English 10-Practice Test 2

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Multiple Choice

Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

Questions 1–6: Read each sentence and look at the underlined part. It may contain a mistake in grammar, choice of words, sentence construction, or punctuation. Choose the best way to write the underlined part of the sentence. If you think the original phrasing is best, choose answer d, “Best as it is.”

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, which was born in Florida, Missouri, drew on his boyhood experiences along the Mississippi for many of his stories.

a.	that was	c.	who was
b.	whom was	d.	Best as it is

Clemens adopted the name “Mark Twain” because it’s the words that riverboat men used for a depth of “two fathoms” of water.

a.	it was	c.	they were
b.	it were	d.	Best as it is

Mark Twain used his brief experience as a Confederate militiaman about one of his earliest short stories, The Private History of a Campaign That Failed.

a.	in	c.	into
b.	around	d.	Best as it is

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn deal seriously with issues of race, slavery, and the abuse of children.

a.	dealing	c.	dealed
b.	deals	d.	Best as it is

Mark Twain once remarked that he never let schooling get in the way of his education.

a.	letting	c.	lets
b.	letted	d.	Best as it is

Despite his huge success, Mark Twain was never wisely with money or business matters and often found himself in financial trouble.

a.	wiser	c.	wiseliest
b.	wise	d.	Best as it is

Questions 7–8: Read each question and choose the best answer.

What is the best way to combine these two sentences?

Samuel Clemens used several pen names.

Samuel Clemens sometimes wrote under the name “Sieur Louis de Conte.”

a.	Samuel Clemens used several pen names, he sometimes wrote under the name “Sieur Louis de Conte.”
b.	Samuel Clemens used several pen names, including the name “Sieur Louis de Conte.”
c.	Samuel Clemens used several pen names, and Clemens sometimes wrote under the name “Sieur Louis de Conte.”
d.	“Sieur Louis de Conte” was among the pen names Samuel Clemens used, and he used several.

Which is the best way to improve this sentence to make it more interesting?

Mark Twain listened to other Americans speak.

a.	Mark Twain, the author, was also a person who listened to other Americans speak.
b.	Mark Twain often listened to other Americans, who tended to speak a lot.
c.	Mark Twain, who listened to other Americans speak, was an excellent speaker, listener, and writer.
d.	Mark Twain listened carefully to the way his fellow Americans spoke, and he used that knowledge to write great dialogue.

Questions 9–14 refer to the following passage.

(1) In 1963, William Mann, the music critic of The Times newspaper of London, wrote that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were “the greatest songwriters since Schubert.” (2) His remarks caused an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic. (3) Lovers

of classical music wrote letters to the paper demanding Mann’s dismissal.

(4) Franz Schubert was born in 1797 in Vienna and died there thirty-one years later. (5) He composed nearly one thousand songs. (6) Some of the songs weren’t all that terrific. (7) Schubert’s range was enormous, from tender love songs to raucous party rousers, and from light comedy to the darkest tragedy. (8) He was much-loved

during his lifetime and is now considered one of the greatest composers who ever lived.

(9) By comparison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote over two hundred songs for the Beatles. (10) Their emotional range went from the simple exuberance of “She Loves You” to the lyrical beauty of “The Long and Winding Road,” and from the gentle fun of “When I’m Sixty-Four” to the brooding menace of “A Day in the Life.” (11) During the brief time the Beatles were together, they were idolized by millions of fans.

(12) Nowadays, not many people would argue with Mann’s judgment. (13) In all probability, Schubert would not argue either—and for the record, Paul McCartney is a great fan of Schubert!

Which is the best sentence to insert before sentence 1 to make the introductory paragraph more appealing to readers?

a.	Were the Beatles as great as Franz Schubert?
b.	It is difficult to say who the best this or that was, in almost any category.
c.	The Beatles were so much better than Schubert!
d.	Comparisons are always hard to make, especially between artists of different eras.

10.

Which detail sentence could best be added after sentence 11?

a.	In the years since “Beatlemania,” Lennon and McCartney’s reputations as songwriters have grown.
b.	We now recognize that the music of the Beatles is only a small part of our culture.
c.	Paul McCartney was given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997, making him Sir Paul McCartney.
d.	John Lennon was murdered in New York City in 1980, right in front of his apartment building.

11.

Which word or phrase should be added to the beginning of sentence 5 to link it with sentence 4?

a.	Nevertehless,	c.	In his short lifetime,
b.	On the other hand,	d.	However,

12.

Which is the best sentence to insert before sentence 4 to introduce the ideas in the second paragraph?

a.	Vienna was the capital of Austria at the time.
b.	To understand the fuss, we should first learn something about history.
c.	But who was William Mann, really, and why did he say that?
d.	Who was Schubert, and why did Mann’s remark cause such a fuss?

13.

Which sentence is inappropriate and should be removed from this passage?

a.	His remarks caused an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic.
b.	Franz Schubert was born in 1797 in Vienna and died there thirty-one years later.
c.	Some of the songs weren’t all that terrific.
d.	Nowadays, not many people would argue with Mann’s judgment.

14.

What pattern of organization did the writer use in this passage?

a.	chronlogical order	c.	comparison and contrast
b.	classification	d.	order of location

Questions 15–20: A student wrote this passage. It may need some changes or corrections. Read the passage. Then choose the best answer to each question.

(1) Oscar Wilde, the nineteenth-century writer, once said that England and the United States were “two nations, divided by a common language.” (2) Wilde died in Paris in 1900 after a short, tragic life. (3) Wilde’s remark is a paradox: how can two nations be divided by something they share? (4) He was wittily making the point that though English and American people both speak English, the English they speak is not quite the same. (5) Some of the variations are unimportant, but some reveal deep historical and cultural differences between the two nations.

(6) Many of us know that in Britain, people put air in their “tyres,” rather than their tires. (7) They look under their cars’ “bonnets” to inspect the engine, not under their hoods (8) They store things in the “boot” and not in the trunk. (9) Wear “trousers,”

not pants, and an Englishman’s “vest” is his undershirt.

(10) Other differences run deeper. (11) Americans often refer to their neighbors across the Atlantic as “British.” (12) The people who inhabit the British Isles rarely refer to themselves in this way. (13) The people of Scotland call themselves “Scots,” or “Scottish” (never “Scotch”). (14) The English, the Welsh, and the Northern Irish follow the same principle—and it is important to remember that the people of the Republic of Ireland are not British at all. (15) When the four countries are united as a nation, in the

Olympics, for instance, then they call themselves British—but never “Brits.”

15.

What kind of passage is this?

a.	persuasive	c.	personal narrative
b.	expository	d.	response to literature

16.

Which sentence is not relevant and should be removed from the passage?

a.	sentence 2	c.	sentence 9
b.	sentence 4	d.	sentence 14

17.

Which sentence could best be inserted after sentence 9?

a.	We fly in airplanes, while they fly in “aeroplanes.”
b.	None of these differences, though, should cause serious misunderstandings.
c.	After all, the people now called Americans were British colonists at one time.
d.	Unfortunately, the people in England drive on the wrong side of the road.

18.

Which would be the best word or phrase to insert at the beginning of sentence 10 to link it to sentence 9?

a.	Nonetheless,	c.	However,
b.	On the contrary,	d.	To be sure,

19.

Which of these is a sentence fragment that should be rewritten or combined with another sentence?

a.	sentence 6	c.	sentence 8
b.	sentence 7	d.	sentence 9

20.

What concluding sentence could best be added after sentence 15?

a.	Of course, their preferences don’t really matter.
b.	Do Americans call themselves “Yanks”?
c.	They regard the word “Brit” as rude foreign slang.
d.	Some words used by English speakers are simply not acceptable to them.