Test Information Guide

Field 61: English
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Reading and Language

Objective 0001
Apply knowledge of the characteristics of major genres of literature.

1. Read the excerpt below from Almost, Maine (2007), a play by John Cariani; then answer the question that follows.

EAST. (Stopping.) What? What's wrong?
GLORY. (Having trouble breathing.) My heart!
EAST. What? Are you // okay?
GLORY. My heart! (Seeing that EAST has her bag, pointing to it and almost hyperventilating.)
EAST. What?
GLORY. You have my heart!
EAST. I wh/ /at?
GLORY. In that bag!, it's in that bag! >
EAST. Oh.
GLORY. Please give it back!, // Please! It's my heart!, I need it!, Please!
EAST. Okay, okay, okay.
He gives GLORY the bag.
 GLORY. Thank you.
When GLORY gets the bag back, her breathing normalizes.
 EAST. You're welcome.
Long beat. EAST considers what he has just heard.
 I'm sorry, did you just say that … your heart is in that bag?, Is that what you just said, that // your heart— … ?
 GLORY. Yes.
Little beat.
 EAST. It's heavy.
GLORY. I guess.
Little beat.
 EAST. Why is it in that bag?
GLORY. It's how I carry it around.
EAST. Why?
GLORY. It's broken.

Which of the following themes is explored in the excerpt?

  1. the weight of emotional burdens
  2. the futility of searching for meaning
  3. the danger of indifference
  4. the importance of moral codes
Answer
Correct Response: A.

Correct Response: A.

Objective 0002
Apply knowledge of American literature from the seventeenth through the twenty-first century that represents a range of American perspectives reflecting diversity of gender; race; ethnicity; sexual orientation; nation of origin; religion; age; disability; and cultural, economic, and geographic backgrounds.

2. Read the poem below, "Hoop Dancer" (1997), by Paula Gunn Allen; then answer the question that follows.

It's hard to enter
circling clockwise and counter
clockwise moving no
regard for time, metrics
irrelevant to this dance
where pain is the prime number
and soft stepping feet
praise water from the skies:

I have seen the face of triumph
the winding line stare down all moves
to desecration: guts not cut from arms,
fingers joined to minds,
together Sky and Water
one dancing       one
circle of a thousand turning lines
beyond the march of gears—
out of time,       out of
time, out
of time.

Which of the following statements best describes how a literary device is used in the poem?

  1. Visual imagery supports a theme of spiritual redemption.
  2. Metaphor illustrates connections to the natural world.
  3. Enjambment reflects the continuity of cultural traditions.
  4. Alliteration conveys a sense of order and symmetry.
Answer
Correct Response: C.

Correct Response: C.

Objective 0003
Apply knowledge of British literature from the Anglo-Saxon through the contemporary period.

3. Read the excerpt below from Gaudy Night (1935), a novel by Dorothy L. Sayers; then answer the question that follows.

"Am I really going to see finger-prints discovered?" asked the Dean.

"Why, of course," said Wimsey. "It won't tell us anything, but it impresses the spectator and inspires confidence. Bunter, the insufflator. You will now see," he pumped the white powder rapidly over the frame and handle of the door, "how inveterate is the habit of catching hold of doors when you open them." An astonishing number of superimposed prints sprang into view above the lock as he blew the superfluous powder away. "Hence the excellent old-fashioned institution of the finger-plate. May I borrow a chair from the bath-room? … Oh, thank you, Miss Vane; I didn't mean you to fetch it."

He extended the blowing operations right up to the top of the door and the upper edge of the frame.

"You surely don't expect to find finger-prints up there," said the Dean.

"Nothing would surprise me more. This is merely a shop-window display of thoroughness and efficiency. All a matter of routine, as the policeman says. Your college is kept very well dusted; I congratulate you. Well, that's that. We will now direct our straining eyes to the dark-room door and do the same thing there. The key? Thank you. Fewer prints here, you see. I deduce that the room is usually approached by way of the lecture-room. That probably also accounts for the presence of dust along the top of the door. Something always gets overlooked, doesn't it? The linoleum, however, has been honourably swept and polished. Must I go down on my knees and do the floor-walk for footprints? It is shockingly bad for one's trousers and seldom useful. Let us rather examine the window. Yes—somebody certainly seems to have got out here. But we knew that already. She climbed over the sink and knocked that beaker off the draining-board."

In the excerpt, Wimsey most clearly exemplifies the typical protagonist of British detective fiction in his:

  1. keen attention to mundane detail.
  2. worldly sophistication and cynicism.
  3. inflated sense of superior intelligence.
  4. deep insight into the minds of criminals.
Answer
Correct Response: A.

Correct Response: A.

Objective 0004
Apply knowledge of contemporary and historical literature from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe from ancient times through the twenty-first century.

4. Read the excerpt below from Midnight's Children (1981), a novel by Salman Rushdie; then answer the question that follows.

Aadam is rushing indoors, prayer-mat rolled like cheroot under one arm, blue eyes blinking in the sudden interior gloom; he has placed the cheroot on a high shelf on top of stacked copies of Vorwärts and Lenin's What Is To Be Done? and other pamphlets, dusty echoes of his half-faded German life; he is pulling out, from under his bed, a second-hand leather case which his mother called his "doctori-attaché," and as he swings it and himself upwards and runs from the room, the word HEIDELBERG is briefly visible, burned into the leather on the bottom of the bag. A landowner's daughter is good news indeed to a doctor with a career to make, even if she is ill. No: because she is ill.

… While I sit like an empty pickle-jar in a pool of Anglepoised1 light, visited by this vision of my grandfather sixty-three years ago, which demands to be recorded, filling my nostrils with the acrid stench of his mother's embarrassment which has brought her out in boils, with the vinegary force of Aadam Aziz's determination to establish a practice so successful that she'll never have to return to the gemstone-shop, with the blind mustiness of a big shadowy house in which the young Doctor stands, ill-at-ease, before a painting of a plain girl with lively eyes and a stag transfixed behind her on the horizon, speared by a dart from her bow. Most of what matters in our lives takes place in our absence: but I seem to have found from somewhere the trick of filling in the gaps in my knowledge, so that everything is in my head, down to the last detail, such as the way the mist seemed to slant across the early morning air … everything, and not just the few clues one stumbles across, for instance by opening an old tin trunk which should have remained cobwebby and closed.

1Anglepoised light: light produced by an Anglepoise® brand desk lamp

In the excerpt, Rushdie primarily uses sensory language and specific details to:

  1. establish the authenticity of the setting.
  2. characterize the narrator as reliable.
  3. reflect the inevitable passage of time.
  4. suggest that memories may be invented.
Answer
Correct Response: D.

Correct Response: D.

Objective 0005
Apply knowledge of informational texts.

5. Read the excerpt below from "Scientists Say They've Found Hidden Space in Great Pyramid of Giza" (2017), an article by Nell Greenfieldboyce; then answer the question that follows.

Mehdi Tayoubi, with the HIP Institute in Paris, explains that he and his colleagues wanted to investigate the pyramid using the best available non-destructive analytical techniques. They settled on a type of imaging that involves muons, which are tiny particles, like electrons.

"What is strange, for me, is to use those very, very small particles for a huge monument like the pyramid," says Tayoubi.

Muons are made when cosmic rays from deep space hit the atoms of the upper atmosphere. These particles rain down and lose energy as they pass through materials—like the thick stones of the pyramid—and that makes them slow down and decay. By placing muon detectors in strategic locations, researchers can count the number of muons coming through and create a kind of picture that reveals whether the material above is dense, like stone, or an empty space.

Tayoubi explains that his team installed sheets of muon-detecting film in a lower-level room of the pyramid known as the Queen's Chamber. The goal was to test whether they could use muons to accurately discern two well-known rooms located above: the King's Chamber and Grand Gallery.

They saw those rooms but, to their surprise, they found an additional large space as well.

"The first reaction was a lot of excitement, but then we knew that it would take us a long, long time, that we needed to be very patient in this scientific process," says Tayoubi.

Because they didn't want to rely on just one method, they confirmed the find using two other muon-detection techniques.

"The good news is the void is there. Now we are sure that there is a void. We know that this void is big," says Tayoubi. "I don't know what it could be. I think it's now time for Egyptologists and specialists in ancient Egypt architecture to collaborate with us, to provide us with some hypotheses."

Which of the following paragraphs provides the most objective summary of the excerpt?

  1. The Great Pyramid of Giza contains rooms known as the King's Chamber, the Queen's Chamber, and the Grand Gallery. Mehdi Tayoubi and his team used muon technology to discover another room near the Queen's chamber. Tayoubi hopes to collaborate with Egyptologists and other specialists to discover more about the room.
  2. Mehdi Tayoubi and his team were using muon technology to investigate the Great Pyramid of Giza when they found a large, empty space inside. Muons are small particles like electrons. Tayoubi says it is strange that such small particles can help scientists study such huge structures.
  3. Muons are small particles created when cosmic rays from deep space hit atoms in the upper atmosphere and rain down to Earth. As they pass through materials, muons lose energy, slow down, and decay. Muon detectors help scientists like Mehdi Tayoubi learn where dense stone ends and empty space begins in Egyptian pyramids.
  4. While using muon technology in the Great Pyramid of Giza, Mehdi Tayoubi and his team of scientists discovered a previously unknown empty space inside the pyramid. Muon technology, which detects density, is harmless to the structures it is used to study. Further testing proved the existence of this newly found space within the pyramid.
Answer
Correct Response: D.

Correct Response: D.

Rhetoric and Composition

Objective 0008
Apply knowledge of principles of rhetoric and characteristics of effective writing and writing instruction.

6. Read the passage below; then answer the question that follows.

In the interest of fiscal responsibility, our town must reduce costs and services as much as possible. Some town residents say that one service that could be reduced, or even eliminated, is our public library. Others argue that our library is the heart and soul of our community. In addition to lending books, the library is our biggest source of information about our town. As keeper of our town's history, the public library is our living memory.

Which of the following sentences from the passage most clearly exemplifies the use of pathos as a rhetorical strategy?

  1. Some town residents say that one service that could be reduced, or even eliminated, is our public library.
  2. Others argue that our library is the heart and soul of our community.
  3. In addition to lending books, the library is our biggest source of information about our town.
  4. As keeper of our town's history, the public library is our living memory.
Answer
Correct Response: D.

Correct Response: D.

Objective 0009
Apply knowledge of techniques for writing arguments.

7. A student drafts the thesis statement below for an argumentative essay.

High school graduates benefit from taking a gap year before they begin their postsecondary education.

Which of the following details would provide the strongest support for the thesis statement?

  1. In a survey, 92 percent of students who decided to take a gap year cited the desire for life experience and personal growth as a key deciding factor.
  2. A university study found that students who deferred college enrollment performed better academically in college than students who did not defer enrollment.
  3. About 90 percent of students who decide to take a gap year after high school go on to attend college within 12 months after their gap year has ended.
  4. Burnout caused by pressure to excel academically is one of the most compelling reasons for high school graduates to take time off before they start college.
Answer
Correct Response: B.

Correct Response: B.

Objective 0010
Apply knowledge of techniques for writing informative/explanatory texts.

8. A student is developing an informative essay on New England brown bread. Which of the following paragraphs most effectively uses figurative language to convey a vivid image of the bread?

  1. Some refer to brown bread as Boston brown bread, but nineteenth-century cookbooks from across New England contain recipes for it. The bread, though first notable for its use of flours, has gained a reputation for its manner of baking: the batter is poured into an empty can and steamed over a fire.
  2. The foods native to a region give cooks (and eaters) a chance to understand something about that region's history and values. In the nineteenth century, when visitors from across America came to sites of colonial importance, they were introduced to regional foods such as New England brown bread.
  3. Recipes vary as recipes do, but most New England brown breads use a rich cornucopia of grains: cornmeal, rye flour, wheat. They do not contain yeast; baking soda provides the leavening. Their color comes from molasses, which makes the baked loaf as deeply hued as roasted chestnuts or dark chocolate.
  4. Finding coffee in cans these days is harder than it once was, but if you'd like to try baking New England brown bread, any 14-ounce can will work. Be sure to remove the label and grease the can well. A little research reveals that cans can be greased with butter, oil, or even lard. Some recipes say to double-grease the can.
Answer
Correct Response: C.

Correct Response: C.

Objective 0011
Apply knowledge of techniques for conducting academic research to build and present knowledge.

9. A high school student is developing a presentation on volatility in the valuation of cryptocurrencies for an audience of peers who have limited knowledge of the topic. Which of the following types of digital media, if embedded in the presentation, would best promote audience comprehension of the topic?

  1. a news segment on investors' reactions to fluctuations in a particular cryptocurrency's valuation
  2. a slideshow of photographs of world events that have affected the valuation of cryptocurrencies
  3. a video clip that traces and compares the valuation of several cryptocurrencies over the past decade
  4. a podcast of several cryptocurrency experts debating its investment value
Answer
Correct Response: C.

Correct Response: C.

Objective 0012
Apply knowledge of techniques for writing narratives.

10. Read the paragraph below from the first draft of a narrative essay; then answer the question that follows.

I spent the summer with my brother Sterling, who was training to be a kayaking guide. He had long arms and feet that looked like oars when he wore his usual utilitarian sandals, the sort with lug soles and a ________. He had pinned maps to every available wall in the apartment, even in the kitchen, and when he ate his breakfast (the same breakfast at the same time, ________) of oatmeal and maple syrup and precisely one–third of a cup of frozen wild Maine blueberries, his eyes were tracing the fluvial paths. He had the kind of devotion to his own curiosity that could rope in anyone, even if—like me—they believed they had no interest in the definition of confluence.

Which of the following sets of phrases, if inserted in order in the blanks, would most effectively convey a vivid picture of Sterling?

  1. solid overall construction / without fail
  2. bunch of straps and cinchers / every day
  3. reputation for comfort / when possible
  4. lifetime warranty / no matter my jibing
Answer
Correct Response: A.

Correct Response: A.

Acknowledgments

John Cariani's Almost Maine. New York: Dramatists Play Service. 2007. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Paula Gunn Allen, "Hoop Dancer" from Life is a Fatal Disease: Collected Poems 1962- 1995. Copyright © 1997 by Paula Gunn Allen. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of West End Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, westendpress.org.://www.westendpress.org

309-word excerpt from Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night. (1935). New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted with permission. No amendment may be made to the text without permission.

Excerpt(s) from MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN: A NOVEL by Salman Rushdie, 1981, 2006 by Salman Rushdie. Used by permission of Random House Trade Paperbacks, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

©2017 National Public Radio, Inc. News report titled "Scientists Say They've Found Hidden Space In Great Pyramid Of Giza" by Nell Greenfieldboyce was originally published on npr.org on November 2, 2017, and is used with the permission of NPR. Any unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.