage from All Quiet on the Western Front:

"We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial- I believe we are lost."

What theme is being represented in this passage?


a) comradeship
b) dehumanization
c) loss of innocence
d) oneness of man




Scroll down for the answer.

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a) is wrong because this has nothing to do with anyone being anyone's comrade
b) is the best wrong answer. Even though they have changed, they are still human and are acting like humans, just older humans
c) is correct because they are children that now experienced old men who have lost all innocence from the young child that they are
d) is wrong because no one is being one or acting as one. This has nothing to do with this sentence.



Thanks to Jessie from Ms. Stamey's class for this well written question.  Loss of innocence is a common theme in stories that involve younger characters, so if a passage on the EOC involves someone's childhood, look for it as a theme.  Stay gold, Jessie - and do it for Johnny!

(O.K., bad Outsiders allusion, but it is in keeping with the loss of innocence theme...)

Don't Even Think About Putting One There

What literary term is this an example of?

The sign says, "NOTICE - NO SIGNS ALLOWED AT THIS INTERSECTION"

a. pun 
b. hyperbole

c. irony 
d. allusion

Scroll down for the answer.








































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The correct answer is c. irony. The EOC may use the word irony or ironic and it will mean the same thing. There are three common types of irony. This one is situational irony. This is when something unexpected happens. In this case, it is unexpected to see a sign saying no signs allowed.

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