u2_unit_2_assprac_se _1 - New Beginnings Family Academy

Assessment Practice
DIRECTIONS Read the selections and answer the questions that follow.
from
assess
Taking this practice test
will help you assess your
knowledge of these skills
and determine your
readiness for the Unit Test.
1
review
After you take the practice
test, your teacher can help
you identify any standards
you need to review.
2
3
RL 1 Cite textual evidence to
support inferences drawn from
the text. RL 3 Analyze how
lines of dialogue reveal aspects
of a character. RL 6 Analyze
how differences in the points of
view of the characters and the
audience or reader create effects.
L 1c Form and use verbs in
the indicative, imperative,
interrogative, conditional, and
subjunctive mood. L 4a Use
context as a clue to the meaning
of a word. L 4b Use common,
grade-appropriate affixes as
clues to the meaning of a word.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Practice
Test
Take it at thinkcentral.com.
12
13
A Year Down Yonder
by Richard Peck
As the train pulled out behind me, there came Grandma up the platform
steps. My goodness, she was a big woman. I’d forgotten. And taller still with
her spidery old umbrella held up to keep off the sun of high noon. A fan of
white hair escaped the big bun on the back of her head. She drew nearer till
she blotted out the day.
You couldn’t call her a welcoming woman, and there wasn’t a hug in her.
She didn’t put out her arms, so I had nothing to run into.
Nobody had told Grandma that skirts were shorter this year. Her skirttails
brushed her shoes. I recognized the dress. It was the one she put on in hot
weather to walk uptown in. Though I was two years older, two years taller than
last time, she wasn’t one for personal comments. The picnic hamper quivered,
and she noticed. “What’s in there?”
“Bootsie,” I said. “My cat.”
“Hoo-boy,” Grandma said. “Another mouth to feed.” Her lips pleated.
“And what’s that thing?” She nodded to my other hand.
“My radio.” But it was more than a radio to me. It was my last touch
with the world.
“That’s all we need.” Grandma looked skyward. “More noise.”
She aimed one of her chins down the platform. “That yours?” She meant
the trunk. It was the footlocker Dad had brought home from the Great War.
“Leave it,” she said. “They’ll bring it to the house.” She turned and trudged
away, and I was supposed to follow. I walked away from my trunk, wondering
if I’d ever see it again. It wouldn’t have lasted long on the platform in Chicago.
Hot tongs wouldn’t have separated me from Bootsie and my radio.
The recession of thirty-seven had hit Grandma’s town harder than it had
hit Chicago. Grass grew in the main street. Only a face or two showed in
the window of The Coffee Pot Café. Moore’s Store was hurting for trade.
Weidenbach’s bank looked to be just barely in business.
On the other side of the weedy road, Grandma turned the wrong way, away
from her house. Two old slab-sided dogs slept on the sidewalk. Bootsie knew
because she was having a conniption in the hamper. And my radio was getting
heavier. I caught up with Grandma.
“Where are we going?”
“Going?” she said, the picture of surprise. “Why, to school. You’ve already
missed pretty nearly two weeks.”
KEYWORD: HML8N-312
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Luke Baldwin’s Vow by Morley Callaghan
That summer when twelve-year-old Luke Baldwin came to live with his
Uncle Henry in the house on the stream by the sawmill, he did not forget that
he had promised his dying father he would try to learn things from his uncle;
so he used to watch him very carefully.
Uncle Henry, who was the manager of the sawmill, was a big, burly man
weighing more than two hundred and thirty pounds, and he had a roughskinned, brick-colored face. He looked like a powerful man, but his health was
not good. He had aches and pains in his back and shoulders which puzzled the
doctor. The first thing Luke learned about Uncle Henry was that everybody
had great respect for him. The four men he employed in the sawmill were
always polite and attentive when he spoke to them. His wife, Luke’s Aunt
Helen, a kindly, plump, straightforward woman, never argued with him.
“You should try and be like your Uncle Henry,” she would say to Luke. “He’s
so wonderfully practical. He takes care of everything in a sensible, easy way.”
Luke used to trail around the sawmill after Uncle Henry, not only because
he liked the fresh, clean smell of the newly cut wood and the big piles of
sawdust, but because he was impressed by his uncle’s precise, firm tone when
he spoke to the men.
Sometimes Uncle Henry would stop and explain to Luke something about
a piece of timber. “Always try and learn the essential facts, son,” he would say.
“If you’ve got the facts, you know what’s useful and what isn’t useful, and no
one can fool you.”
He showed Luke that nothing of value was ever wasted around the mill.
Luke used to listen, and wonder if there was another man in the world who
knew so well what was needed and what ought to be thrown away. Uncle
Henry had known at once that Luke needed a bicycle to ride to his school,
which was two miles away in town, and he bought him a good one. He knew
that Luke needed good, serviceable clothes. He also knew exactly how much
Aunt Helen needed to run the house, the price of everything, and how much
a woman should be paid for doing the family washing. In the evenings Luke
used to sit in the living room watching his uncle making notations in a black
notebook which he always carried in his vest pocket, and he knew that he
was assessing the value of the smallest transaction that had taken place during
the day.
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assessment practice
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Reading Comprehension
Use “A Year Down Yonder” to answer
questions 1–6.
1. You can tell that this story is told from
the first person point of view because the
narrator —
A. is a minor character in the story who
reveals some information
B. is an outside observer rather than a
character in the story
C. reveals the grandmother’s and the girl’s
thoughts
D. uses the pronouns I and me to refer to
herself
2. The author brings Grandma’s character to life
mainly by revealing —
A. the townspeople’s opinions of Grandma
B. Grandma’s own thoughts about her
granddaughter
C. the granddaughter’s reactions to Grandma
D. a detailed description of Grandma’s life
3. The narrator makes you aware that Grandma
is not a sentimental person when she says —
A. My goodness, she was a big woman.
B. She drew nearer till she blotted out the day.
C. You couldn’t call her a welcoming woman,
and there wasn’t a hug in her.
D. She aimed one of her chins down the
platform.
4. Grandma can best be described as —
A. easygoing
B. generous
C. no-nonsense
D. self-important
5. Which character trait do the narrator and
her grandmother seem to share?
A. Determination
B. Idealism
C. Lightheartedness
D. Talkativeness
6. The narrator brings her radio with her
because she —
A. is afraid that her radio will be taken
B. thinks that people in Grandma’s town
don’t have radios
C. does not want to make friends in
Grandma’s town
D. thinks she will be in an isolated place
Use “Luke Baldwin’s Vow” to answer
questions 7–12.
7. You can tell this excerpt is told from a thirdperson limited point of view because the
narrator —
A. is a main character in the story
B. tells about the thoughts and feelings
of all of the characters
C. is outside the story and tells what one
character sees, thinks, and feels
D. describes his or her own thoughts
8. The story’s point of view helps you
understand —
A. the importance of sawmills
B. what Aunt Helen thinks about her
husband
C. that nothing of value should be wasted
D. what Luke learns from his uncle
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Assessment Practice
9. Luke watches his uncle carefully because —
A. he is new to the family and wants to make
a good impression
B. he promised his father he would try to
learn things from his uncle
C. Uncle Henry knows more about what is
needed than anyone else Luke has met
D. the family wants Luke to succeed as
a worker at the sawmill
10. Which method of characterization is used
in paragraph 2 to describe Uncle Henry?
A. A description of his speech patterns
B. Another character’s opinion of him
C. Uncle Henry’s own thoughts about life
D. The author’s direct comments about him
11. Uncle Henry’s words and actions in paragraph
4 show him to be a —
A. patient teacher
B. strict boss
C. fun-loving relative
D. dishonest businessman
12. From the description of Uncle Henry in this
excerpt, you can infer he is —
A. unconcerned about the feelings of others
B. very shy and forgetful about business
dealings
C. careful and smart in his work and personal
business
D. confident that he has good health and will
live a long time
Use both selections to answer question 13.
13. The granddaughter and Luke can both be
described as —
A. cheerful
B. confused
C. observant
D. spoiled
SHORT CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE
Write two or three sentences to answer each
question.
14. Reread paragraph 3 in the excerpt from A Year
Down Yonder. What can you infer about the
grandmother from this description?
15. Reread paragraph 3 in the excerpt from “Luke
Baldwin’s Vow.” What motivates Luke to
follow Uncle Henry around the sawmill?
Write a paragraph to answer this question.
16. Describe two ways in which Peck brings
Grandma’s character to life and Callaghan
brings Uncle Henry’s character to life. Give
examples from the excerpts to support your
answer.
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Vocabulary
Use context clues and your knowledge of
multiple-meaning words to answer the
following questions.
1. Which meaning of the word trail is used
in paragraph 3 of “Luke Baldwin’s Vow”?
“Luke used to trail around the sawmill after
Uncle Henry. . . .”
A. Stream along
C. Follow behind
B. Drag heavily
D. Track closely
2. Which meaning of the word platform is
used in paragraph 1 of A Year Down Yonder?
“. . . there came Grandma up the platform
steps.”
A. A statement of principles
B. A place for discussion
C. A device for drilling
D. A raised surface
3. Which meaning of the word trunk is used
in paragraph 9 of A Year Down Yonder?
“I walked away from my trunk, wondering
if I would ever see it again.”
A. A storage compartment
B. A piece of luggage
C. A tree stem
D. The center of the body
4. Which meaning of the word trade is used
in paragraph 10 of A Year Down Yonder?
“Moore’s Store was hurting for trade.”
A. The customers of a business
B. An exchange of one thing for another
C. An occupation that requires skilled
training
D. The people who work in a certain kind of
business
Use context clues and your knowledge of
prefixes to answer the following questions.
5. One meaning of the prefix re- is “again.”
What does the word recognize mean in
paragraph 3 of A Year Down Yonder?
“I recognized the dress.”
A. Learned from someone else
B. Had forgotten once more
C. Could not remember
D. Knew from before
6. One meaning of the prefix im- is “on.”
What does the word imposition mean in
this sentence about A Year Down Yonder?
She felt she was an imposition on her
Grandmother.
A. A relief
B. A great joy
C. A burden
D. A surprise
7. One meaning of the prefix trans- is “transfer.”
What does the word transaction mean as used
in paragraph 5 of “Luke Baldwin’s Vow”?
“. . . he knew that he was assessing the value
of the smallest transaction that had taken
place during the day.”
A. A sudden burst of activity
B. A business agreement or exchange
C. An immigration to a new land
D. The distribution of the business profits
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Assessment Practice
Revising and Editing
DIRECTIONS Read this passage and answer the questions that follow.
(1) On October 29, 1929, the stock market will crash, sending the United States
into an economic depression. (2) Because it was the most devastating depression
ever to afflict the country, it would be called the Great Depression. (3) Herbert
Hoover, the president at the time, will refuse to provide direct federal relief to the
poor. (4) Americans are furious about Hoover’s lack of action, and in 1932, the
country elected Franklin D. Roosevelt as the new president. (5) Roosevelt was more
willing than Hoover to provide aid. (6) He supplied immediate relief to the poor and
aid to farms and businesses. (7) Although a lot of people remained unemployed, their
circumstances could be better than they had been before.
1. What change, if any, should be made in
sentence 1?
A. Change will crash to is crashing
B. Change will crash to crashed
C. Change will crash to will be crashing
D. Make no change
4. What change, if any, should be made in
sentence 4?
A. Change are to will be
B. Change are to were
C. Change are to have been
D. Make no change
2. What change, if any, should be made in
sentence 2?
A. Change Because it was to If it were
B. Change would be to was
C. Change would be to were
D. Make no change
5. What change, if any, should be made in
sentence 6?
A. Change supplied to supplies
B. Change immediate relief to most
immediate relief
C. Add a comma after farms
D. Make no change
3. What change, if any, should be made in
sentence 3?
A. Change will refuse to refused
B. Change will refuse to will be refusing
C. Change will refuse to is refusing
D. Make no change
6. What change, if any, should be made in
sentence 7?
A. Change remained to remains
B. Change could to should
C. Change could be to were
D. Make no change
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