English Department First Semester Date: Name: Day : Quiz1 Total mark: (36) Grade: 10 th Grade SAT Circle the letter of the best answer below (26 marks) 1. Read this passage from Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket. Then, reread it to clarify your understanding of Tom s intention. Choose the sentence that best describes what he is planning to do. His elbow protruding over Lexington Avenue far below, the fingers of his other hand pressed down bloodlessly tight against the narrow stripping, he waited, feeling the sick tenseness and terrible excitement building. It grew and swelled toward the moment of action, his nerves tautening. He thought of Clare just a wordless, yearning thought and then drew his arm back just a bit more, fist so tight his fingers pained him, and knowing he was going to do it A. Balancing carefully, he is preparing to slam his fist into the window. B. Realizing his situation is hopeless, he is preparing to jump. C. He is planning to wave to a pedestrian on Lexington Avenue. D. He is afraid he might slip, so he is tightening his grip on the stripping. 2. What is the best way to clarify a detail when reading a passage? A. Stop reading and consult a dictionary. B. Skip to the end of the passage to see if the detail is explained there. C. Summarize the entire passage in your own words. D. Reread the sentence or paragraph in which the detail occurs. 1
3. Which of the following events happened first in Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket? A. He counted customers passing by displays in the grocery store. B. He watched his wife get ready to go out alone. C. Tom contemplated what the police would find in his pockets. D. He sat down to write a memo about store displays. 4. In Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket, Tom loses the deftness in his hands, which means he loses A. all movement in his hands. B. all feeling in his hands. C. all the warmth in his hands. D. the ability to move his hands skillfully. 5. In Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket, a moment of high or intense suspense occurs when A. Tom looks down and panics. B. Tom stares through the window into his living room. C. Tom sees the yellow paper fly out the window a second time. D. Clare leaves. 6. Identify the concrete nouns in the following sentence. Then, with utmost delicacy, with a focused concentration of all his senses, he increased even further the strain on his fingertips hooked to these slim edgings of wood. A. delicacy, senses, and fingertips B. concentration, strain, and wood C. fingertips, edgings, and wood D. senses, fingertips, and wood 2
7. Which of the following contributes the most to the suspense in Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket? A. descriptions of the pain Tom experiences in his fingers and knees B. waiting to see if anyone responds to the coins Tom dropped C. the actions of the man in the window across the street D. Tom s thoughts about falling 8. Which event in Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket causes Tom to panic? A. He sees the street below him. B. He thinks about the contents of his pockets. C. Tom sees a man in an apartment across the street. D. The paper flies out the window. 9. If it is not clear why an author has presented certain information, you should A. e-mail the author and request an explanation. B. reread the sentence or paragraph until the reason becomes clear. C. read ahead to see if the information takes on significance later. D. use an encyclopedia to research the information. 10. What do the following lines from Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket reveal about Tom? He kissed her then and, for an instant, holding her close, smelling the perfume she had used, he was tempted to go with her; it was not actually true that he had to work tonight, though he very much wanted to. A. He constantly lies to his wife. B. He isn t really interested in the movie she wants to see. C. He is fond of his wife but has given work a higher priority. D. He likes to be with his wife only when she wears perfume. 3
11. Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket is mostly about A. a man who risks his life to save his job. B. a man whose ambitions nearly kill him. C. a man and woman whose marriage is falling apart. D. the contents of Tom Benecke s pockets. 12.At the beginning of Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket, what seems to be the most important thing in Tom Benecke s life? A. his long-term professional goals B. going to the movies with his wife C. getting paid at the end of the week D. his research on past shopping trends 13.In Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket, Tom has a grimace on his face while he is out on the ledge because A. he misses Clare. B. he is cold. C. he is stricken with fear. D. he is thinking about his promotion. 14.Why is the following passage from Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket suspenseful? For a single moment he knelt, knee bones against stone on the very edge of the ledge, body swaying and touching nowhere else, fighting for balance. Then he lost it, his shoulders plunging backward, and he flung his arms forward, his hands smashing against the window casing on either side; and his body moving backward his fingers clutched the narrow wood stripping of the upper pane. A. Tom finally falls from the ledge. B. The author doesn t tell what happens. C. It makes readers think Tom is going to fall. D. Tom is in a dangerous spot. 4
15.In Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket, to Tom, the contents of his pockets represent A. his opportunities for advancement. B. his love for his wife. C. all of his personal possessions. D. the accomplishments of his life. 16.On the ledge, Tom flung his arms forward, his hands smashing against the window casing on either side; and his body moving backward his fingers clutched the narrow wood stripping of the upper pane. The phrase his body moving backward has the effect of A. slowing the reader down. B. increasing the suspense. C. convincing the reader that Tom is falling. D. interrupting the suspense. 17.Choose the sentence that contains an abstract noun. A. The open window dropped shudderingly in its frame. B. The realization struck him that he might have to wait for Clare to return. C. Dropping his palms to the sill, he stared into his living room. D. The yellow paper fluttered along the ledge. 18.Often a seemingly minor detail mentioned early in a short story becomes very important later. Which of the following is a good example of such a detail in Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket? A. It is hot in the apartment. B. Clare goes out for the evening. C. Tom puts on his coat to go out. D. The window is hard to open. 5
19.In Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket, Tom struggles most with his. A. fear B. neighbors C. job D. wife 20.In Contents of the Dead Man s Pocket, Tom moves almost imperceptibly along the ledge. Imperceptibly means he is moving A. backwards. B. hand over hand. C. so slowly that the movement can hardly be seen. D. with a shuffling motion. 21. Why does Tom want to spend the evening working? A. His boss has asked him to do so. B. He is eager to finish his proposal. C. He wants to be paid for overtime work. D. He doesn t care to see the movie his wife wants to see. 22. Clare s response to Tom s desire to stay home is one of A. relief. B. regret. C. anger. D. suspicion. 22. When Tom first goes out on the ledge, he sees his action as mainly A. heroic. B. brave. C. foolish. D. practical. 23. When Tom reaches the paper and bends to retrieve it, he suddenly realizes A. that his life is truly at risk. B. that his life is worth living. C. why he has done what he has done. D. what a good story the effort will make. 6
24. Walking back to the window is more difficult than walking away from it Mainly because of the change of A. the temperature. B. the wind direction. C. Tom s attitude. D. Tom s desire to retrieve the paper. 25.When Tom imagines the report of the contents of the dead man s Pockets, he realizes that A. he doesn t deserve to go on living. B. he is no different from anyone else. C. his wife will not be well provided for. D. his priorities in life have been foolish. 26. Tom decides to take the risk involved in trying to break the window because A. he is too terrified to think clearly. B. he knows he will fall unless he can get inside. C. he dreads the humiliation of being found on the ledge. D. he fears that the cigarette he left burning may start a fire. Using Vocabulary For each of the following words, write the letter of the word that means the OPPOSITE. (10 marks) 1. Taut 2. Deftness 3. Unimpeded 4. improvised 5. convoluted a. straight b. loose c. rehearsed d. hindered e. clumsiness 7