Word Choice Revew

WORD CHOICE REVEW

Excerpt from An Unlikely Heroine 1Teresa gasped and sputtered as she ran a final lap around the gym. Most of the other players had already completed the half-mile run; however, Teresa was only now crossing the finish line. The other players had already moved onto ball dribbling and passing drills. Teresa’s older sister, Alisa, tossed the ball adeptly to the other players and expertly shot basket after basket.

2Because Alisa was the team captain, she was in charge of the practice. Looking over to her sister, Alisa waved for Teresa to come join the team. Holding her forehead in her hands, Teresa feigned a headache. Complaining about the pain, Teresa went to the locker room to take a shower.

3Teresa had planned to quit the basketball team for three weeks. She liked spending time with sister, but she just felt like she wasn’t cut out for basketball’s rapid pace. Teresa felt similar to a fish out of water. After they got home from school, Teresa knocked at her sister’s door. Slightly opening the door, she saw her sister shooting a miniature basketball into a plastic hoop on the wall.

4“You caught me,” laughed Alisa. “I just can’t stop playing—it’s my obsession.”

5Alisa hurled the ball to Teresa who tossed the ball, missing the net. Teresa sat down somberly with a serious face and sad eyes. She told her older sister how she felt about the basketball team. Teresa admitted that she would like to do other things with her time and that she could never see herself enjoying the game. Frowning, Alisa asked Teresa to stay on the team for the rest of the season—only two weeks remained. With some hesitation, Teresa agreed to stick it out for the rest of season.

1. What word choice would BEST replace the word obsession in paragraph 4? A) fault. B) reason. C) passion. D) problem.

2. What is the BEST denotation meaning of the word feigned in paragraph 2? A) pretended B) sickness C) practiced D) jogged

3. What BEST describes the mood of paragraph 3? A) optimistic B) joyful C) melancholy D) threatening

4. In paragraph 3, the author used figurative language to A) to convey the story’s theme of marine life B) to show a character’s love of swimming C) to illustrate how a character felt out of place D) to describe the water setting of the story WORD CHOICE REVEW

5. In paragraph 5, the author used figurative language to A) to show how Teresa kept going. B) to show how Teresa remained bored. C) to show how Teresa stopped playing. D) to show how Teresa started practicing.

Excerpt from Ethan Frome 1There was something bleak and unapproachable in his face, and he was so stiffened and grizzled that I took him for an old man and was surprised to hear that he was not more than fifty-two. I had this from Harmon Gow, who had driven the stage from Bettsbridge to Starkfield in pre-trolley days and knew the chronicle of all the families on his line.

5‘Wust kind,’ my informant assented. ‘More’n enough to kill most men. But the Fromes are tough. Ethan’ll likely touch a hundred.’

6‘Good God!’ I exclaimed. At the moment Ethan Frome, after climbing to his seat, had leaned over to assure himself of the security of a wooden box—also with a druggist’s label on it—which he had placed in the back of the buggy, and I saw his face as it probably looked when he thought himself alone. ‘That man touch a hundred? He looks as if he was dead and in hell now!’

6. What is the connotation of the phrase "looks as if he was dead and in hell now?" in paragraph 6? A) He is an apparition or a ghost. B) He will go to hell from his many sins. C) He looks horrendous from living a hard life. D) He looks like he'll be a handsome 100-year old.