1001

 Read this very short story:

“The Moores are having a baby.”

I glanced up from the table, surprised. “They got the okay?”

My husband nodded. “The paperwork came in today, so I heard.” He lowered his eyes in sorrow. “Poor Joanna.”

“She’s only 53,” I breathed.

A bead of sweat dripped down my brow, landing on the cool, concrete floor of the bunker. I tried to remind myself to be thankful for this place, this concrete tomb, but it grew more difficult each day. Perpetuum Technologies, the company that sprung up just in time for the largest nuclear war the world had ever seen, had designed the vault to sustain one thousand people for as long as it took the surface to be inhabitable again.

Exactly one thousand people.

Poor Joanna indeed.

From this story, we can infer:

a. Joanna cannot have children

b. Joanna is very sick

c. Joanna is the first name of Mrs. Moore

d. Joanna is the oldest person in the community

Scroll down for the answer.

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This question requires two processes to figure out.  The first is to understand that Perpetuum Technologies will only sustain 1000 people.  This means that if a new baby comes in, that will push the number over 1000 - so the solution would be to get rid of one person to make room for the baby.  Why Joanna?  The key to that is in the statement that she is only 53.  Since the characters are focused on her age, we can assume that the person selected to be gotten rid of to make room for the baby must be selected on age.  Therefore, the correct answer is D.

Spookily enough, there is a real world Perpetuum Technologies.

Story taken from: https://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/boo-scared-you?utm_term=.bcyrRk5yEk#.cs7Rr7QmX7

Did You Ever Think as a Hearse Goes by...

Read the passage from All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque:

"I open my eyes- my fingers grasp a sleeve, an arm. A wounded man? I yell at him- no answer- a dead man. My hand gropes farther, splinters of wood- now I remember again that we are lying in the graveyard....I crawl still farther under the coffin, it shall protect me; though Death himself lies in it."

What literary device is used to show the speaker's determination?

a. alliteration
b. irony
c. metaphor
d. personification






Scroll down for the answer.

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The correct answer is d.  A key to noticing personification is when the thing personified (in this case Death) is written with a capital letter.  Here  the speaker won't even allow that to stop him.  
However, the best wrong answer is B, since there is some irony in a dead body being used to keep the speaker alive.  

The EOC will often use answer choices that appear in the passage, but do not directly answer the question.

Thanks, Ashley from Ms. Stamey's class, for a thoroughly gruesome story.  Now I'm going to have nightmares!

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 - especially sine the remaining color is black, which is an archetype for death. The correct answer is a.

I Thought It Was a Punctuation Mark

Read the following words spoken by Macbeth in the play aptly named Macbeth.  He is on his way to the king's room to kill him when he sees a dagger floating in the air in front of him:

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand?
Come, let me clutch thee!
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

What is the purpose of the apostrophe in the above lines?

a. to show which weapon Macbeth will use to commit a murder

b. to show Macbeth's unstable state of mind

c. to provide imagery for the audience to envision the background

d. to show that Macbeth is not a killer

Scroll down for the answer.

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Two things are helpful in getting this question correct.  One is having read the story previously and the other is to know what an apostrophe is.  An apostrophe is speaking to an object that has no capacity to respond (similar but the not the same as personification).  Knowing this will lead you to think that if he is talking to a dagger that floats before him and cannot be touched, he must be freaking out.  That will bring you to either b. or d.  If you've read the story, you know that Macbeth is indeed a killer.  He starts the play by chopping a man in half.  The correct answer is b.  

However, It's a Loud Party Everyday on the Eastern Front

Read this passage from All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

“Wearily I stand up and look out the window. Then I take one of the books, intending to read, and turn over the leaves. But I put it away and take out another. There are passages in it that have been marked. I look, turn over the pages, take up fresh books. Already they are piled up beside me. Speedily more join the heap, papers, magazines, letters.
    I stand there dumb. As before a judge.
    Dejected.
    Words, Words, Words- they do not reach me.
    Slowly I place the books back in the shelves.
    Nevermore.
    Quietly, I go out of the room.”


What is Remarque’s purpose for using repetition of “Words, Words, Words?”

A. Speaker wants to demonstrate his poetic prowess
B. Speaker’s mindset is joyful because he gets to read again
C. Speaker is bored as he’s stuck in his room
D. Speaker is frustrated that he cannot find what he is searching for amongst his books

Scroll down for the answer.

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Answer- D- The speaker is hastily picking up book after book to find something. Words like wearily and dejected demonstrate his negative state of mind. Option C does suggest negativity, but because he is frantically jumping from one book to the next, Option D’s suggest of searching for an unknown entity is the best option.

Thanks to Lydia and Kris, two extremely bright students from Mrs. Stamey's class that I am sure will get a scholarship to UNC someday. 

Paranormal Romance...

 Look at this movie poster:

What literary term is being used to grab attention?

a. alliteration
b. pun
c. verbal irony
d. satire


















Scroll down for the answer.










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a. is incorrect.  There is nothing alliterative in the title.  You can make a case for "Some Sagas..." as alliteration, but it is not being used to grab the viewer's attention.
b. is correct - play on the word "suck"
c. is incorrect - there is nobody talking, so we really cannot have verbal irony.
d. is incorrect - this movie is a parody, but parodies and satires often get confused.  Satires often poke fun in order to bring awareness to a social issue.

Menace!

Read the following page from Menace #5 (Marvel comics 1953):

Based on how it is used in the opening blurb, what does the word "yarn" mean?

a. a type of string
b. a story
c. an undead creature
d. a type of comic book








Scroll down for the answer.













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The context of the opening blurb suggests that the word "yarn", as used in the blurb, means b. story.  However, if you put d. type of comic book, I would say that you at least got the best wrong answer.



You're still wrong, though.  :)