Daily Dose of EOC

February 15

2012-02-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

Read the following passage and correct the problem:

(1) Its a shame that their team has lost again. (2) That is what they get for being Duke fans.

What change should be made to sentence 1 to make it correct? a. change Its to It's b. change their to they're c. change their to there d. change has lost to had lost

Scroll down for the answer:

____________________________________

a. is correct since "Its" should be changed to make it mean "It is" which would be the homophone "It's"

d. is incorrect since "had" changes the verb to past tense. All other verbs are in present tense. Keep verb tenses the same - D is the best wrong answer

b. and c. are incorrect because "their" is being used as a possessive (the team belongs to them - in a way). "Their" is the correct possessive homophone.

February 13

2012-02-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

Read the passage:

A old man was sitting in the front row at a town meeting, heckling the mayor as he delivered a long speech. Finally the mayor could stand it no longer, so he pointed to the heckler and said, "will that gentleman please stand up and tell the audience what he has ever done for the good of the city."

"Well Mr. Mayor," the man said in a firm voice. "I voted against you in the last election."

Which word best describes the tone of the mayor?

a. whimsical
b. indignant
c. amused
d. scathing

Scroll down for the answer.

______________________
To answer a tone question, it is best to figure out what you think the tone (opinion of the speaker) is and then find a word that matches it. You may not know what the words mean - don't despair. Figure out which words are NOT the right answer and choose from what is left.

The mayor is certainly upset and a tad bit angry at his interruption, so we need a tone word that reflects this.

a. is incorrect. Whimsical means happy and care-free.
b. is correct. Indignant means someone who is angry and feels that they are not being treated fairly.
c. is incorrect. Amused means the speaker finds something funny about the situation.
d. is incorrect. This is the best wrong answer since scathing does mean the person is angry; however, scathing means that the speaker is angry and trying to hurt the other person with his/her remarks.

Story taken from: http://thejokes.co.uk/american-humor.php
~

February 10

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Look at the advertisement below:

What is the most likely reason that the company chose to name their cleaning product Ajax?

a. because words that begin with "A" come first alphabetically
b. The last name of the creator is "Ajax"
c. Their cleaner is strong, just like the Greek mythology hero Ajax
d. It is just a word that someone made up that sounded like a good cleaner name

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________
a. is incorrect. While it does come first alphabetically, since products are not normally listed in alphabetical order, it does not help their product placement
b. is incorrect.
c. is correct. Mythology allusions are very popular in product names. The allusion brings the ideas associated with the alluded object to the product.
d. is incorrect. The fact that the question was asked leads us to think that there is an important reason.

February 6

2012-02-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Read the following passage from www.wral.com:

Lee County estimates tornado damage at $57 million

SANFORD, N.C. — Lee County officials say damage to homes and businesses from the tornado earlier this month total at least $57 million.
Emergency Management Director Shane Seagroves presented the damage totals to county commissioners Monday.
Commissioner Jim Womack says the damage could "easily" exceed $100 million, counting damaged and destroyed vehicles and property in homes and businesses.
Two people died in the storm in Lee County.
Officials say at least 457 structures were damaged, including 99 homes and 17 businesses that were destroyed.

The tone of this passage is:

a. informational
b. jaded
c. sensationalistic
d. biased

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________
a. is correct. The passage only seeks to inform the readers about the tornado damage.
b. is incorrect. Jaded means that you are no longer moved by things that once got a reaction from you.
c. is incorrect. WRAL is not trying to make the news story seem bigger than it is.
d. is incorrect. There seems to be no slant in the story to make you take one side over another.

~

February 3

2012-02-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

Read the passage:

In the Spider-Man comics Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were married. This was later undone since many writers thought Peter Parker should have bad luck and being married to a super model was not exactly bad luck.

How would you rewrite and combine these sentences to increase clarity and conciseness?

a. Peter Parker and Mary Jane used to be married but aren't anymore.

b. In Spider-Man comics, the marriage of Peter Parker to model Mary Jane was undone by writers to give more bad luck to Spider-Man.

c. In Spider-Man, Peter Parker and Mary Jane used to be married, but are not now since the writers couldn't figure out how to this fit the bad luck Spider-Man is famous for.

d. Peter Parker and Mary Jane were too happy, so to increase Peter's bad luck, they are no longer married in the comics.

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________________
When you encounter this type of question, remember that clarity means "makes the most sense." Pick the one that sounds best to you. Conciseness means "using as few words as possible." This does not mean that the shortest answer is correct (nor that the longest is incorrect). This means using the fewest words as possible BUT not losing any of the meaning.

b. is correct.

~

February 2

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Read the passage below from anecdotage.com:

Young Bruce Willis: Wild Man
Bruce Willis was a wild man even in his high school years. Despite serving as student council president, he was expelled for three months for his role in a school cafeteria riot. And, at the height of the streaking craze, Willis was the only kid in town brazen enough to run naked - right down Main Street.

The author chose to put the bold-faced phrase into the story because the author:

a. does not like the student council.
b. feels like a student council president should know better.
c. feels it makes Bruce Willis's actions seem even wilder since he was student council president.
d. needed more information to make the story long enough.

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________
These types of questions are common on the EOC. They require that you stop and think about what the author was trying to do. This can be difficult at times. In the case, the correct answer is c. because the author is trying to point out that this isn't just the class clown, this is the student council president. To the author, this makes Bruce Willis's actions seem even wilder.

~

January 30

2012-01-30T05:11:00.000-05:00

Read the following passage:

I was late coming home and missed my curfew. My mother was so angry. She yelled, "I've told you a million times not to be late!" I guess she was worried about me, but I still hate being yelled out.

What from above is the example of a hyperbole?

a. "I was late coming home and missed my curfew."
b. "My mother was so angry."
c. "She yelled, "I've told you a million times not to be late!""
d. "I guess she was worried about me, but I still hate being yelled out."

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________________
A hyperbole is an exaggeration used to make a point. In this case, C is the correct answer.

January 26

2012-01-26T05:58:00.000-05:00

Read the following (slightly modified) excerpt taken from an article published by the NCHSAA:

Recently an assistant swimming coach was fired for pulling a student’s hair at the end of her swim because he felt she had deliberately disqualified herself - obviously an indefensible reaction. However, what was most surprising was the differences in the reaction of the parents of the kids on the team. One group of parents wants the coach to be prosecuted for assault while the other group applauded the coach’s behavior.

This split in opinion speaks volumes for the need for coaches to be able to effectively communicate with their parents and athletes about expectations and resolving differences.

The author of this article feels that the pulling of hair was:

a. justifiable

b. clearly wrong

c. O.K. if the parents are O.K. with it

d. unbiased either way

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________________________

Because of the comments, "obviously an indefensible reaction," and "the need for coaches to be able to effectively communicate . . . about . . . resolving differences," we know that the author does not agree with the hair pulling tactic. The correct answer is b.

January 25

2012-01-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Read the following sentence.

The group of students are walking down the hall while the assistant principal checks for cell phone violations.

What needs to be changed to make this sentence grammatically correct?

a. are walking to were walking
b. are walking to is walking
c. hall while to hall; while
d. assistant principal to Assistant Principal

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________

a. is incorrect. Since the other verb in this sentence is present tense, you need to keep this verb in the present tense.
b. is correct. The subject here is group - not students. Nothing that comes after "of" will be the subject. There is one group, so you would use is not are.
c. is incorrect. Since the clause that comes after hall is a dependent clause (or an incomplete sentence), you cannot use a semicolon to join them.
d. is incorrect. Do not capitalize a title unless it is a part of the person's name. For example, you would capitalize it here: I had to go to Assistant Principal Jones's office.

This is a Test, this is Only a Test...

2012-01-13T02:38:00.000-05:00

We are testing! See you when the new semester starts on Jan. 25. Good Luck!

If you'd like to submit some questions for next semester, feel free to use the link on the right!

January 12

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

Look at this picture:

What needs to be changed to make this poster correct?

a. Light's to Lights
b. Party's to Parties
c. Cowboy's to Cowboys
d. A and B
e. B and C
f. A and C

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________
f. is correct. Both A and C are incorrect. NEVER USE AN APOSTROPHE TO MAKE A PLURAL!

Not to mention the awful capitalization. ThE? Really? Stupid Cowboys fan.

Go Panthers!

~

Free Tip

2012-01-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

READ THE PASSAGE!

If there was any other way to do this, I would tell you. This is not the EOG. You cannot seek and find answers. The evil people who create this test make sure that the wrong answers are in the text.

What you can do is read the grammar sections quickly and save your intense concentration for the textual analysis (reading comprehension) passages.

January 9

2012-01-09T02:27:00.001-05:00

Read the following passage:

There were a lot of great TV shows in the 1980's. I remember watching The A-Team, Magnum PI, and MacGyver. It seems that they cannot make good shows like that anymore.

What needs to be changed to make the above correct?

a. change a lot to alot
b. change 1980's to 1980s
c. change The A-Team, Magnum PI, and MacGyver to "The A-Team," "Magnum PI," and "MacGyver"
d. change cannot to can not

Scroll down for the answer.

______________________________

a. is incorrect. "A lot" is two words.
b. is correct. Never use an apostrophe to make a plural.
c. is incorrect. Titles of TV shows are treated like books. They should be underlined or italicized.
d. is incorrect. It gets tricky since a lot is separated, but cannot remains one word.

January 6

2012-01-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

EOC Tip:

The longer you sit, the slower your blood flows (in extreme cases, this can be deadly). The slower your blood flows, the less oxygen your brain gets. The less oxygen your brain gets, the sleepier and less focused you get. This could really hurt your EOC performance! So...

When you hear the EOC administrator say,

STOP. Put all of your papers inside your test book and close your test book. You will take a two-minute break. You may stand beside your desk and stretch or just relax, but you must not talk during this break

then you should stand up and stretch (or even do a few push ups). This will make the blood start flowing a little faster and may make the difference in a couple of questions.

Also, in between passages, you may wish to stretch your back while in your seat or even ask to use the bathroom.

Good luck!

January 5

2012-01-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

Read the following sentences:

I tried something that my mom made for dinner. It was so awful that before I realized what I was doing, I expectorated it. My mom was furious with me.

The word expectorated as used in the above sentence probably means:

a. threw up
b. spit out
c. swallowed
d. chewed it up

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________
a. is incorrect. While it might fit with the idea of bad food, it does not fit as well with the mom being furious.
b. is correct.
c. is incorrect. Why would the mom be furious over swallowing her cooking?
d. is incorrect. Why would the mom be furious over chewing your food?

~

January 4 Free Tip!

2012-01-04T06:00:00.001-05:00

Grammar based passages come first in on the EOC and are easy to spot since they number every sentence. You should read these passages, but you do not need to read them slowly and carefully. You will probably have a question or two that deals with the overall meaning of the passage. Reading it fast should suffice.

The first few questions will read like this: What needs to be changed to correct sentence (number of sentence)?

When you encounter this type of question, DO NOT READ THE ANSWER CHOICES. Instead, read the sentence with that number on it. As you do so, take note of the following:

1. Any homophones (your/you're, to/too/two, there/their/they're, its/it's)

2. Any plurals or apostrophe s

3. A long sentence.

By doing so, you are more inclined to find one of these easy answers. Homophones are often misused and appear regularly on the EOC. Don't miss these. Plurals may be misspelled or they may use an 's to make a plural. That will always be wrong. A long sentence may have a subject/verb agreement problem.

If you were to have read the answer choices, you might miss one of these easy ones and get sidetracked by a tricky wrong answer (like one that involves a comma).

January 3

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

Read the following passage:

I got tons of stuff for Christmas, such as: Video games, candy, clothes, a new iTouch, and a cell phone.

What needs to be corrected to make this sentence correct?

a. stuff to stuff,
b. such as: to such as --
c. Video games to video games
d. iTouch to Itouch

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________

a. is incorrect. No comma is needed here. You can usually read the sentence and insert a pause where the comma is. If it sounds right, chances are you need a comma. If it doesn't, then you probably don't need a comma. This doesn't always work, but it might help in a pinch.
b. is incorrect. You will probably not need to insert a dash in any answer to an EOC question.
c. is correct. You do not need a capital after a colon.
d. is incorrect. Even though the capitalization is nonstandard, this is a brand and we follow the format that the brand uses when they break capitalization rules.

Christmas Break

2011-12-18T06:00:00.002-05:00

Studying for the EOC is fine and all, but take some time off and enjoy the holidays. We'll be back on Jan. 3rd.

December 16

2011-12-16T06:00:00.002-05:00

Read the following sentences:

What a great year this will be for UNC basketball. Of course, every year is a great year for UNC, but I still look forward to it anyways.

To make this sentence correct, change:

a. basketball. to basketball;
b. every year to every year,
c. UNC, to UNC;
d. anyways to anyway

Scroll down for the answer.

______________________
a. is incorrect. While you can use a semicolon to combine sentences, you would have to lower case the next word. Watch out for tricks like this on the EOC.
b. is incorrect. No comma needed here.
c. is incorrect. Semicolons are pretty much only used on the EOC when combining sentences.
d. is correct. There is no "s" on the end of "anyway."

~

December 14

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Look at the statement below:

The sun kissed the flowers
Before the clouds closed its eye.

This is an example of:

a. personification
b. allusion
c. hyperbole
d. irony

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________________
a. is the correct answer. Personification means to give something not human some human characteristics. Here the sun is kissing, which, being a ball of firey gases, it cannot do.

~

December 13

2011-12-13T02:31:00.002-05:00

The following is a stanza taken from Ogden Nash's poem, "The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus." Which couplet is an example of forced rhyme?

a. Another trick that tickled Jabez
Was crying 'Boo' at little babies.

b. He brushed his teeth, they said in town,
Sideways instead of up and down.

c. Yet people pardoned every sin,
And viewed his antics with a grin,

d. Till they were told by Jabez Dawes,
'There isn't any Santa Claus!'

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________________

A forced rhyme is much like it sounds - two words that do not rhyme with each other but sound close and are used as rhyming words.

The correct answer is a!

December 12 Grinch Edition

2011-12-12T03:39:00.002-05:00

Read the passage below from Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas:

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!

Compare this to the same passage as read in the cartoon version of this story:

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns, pampoogas, pantookas, and drums!
Checkerboards, bizilbigs, popcorn, and plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney.

Since Dr. Seuss wrote both the book and the cartoon script, why do you think he changed up the words?

a. He needed to make it longer

b. He felt the rhyme should change

c. Since writing the book he had become famous for making up words, so he made up some new ones for the cartoon.

d. Boris Karloff, the voice for the character, suggested the changes be made to fit his style of acting better.

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________

a. is incorrect. Sometimes scripts are changed to make them longer or shorter, but this doesn't change the time of the reading at all.

b. is incorrect. The rhyme doesn't change in the two versions.

c. is correct!

d. is incorrect. The script in this case was changed before the voice actor was even picked.

December 9 Grinch Edition

2011-12-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

Read the following passage taken from How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss:

Then he growled, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming,

"I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"

For, tomorrow, he knew...

...All the Who girls and boys

Would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their toys!

And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!

That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

What is the main purpose for the repetition of the word "noise"?

a. it rhymes with toys
b. for the rhythm and meter of the poem
c. to show how annoying the Whos are with their noise
d. for its alliterative properties

Scroll down for the answer

___________________________________
c. is the correct answer. The word is repeated draw attention to how much it annoys the poor Grinch.

December 7

2011-12-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Ebeneezer Scrooge sees the ghost of Jacob Marely. He refuses to believe that he is seeing a ghost. He explains it by saying:

"You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!"

The words in bold face and black type are an example of:

a. Situational Irony
b. Allusion
c. Metaphor
d. Pun

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________
d. is correct since he is making a play on grave (serious) and gravy (yum!)

December 6

2011-12-06T06:00:00.001-05:00

Look at this Spider-Man cover:

No multiple choice today, just the simple question:

What month of the year was this comic published?

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________________

The correct answer is October. How are you supposed to know that? Well, the vampire on the front cover is our only hint, which should lead to a prediction of October, which, of course, is when Halloween occurs.

~

November 29

2011-11-29T08:51:00.000-05:00

Look at this book cover:

What is the proper way to write this title if you were to write it in a paper?

a. Warrior Son Of A Warrior Son

b. "Warrior Son of a Warrior Son"

c. Warrior Son Of A Warrior Son

d. Warrior Son of a Warrior Son

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________

The correct answer is D. Titles of books must be either underlined or italicized. The underlined title does not work since the capitalization of the words incorrect.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

November 22

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

Look at Blackbeard's flag:

This flag means time is running out till your death.

We know this because of:

a. imagery
b. symbolism
c. personification
d. dramatic irony

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________________

b. is the correct answer. This is because the hour glass, the spear, the skeleton, the bleeding heart are all symbols of death and time.

~

November 18

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

When the cannibal showed up late for dinner, they gave him the cold shoulder.

The above is an example of:

a. dramatic irony
b. pun
c. irony
d. metaphor

Scroll down to see the answers

_____________________________________

The correct answer is b. pun since there is a play on the words "cold shoulder."

November 17

2011-11-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Watch this short video:

This is an example of:

a. tone
b. hyperbole
c. personification
d. irony

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________________
d. is the correct answer since it is unexpected that this would be an Adidas commercial instead of a Nike commercial.

November 16

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

Read the following:

The Bundle of Sticks

An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a bundle of sticks, and said to his eldest son: "Break it." The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. "Untie the bundle," said the father, "and each of you take a stick." When they had done so, he called out to them: "Now, break," and each stick was easily broken. "You see my meaning," said their father.

What is his meaning?
a. together you are stronger
b. you will all die like me one day no matter how strong you are
c. life stinks
d. it is a shame to break good things

Scroll down for the answer.

____________________
a. is the correct answer

November 15

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Read the passage below:

She had a boyfriend with a wooden leg, but she had to break it off.

This is an example of a(n):

a. alliteration
b. pun

c. hyperbole
d. personification

Scroll down for the answer

_________________________________________

a. is incorrect - alliteration means repeating the same sounds at the beginning of words

b. is correct - a pun is a play on words. Here, break it off has a double meaning that makes you think she may have needed to break his wooden leg, rather than break off the dating relationship

c. is incorrect - a hyperbole is an exaggeration used to make your point

d. is incorrect - personification gives something not human some human-like qualities ("The moon looks sad tonight," is an example. The moon cannot look sad, it is a big hunk of green cheese floating in space)

By the way, if you like that pun, try reading the short story, "Good Country People."

November 10

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Read the following:

The Ant and the Dove

AN ANT went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of drowning. A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked a leaf and let it fall into the stream close to her. The Ant climbed onto it and floated in safety to the bank. Shortly afterwards a birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid his lime-twigs for the Dove, which sat in the branches. The Ant, perceiving his design, stung him in the foot. In pain the birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove take wing.

One good turn deserves another

This is an example of:
a. epic b. poetry c. fable d. drama

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________
a. is incorrect. An epic is a very long poem about a hero.
b. is incorrect.
c. is correct. A fable is a short story that teaches a lesson and usually has animals as the main characters.
d. is incorrect. Whenever the EOC uses the word "drama," it means a play.

~

November 9

2011-11-09T05:39:00.000-05:00

Read the following sentence:

We went to _______ party.

The blank should be filled in with:

a. you're
b. their
c. they're
d. Pams'

Scroll down for the answer.

____________________

a. is incorrect. You're means "you are."
b. is correct. Their means belongs to them as in it is their party.
c. is incorrect. They're means "they are."
d. is incorrect. The apostrophe needs to be in front of the s to make it belong to Pam. If you use this, you are saying that there are a bunch of girls named Pam that are all throwing this same party.

November 8

2011-11-08T05:32:00.000-05:00

Look at the following logo:

This is an example of:

a. archetype
b. hyperbole
c. allusion
d. alliteration

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________
c. is correct. The winged foot in the middle is a reference to Hermes, Greek god of messengers. He is really, really fast and so it Goodyear.

~

November 4

2011-11-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

Look at this picture:

To make this sign correct, you would need to change:

a. Bags to Bag's
b. Alike to A-Like
c. Your to You're
d. "ID" to ID

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________
a. is incorrect. You pretty much never use an apostrophe to make a plural.
b. is incorrect. Hyphens can be tricky. When in doubt, don't choose the hyphen answer.
c. is incorrect. "You're" means "You are" and that just would not fit the sentence.
d. is correct. The apostrophes are not needed here.

Thanks to the "blog" of "unessecary" quotation marks.

~

November 2

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Mummies like wrap music.

This is an example of:
a. metaphor
b. irony
c. imagery
d. pun

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________
d. is the correct answer. A pun is a play on words. here the word wrap (rap) has the double meaning - "wrap" as in a mummy's wrappings and "rap" as that awful music that students like to listen to.

November 1

2011-11-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following headline:

Latverian Dictator Masacres Three Peace Protesters

Based only on this headline, which of the following words best expresses the tone of the news reporter:

a. supportive b. vindictive
c. apathetic d. disapproving

Scroll down for the answer.

By the way, Latveria is the home country of Dr. Doom, but I am sure that you already knew that!

_______________________

Answers:

A, B, and C are incorrect.

D - disapproving - is correct. Why? You can tell by the choice of words. Every word has a denotation - the actual dictionary definition. Some words have a connotation, or an emotional feel for a word. You can tell the tone sometimes by the connotation of the words chosen. Here, the reporter chooses to use the term dictator instead of his actual govermental title. The term dictator, while accurate, has a negative connotation. The word massacre also has a negative connotation. A lesser one may have been executed, but massacres sounds more evil. Also choosing to include that it was during a peace protest also makes it seem more wrong. All of these terms are accurate, but they show the reporter's viewpoint. Here is the same headline slanted the other way:

Latverian President Executes Rebel Protesters

~

October 31

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following passage:

We were watching this horror movie and saw the killer climb into the house through an open window, pick up a huge knife laying on the kitchen counter, and go into the closet of the little kids' room. Later, the babysitter and her boyfriend (who is NOT supposed to be over) send the kids to bed. Right as they are about to do things that should not be done by unwed teenagers, the little kids start crying that there is a monster in the closet. The babysitter is frustrated and goes up to their room to make them go to sleep. She says, there is no such thing as monsters. To prove it, she went to the closet and opened the door. Of course the killer leaped out and stabbed her to death. It was very scary.

What is the purpose of showing the killer enter the closet before the killings?

a. to provide specific details
b. to create enriching imagery
c. to create suspense
d. to develop the rising action

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________________
c. is the correct answer. This is called dramatic irony (we know something the characters do not know). Since we know he is there, the suspense builds up waiting for the killer to attack.

~

October 28

2011-10-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

A fragment is an incomplete sentence.

Which of the following sentences is a fragment?

a. UNC is great.
b. They always beat Duke when they play basketball.
c. Although Duke has some great recruits this year.
d. UNC will destroy them just like they always do.

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________

c. is correct. The fragment starts with the word "although" which means it must have something else with it to complete the thought. On the EOC, it is all about completing thoughts.

~

October 27

2011-10-27T03:37:00.000-04:00

Read the following sentence.

In order too go too the store, you will need too get too dollars from my wallet and my car keys too.

This sentence should look like:

a. In order to go to the store, you will need to get two dollars from my wallet and my car keys too.

b. In order too go to the store, you will need to get two dollars from my wallet and my car keys to.

c. In order two go too the store, you will need too get two dollars from my wallet and my car keys to.

d. In order to go two the store, you will need too get too dollars from my wallet and my car keys two.

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________
a. is correct. Here is the breakdown for each to:
In order to go {infinitive verbs use to} to {preposition - to} the store, you will need to get {infinitive verb} two {the number two} dollars from my wallet and my car keys too {also}.

October 21

2011-10-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following fable:

The Donkey and His Masters

A donkey, belonging to an herb-seller who gave him too little food and too much work made a petition to Jupiter to be released from his present service and provided with another master. Jupiter, after warning him that he would repent his request, caused him to be sold to a tile-maker. Shortly afterwards, finding that he had heavier loads to carry and harder work in the brick-field, he petitioned for another change of master. Jupiter, telling him that it would be the last time that he could grant his request, ordained that he be sold to a tanner. The donkey found that he had fallen into worse hands, and noting his master's occupation, said, groaning: "It would have been better for me to have been either starved by the one, or to have been overworked by the other of my former masters, than to have been bought by my present owner, who will even after I am dead tan my hide, and make me useful to him."

The best lesson of this story is:

a. He that finds discontentment in one place is not likely to find happiness in another.
b. Every cloud has a silver lining.
c. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
d. He who hesitates is lost.

Scroll down for the answer.

____________________________
a. is the correct answer.

~

October 20

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Look at the following sign:

What change needs to be made?

a. change "ONLY" to ONLY
b. change TOW AWAY to TOW-AWAY
c. change we're to were
d. change kidding to kiding

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________

a. is correct. The use of quotation marks here means you are quoting some one or that you don't really mean what is in the quote marks. Get rid of them.
b. is incorrect. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out which words need a hyphen between them and which words do not. It's one of the things that makes our language so wonderful.
c. is incorrect. By removing the apostrophe we are making a new word.
d. is incorrect. You must double the final consonant here. A helpful rule is to sound out the word. Do you hear the letter twice? Write it twice.

Thanks to http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

October 19

2011-10-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following news article:

Barefoot professor in Virginia preaches shoelessness

Daniel Howell, a biology professor at Virginia's Liberty University, is on a "crusade to challenge America's cultural addiction to shoes", according to a feature in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that has hit the wires.

Howell "likens the shoe to a cast that immobilizes an otherwise healthy foot and prevents it from functioning as nature intended," the article says.

His argument doesn't always go over well in restaurants. So he carries a letter from the state health department that says bare feet in a restaurant is not a health code violation.

Which would be the best argument for opponents of going barefoot to use?

a. Shoe companies would go out of business.
b. Shoes are very fashionable.
c. Walking barefoot can result in cuts, hook worm, and Athlete's Foot.
d. Shoes can help you to jump higher in basketball.

Scroll down for the answers.

___________________________
a. is incorrect. This is the best wrong answer.
b. is incorrect. While it is true, it is a weak argument.
c. is correct.
d. is incorrect. It is too limited an argument.

Read the whole article at: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/10/barefoot_professor_preaches_sh.html?hpid=moreheadlines
~

October 18

2011-10-18T03:25:00.002-04:00

Read the following passage:

I can't wait 'till this weekend! We're going to eat breakfast out, go watch a movie, hit Frankies for some laser tag and then go out for pizza. I'm in such a good mood that I didn't even mind that Mr. Gordon was so mean to me in class today. Who knows, I might even do my homework or clean up my room tonight.

The author's tone is:

a. indignant
b. intimate
c. judgmental
d. jovial

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________________

a. is incorrect. Indignant means marked by anger or aroused by injustice.
b. is incorrect. Intimate means very familiar.
c. is incorrect. Judgmental means often having critical opinions.
d. is correct. Jovial means happy.

October 17

2011-10-17T06:01:00.000-04:00

Ray Bradbury's short story, "All Summer in a Day" takes place on Venus. When it was written, nobody knew what the surface of Venus was like, so Bradbury guessed that it was rainy. Read this excerpt:

"Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn't rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall."

What is the reason for the repetition of the word rain in this passage?

a. to emphasis and draw attention to the fact that it always rains on Venus.
b. for the rhyme and meter of the line.
c. for the alliterarion value.
d. it is part of the verbal irony of the passage.

Scroll down for the answers.

________________________

a. is correct. By repeating words the author makes you take notice of it.
b. is incorrect. Look for rhyme and meter in poetry, not prose.
c. is incorrect
d. is incorrect

~

October 14

2011-10-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Look at this movie poster:

If you look carefully, you'll see that the title is not Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but instead, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. This is the original title by the book's author, J. K. Rowling. When this book was published in England, the title was kept. When the book was published in the United States, the title was changed to the Sorcerer's Stone. What is the best reason why this change was made?

a. Philosopher takes up more room than Sorcerer.
b. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was copyrighted in America by someone else.
c. The book publishers thought American kids would not be familiar with the philosopher's stone, would think it is a boring title, and therefore would not buy it.
d. The American publisher could not spell "philosopher."

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________

The correct answer is c.

~

October 13

2011-10-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following sentence:

Cerberus the three headed dog that guards the gates of Hades, was called Fluffy in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Which of the following changes need to be made?

a. change Cerberus to Cerberus,
b. change Hades, to Hades;
c. change called to called:
d. change Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone

Scroll down for the answer.

______________________
a. is the correct answer - "the three headed dog that guards the gates of Hades," is a nonessential phrase. This means it is not needed - it is just extra information. Phrases like this need to be completely separated by commas.
b. in incorrect. The primary use for semicolons (and pretty much the only use on the EOC) is to separate two sentences that are joined together.
c. is incorrect. Chances are high that any answer on the EOC that involves a colon is a bad answer.
d. is incorrect. You do not need to capitalize conjunctions and articles in titles unless it is the first word.

October 12

2011-10-12T06:00:00.001-04:00

Look at this picture from Cake Wrecks:

The cake decorator failed the EOC. To correct this cake, the wording needs to be:

a. Happy Boss's Day! Your the Best.
b. Happy Bosses Day! You're the Best.
c. Happy Boss's Day! You're the Best.
d. Happy Boss's Day! you're the Best.

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________
The problem with this cake is threefold - the word "Bosses" need to be possessive - not plural, so it should be written as "Boss's." That rules out answer b. The word "Your" need to be made "You're" since it is a contraction of "you" and "are" so answer a. is incorrect. Also, "you're" starts a new sentence so it needs to be capitalized, so that rules out d. The correct answer is c.

~

October 11

2011-10-11T06:00:00.001-04:00

Look at the following sign and tell what needs to be done to correct the sentence:

a. change Pump's to Pumps
a. change Card's to Cards
a. change In Side to Inside
a. change You're to Your

Scroll down for the answer.

______________________________
All answers are correct. This poor individual who made this sign surely failed his EOC! The sad thing is that there are MORE errors on the sign. Can you find them?

Thanks to http://www.apostropheabuse.com/ for the picture.

October 10

2011-10-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

Which sentence below has greater clarity and grammatical correctness?

a. Both both and and are conjunctions.
b. Both "both" and "and" are conjunctions.
c. "Both both and and" are conjunctions.
d. Both both and and are conjunctions.

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________________
b. is correct. The apostrophes here are used to denote words being used as words.

~

October 7

2011-10-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

Look at the following picture:

This is an example of:

a. pun
b. allusion
c. figurative language
d. situational irony

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________

d. is the correct answer.

Thanks to Friends of Irony for the picture.
~

October 6, 2011

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read this very short story by Patrick Johanneson:

The Wait

     She planted the seed and waited. After a while rain came down from the sky, pelting her skin, chilling her. She shivered but didn't leave, not yet.
     The sun came out, warming the soil, driving the cold from her bones. She waited. Clouds scudded by overhead, in a hurry for some reason. The moon rose, stars wheeled, and then the sun rose again.
     She didn't just wait, of course. She prayed, she sang, she read the old stories, the myths and the legends. On the seventh day she snoozed under a cloudless sky, waking only briefly when a dragonfly happened to touch down on her nose. She observed its cathedral-window wings, irridescent with refracted sunlight, and drowsed once more after it left her.
     Rain, sun, moon, stars: she endured them all. The seedling broke the soil with a questing green curlicue, looking for all the world like a question mark in the Old Tongue. She sat on it and waited more: days, months, decades.
     A boy came along and asked her why she'd climbed to the top of the tree.

     "I didn't," she said.

This is an example of:

a. poetry
b. prose
c. drama
d. fable

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________
a. is incorrect. Just by looking at it one can see that it does not have the look of poetry. There is no strong definition of what poetry must look like, but typically you would not associate paragraphs with poetry.
b. is correct. "Prose" means written in paragraph form. Basically, if it is not poetry, it is probably prose.
c. is incorrect. "Drama" in EOC language means a play.
d. is incorrect. "Fable" means a short little story that teaches a lesson and typically has animals as the main characters.

~

October 5, 2011

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

In the book, 1001 Arabian Nights, there is a sultan that hates women and likes to marry one and then have her killed the next night. After killing many women this way, he finally marries a woman named Scheherazade who tricks him into letting her live by telling him stories each night, but not finishing them. That way he must let her live to hear the end of the story.

In the movie version, the sultan was betrayed by his first wife and is planning on killing the next, which is Scheherazade. He has never actually had a wife killed and because she saves him from his madness, he never does.

What was the director's purpose in changing the story in this manner?

a. to create an indifferent tone
b. to focus on the irony of the situation
c. the director probably never read the original story.
d. it makes the sultan a more sympathetic character

Scroll down for the answer.

______________
a. is incorrect. An indifferent tone means that the director doesn't care one way or the other. Since he made the change, we can assume he cares.
b. is incorrect. There is no irony in this situation. Many students automatically pick the irony answer since it sounds intelligent. Don't fall for that trick.
c. is incorrect.
d. is correct. If the sultan is killing women, it makes it hard to accept him as a guy who deserves to get the woman at the end of the movie.

~

October 4, 2011

2011-10-04T06:05:00.001-04:00

Read the following haiku by Baiko:

Plum petals falling

I look up...the sky,

a clear crisp moon.

This haiku is primarily about:

a. global warming

b. death

c. autumn

d. love

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________

b. is the correct answer. Why? Because of archetypes. Archetypes are symbols that stay the same in all cultures. Here we have leaves falling to the ground, which puts us in autumn time. Autumn is typically associated with death since the trees begin to die (or at least look like they are dying). Also the sky is crisp. The sky only has a crisp look when it gets cold outside, another indication of autumn or winter. Add to that the moon, which tells us that it is nighttime (yes, I know you can see the moon during the day, but typically it is associated with night). Night is, you guessed it, symbolic of death. So everything symbolically points to death, which is what this poem is about. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Baiko, the author. Oh, wait a minute, you can’t – he’s DEAD!

~

October 3, 2011

2011-10-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

What needs to be corrected in the following sentence?

We read The Lord Of The Flies in class. It was bloody and violent. What kind of teacher makes you read a book like that?

Change:

a. The Lord Of The Flies to The Lord Of The Flies
b. The Lord Of The Flies to "The Lord Of The Flies"
c. The Lord Of The Flies to "The Lord of the Flies"
d. The Lord Of The Flies to The Lord of the Flies

Scroll down for the answer

_______________________________________________

d. is correct - why? For all titles you capitalize the first word and all major words after it. Major means words like of and the (small prepositions and articles) do not get capitalized. Book titles get put in italics or they can be underlined.

September 30

2011-09-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following sentence:

That group of students are excited about taking the English I EOC.

What change needs to be made to the above sentence?

a. change students to students,
b. change are to is
c. change English to english
d. leave the sentence as is

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________________________

b. is the correct answer. We do not use are because the subject of the sentence is the singular "group" (there is only one group), so if you took out the prepositional phrase (of students) it would read "That group are excited..." which is obviously incorrect. When in doubt, reread a sentence without the prepositional phrases to see if the verb is being used correctly or not.

September 29

2011-09-29T06:01:00.000-04:00

Math teachers have lots of problems.

The above is an example of:

a. verbal irony
b. pun
c. alliteration
d. metaphor

Scroll down to see the answers

_____________________________________

The correct answer is b. pun since there is a play on the word "problems."

September 28

2011-09-28T06:00:00.000-04:00

In the short story, "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes, Charlie, a mentally retarded man, is being experimented on by some scientists to see if they can make him smart. At this point in the story, Charlie is telling us about his friends:

"Sometimes somebody will say hey look at Joe or Frank or George he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I dont know why they say that but they always laff. This morningAmos Borg who is the 4 man at Donnegans used my name when he shouted at Ernie the office boy. Ernie lost a packige. He said Ernie for godsake what are you to be a Charlie Gordon. I dont understand why he said that.
"Their really my friends and they like me."

This is an example of:
a. verbal irony
b. dialect
c. unreliable narrator
d. 2nd person point of view

Scroll down for the answer

______________________

a. is incorrect - although Charlie says many things that he doesn't understand, he does mean everything he says. Verbal irony is saying one thing but meaning something else.
b. is incorrect - there are several misspellings, but this is not to show how he is pronouncing them, he just doesn't know how to spell very well.
c. is correct - Charlie is unreliable because he doesn't realize that he is not correct. These guys are making fun of him and are not his friends, but he doesn't understand this.
d. is incorrect - 2nd person point of view uses "you" as the narrator and is rarely seen.

September 27

2011-09-27T06:00:00.002-04:00

What literary term is this an example of?

The sign says, "NOTICE - NO SIGNS ALLOWED AT THIS INTERSECTION"

a. pun b. hyperbole

c. irony d. allusion

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________
The correct answer is c. irony. The EOC may use the word irony or ironic and it will mean the same thing. There are three common types of irony. This one is situational irony. This is when something unexpected happens. In this case, it is unexpected to see a sign saying no signs allowed.

September 26, 2011

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

What change needs to be made in the following passage:

(1) Those teachers are going to give there students too much homework. (2) It's a shame those students will never be able to go to your party with all of that work.

a. In sentence 1, change there to their

b. In sentence 1, change too to to

c. In sentence 2, change it's to its

d. In sentence 2, change your to you're

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________________

A. is correct. Their is the possessive form of they and we use this form to show that it is the students belonging to those teachers.

B. in incorrect. Too means excessive. The teachers are giving an excessive amount of homework.
C. is incorrect. It's means "it is" and that is how it is being use.
D. is incorrect. You're means "you are." That is not how it is being used.

September 23, 2011

2011-09-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following passage from "Polar Night" by Norah Burke. The story is about a female polar bear who is getting ready for winter. At this point in the story, she has just killed a seal and heard a noise. She hid and this is what happens next:

Presently she saw upright seals coming along the shore. They were rather rare creatures, these, and dangerous for all they were so weak. The places they lived had light and noise, and smelled of good food. The she-bear often drew near the places, attracted by those smells. She hunted these land-seals too, and ate them when she could. They were not like the sea-seals, though. They wore seal fur, and their skins were rubbed with seal blubber, but there was a different taste inside.

Based on this passage, the term "land-seal" probably means:

a. sea lions
b. leopard seals
c. some unknown animals
d. humans

Scroll down for the answer...

_____________________

The correct answer is d. humans

September 22, 2011

2011-09-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

Which of the following is a fragment?

a. Maus is a graphic novel about the holocaust in WWII.

b. He portrays people in the form of animals, such as Jewish people are mice and the Germans are cats.

c. Having animals in a comic about a serious and graphic series of events.

d. Read this book!

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________
a. and b. are incorrect. They are both simple sentences.

c. is the correct answer. It gives no complete thought and has no subject and verb combination.

d. in incorrect. While it may seem that it has no subject, commands always have an understood subject - you. The sentence is really, "You read this book!" Stating the subject is not needed in a command (also called an imperative).

September 21, 2011

2011-09-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

What change would be needed to correct this passage:

We played good last night; we still didn't win the tournament.

a. change good to well

b. change night; to night.

c. change win to won

d. change tournament to tornament

Scroll down for the answer

__________________________________

a. is correct - the word good is an adjective and can only describe nouns, yet this time it is describing a verb (played), so you must use the adverb form (well).

b. is incorrect - while it would be correct to put a period there, the EOC question does not change the next word to start with a capital letter. Watch out for that trick!

c. is incorrect - keep win as is. Even though the other verbs are past tense, win has the helping verb did which is showing the tense for it.
d. is incorrect - tournament is spelled correctly as is.

September 20, 2011

2011-09-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

What changes need to be made to the following sentence to make it correct?

Spider-Man had a Spider-Mobile in the comics in the 1970s, it was so bad that they trashed it and never brought it back.

a.change Spider-Man had to Spider-Man has

b. change 1970s to 1970's

c. change 1970s, to 1970s;

d. change it to it,

Scroll down for the answer

_______________________________________

a. is incorrect since you want to keep all verbs the same tense. The other verbs are past tense, so keep this on past tense.

b is incorrect since you practically NEVER make a plural by adding an apostrophe

c. is correct. You have two sentences (or two independent clauses) that are joined by a comma. This is called a comma splice. You can fix it by adding a semicolon instead or by putting a period and making it two different sentences. Beware, if the EOC offers to make it two sentences, make sure they offer to capitalize the next word, or else it is the wrong answer.

d. is incorrect since you only put a comma before and when you are listing out things.

September 19, 2011

2011-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following poem by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends:

ALICE

She drank from a bottle called DRINK ME
And up she grew so tall,
She ate from a plate called TASTE ME
And down she shrank so small
And so she changed, while other folks
Never tried nothin’ at all

The rhyme scheme of the poem is AB AB CB. Why does the author change the rhyme scheme in line 5?

a. He couldn't find another rhyme for ME.

b. To draw attention to the poem's meaning.

c. Because it is an allusion to Alice in Wonderland.

d. To change the pace of the poem.

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________

a. is completely incorrect. Poets are very resourceful and can find a rhyme for almost any word.

b. is correct. The poem is about not being afraid to try new things.

c. is incorrect. While it is an allusion, the change in rhyme has nothing to do with it.

d. is incorrect. While changing the rhyme scheme may change the pace in some poems, it does not in this one.

September 16, 2011

2011-09-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following passage:

Who is smarter, males or females? Well if you go by EOC scores then the answer is clear. Year after year the scores pile up and more 4s are achieved by . . .

What is the purpose of the first sentence?

a. to set the mood of the passage

b. to set the tone of the passage

c. to give the setting

d. to interest the reader

Scroll down for the answer.

____________________________

d. is the correct answer. The hope is that the competitive nature between males and females will lead you to want to read further, at least enough to find out who is actually smarter. Of course the answer is really obvious, don't you think.

These questions can be difficult since they are asking you WHY the author chose to do what he/she did.

September 15, 2011

2011-09-15T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following and determine the tone of the passage:

I can't believe it! My teacher was out yesterday and left a ton of work. I worked the whole class period and still had an hour worth of homework in order to finish it. Not only did she not pick up our work and give us a grade, she got a bad note from the substitute and decided to punish the whole class with even more work. Only two kids acted up, but we all had to pay the price. That is the last time I worry about doing the right thing!

Is the tone of this passage:

a. incensed
b. awestruck
c. happy
d. jaded

Scroll down for the answers.

_________________________________________

Incensed is the correct answer since it means very angry.

Awestruck is incorrect, however, if you didn't know that it meant struck with a feeling of WOW! and instead thought that since it had the word "struck" it must be a negative word, then you have used a good strategy to figure out the meaning of the word. Unfortunately, it was still wrong. This is the best wrong answer.

Happy is just plain the wrong answer.

Jaded means that you are so used to something that it no longer excites you or disappoints you. Carolina fans are so used to winning that they are jaded and don't get too excited about wins like State fans do.

^

September 14, 2011

2011-09-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following passage:

With all the bombilation of the students yelling, alarms ringing, and teachers crying, I could not hear the intercom tell us what we were supposed to be doing.

As used in the above passage, what does bombilation mean?

a. an explosion

b. large crowds

c. mass chaos

d. loud noises

Scroll down for the answer.

____________________________________

a. is incorrect. It is a good strategy to look at the word and see "bomb" since many times words have similar meanings to others with the same word parts.

b. is incorrect. While there is likely a large crowd in the area, it does not fit in the sentence where bombilation is.

c. is incorrect. This does seem to fit, but the next answer choice matches better because of the context clue of "I could not hear" later int he sentence. This is the best wrong answer.

d. is correct. Bombilation does mean loud noises.

September 13, 2011

2011-09-13T05:50:00.000-04:00

Read the following from Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets:

The above is an example of which literary term?

a. imagery

b. hyperbole

c. allusion

d. irony

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________________

a. is incorrect; however, it is the best wrong answer. There is some description going on, but it lacks the detail that is normally thought of with imagery. If you picked this, don't feel bad, you are close.

b. is incorrect since the boy is actually telling the truth and not exaggerating at all.

c. is incorrect. There is no reference to anything in this picture.

d. is correct. The mom makes a comment to infer that she is not gullible, yet she is reading an impossible diet book showing that she is indeed very gullible.

September 12, 2011

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

Which of the following is a run on sentence?

a. Astronomers used to think that there was another planet between Mercury and the sun; it was named Vulcan after the Roman god of fire.

b. Astronomers used to think that Earth had two moons, but the unseen one, named Lilith, was always dark.

c. There is an asteroid named Ceres that is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that is round just like a planet.

d. Some astronomers believe that there is a dark star that circles our sun, it knocks comets our way every 26 million years.

Scroll down for the answer.

*Note* Several students look at these questions and just guess without trying since the answer choices are so long. The EOC knows you do this. That is why they put long answer choices in the EOC.

___________________________________

a. is incorrect - while it is two sentences (or more correctly, independent clauses), they are correctly joined together by a semicolon. Don't let its length fool you. The length of the sentence does not matter when looking for run ons.
b. is incorrect - using a comma and but is an acceptable way to join two sentences.

c. is incorrect - is is just a regular sentence.

d. is correct - the two sentences are joined by a comma. This error is known as a comma splice and results in a run on sentence. You could correct this by changing the comma to a semicolon (as in choice a) or by changing the comma to a period and capitalizing it. By the way, the comets would account for the mass extinction Earth faces every 26 million years. Also by the way, some say it is about time for the next comet induced mass extinction. Look it up. The unknown star is named Nemesis.

September 9, 2011

2011-09-09T06:00:00.002-04:00

In the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the character Jack Watson says, "I'm drawing for me and my ma."

a. leave it as, "me and my ma."
b. change to, "I and my ma."
c. change to, "my ma and me."
d. change to, "my ma and I"

Scroll down for the answers

__________________________

a. is incorrect
b. is incorrect
c. is correct. The rule is that you always put yourself last and that you need the object case pronoun, which in this case is me, not I (that would be the nominative case).
d. is incorrect. It sounds like it might be the grammatically correct thing to say since we have been taught to say "Samantha and I went to the store" over "Samantha and me went to the store" so often that we almost feel as if the word "me" is always incorrect.

~

September 8, 2011

2011-09-08T06:00:00.003-04:00

Read the passage and determine the tone of the author:

It was so embarrassing. I spilled my drink in the class. To make matters worse, it spilled on my pants. Then my teacher stopped the whole class to wait while I cleaned it up. I hate it when everyone is staring at me.

Is the tone of the speaker:

a. annoyed
b. apathetic
c. humiliated
d. paranoid

Scroll down for the answers

_________________________________________________________________

Apathetic is completely wrong since apathetic means not caring, and the speaker is clearly bothered by this incident.

Paranoid is wrong. While the speaker is concerned with others looking at him, he doesn't show the extreme worry that matches paranoid's connotation.

Annoyed is wrong since we do not get a strong sense of annoyance, at least not to out weigh the correct answer. You may have been tempted to put annoyed since you may have felt annoyed at your teacher in that case, but remember, the tone is about the speaker's/author's feelings, not yours (that is mood). This is a wrong answer, but it is the best wrong answer since tone and mood are similar in some aspects.

Humiliated is the correct answer since the speaker is very embarrassed.

September 7, 2011

2011-09-07T06:00:00.002-04:00

Read the following passage:

I could have been the star player on our team, but my old glove was too small and was my Achilles heel.

This is an example of which literary term?

a. personification

b. hyperbole

c. allusion

d. irony

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________________

c. is the correct answer - allusion means to make a reference to something else, in this case to Achilles, the Greek hero who could only be hurt on his heel.

Labor Day

2011-09-05T04:13:00.000-04:00

What kind of nerd are you? It's Labor Day! Take a break.

See you tomorrow.

September 2, 2011

2011-09-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Which of the following is a fragment?

A. Playing Wii video games and eating pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hutt the whole night long.

B.Watching the movie, Nina finally understood Romeo and Juliet.

C. Jumping up and down on the trampoline for hours is a lot of fun.

D. It was a dark and stormy night.

Scroll down for the answer

________________________________________________________________________________

A fragment is an incomplete sentence. The best way to think about is to figure out which sentence does not complete a thought. It makes no difference how long or short the sentence is.

The correct answer is A.

September 1, 2011

2011-09-01T05:53:00.002-04:00

Read the following and decide on the tone of the writer:

The coach yelled at us for losing the game. I didn't see what the big deal was. It's not like we're professional athletes or anything. Besides, my mom is taking me to Bojangles after the game whether we win or lose.

Is the tone of this passage:

a. angry
b. ecstatic
c. indifferent
d. sarcastic

Scroll down for the answer

______________________________________
Answer:

C - indifferent (this means that the person does not care one way or the other)

D - is wrong because the level of sarcasm in this passage is much lower than the level of indifference - HOWEVER - D is the best wrong answer, so your guessing skills aren't too far off

A - is wrong because the coach is angry, not the speaker

B - is wrong because ecstatic means very, very happy and while Bojangles should be enough to make anyone happy (mmm...Bojangles), the speaker is not showing great happiness

August 31, 2011

2011-08-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following sentences and make the correction:

(1) Recently in the news, a group of archaeologists found something that a lot of people can not believe. (2) They found what some think is Noah's Ark on top of Mt. Ararat.

What correction needs to be made to sentence number 1?

a. change archaeologists to archeologists

b. change a lot to alot

c. change can not to cannot

d. change believe to beleive

Scroll down for the answer

_________________________________

All of these answers deal with spelling. The only word that needs to have a spelling change is can not. Cannot should be spelled as one word.

August 30, 2011

2011-08-30T06:00:00.005-04:00

Read this short story by Richard Brautigan:

"It is hard to live in a studio apartment in San Jose with a man who's learning to play the violin." That's what she told the police when she handed them the empty revolver.

Based on this story, what is most likely to happen next?

a. the police will arrest the man for disturbance of the peace

b. the police will suggest an apartment for her to move to

c. the woman will go to jail

d. the police will fine the man for playing too loudly

Scroll down for the answer

______________________________________
b. is completely wrong. While police are helpful, other clues show that they are not there to help her move (at least not to another apartment).

a. and d. are both wrong. The man did play loudly, but we have no indication that the police are there because of the violin.

c. is correct. The empty revolver shows that the police are there to investigate the murder of our loud violinist. The woman is explaining why she did it.

Summer Break

2011-06-02T06:00:00.002-04:00

We're either testing or finished. Either way, my year is done.

We'll be back in business this August - ready for the fun to begin anew!

Teachers, please leave a comment if you used the blog this year and tips on what I can do to make it better, if you have them. I would love to hear any comments.

Tip of the Month - June

2011-06-01T06:06:00.001-04:00

EOC Tip

Watch the clock. The test administrator will write the time on the board that the next break will begin. Do not start a long passage if you know that the break will begin before you can finish the reading. You'll just forget what you have read or you'll have to re-read it. Instead, look back at some of the longer grammar questions. We often skip through those too fast since each answer choice is so long. A second look might be in order.

*

May 31, 2011

2011-05-31T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following sayings:

Live and learn.

Stay the course.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Save it for a rainy day.

What goes around, comes around.

These sayings are examples of:

a. irony
b. pun
c. hyperbole
d. cliche

Scroll down for the answer.

________________
The correct answer is d. A cliche is a phrase that is used way too often. A good writer avoids them like the plague. Ha! Get it?
Anyway, it probably will not be on the EOC, but it has appeared before.

~

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-27T14:57:00.002-04:00

Try out this little quiz to see how smart you are. Those who have heard it before, do not shout out the answers.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Scroll down...

Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door.

This question tests whether you tend to over think.

O.K., try again:

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Scroll down...

Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door.

This tests your ability to deal with the consequences of your previous actions.

Doing well? Try again...

3. The King of the Forest is hosting a party. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?

Scroll down...

The Elephant. The elephant is still in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory.

OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross. There are no boats. There is no bridge. It is too far across to jump. There is a sign that says the river is full of man-eating crocodiles. How do you manage it?

Scroll down...

You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the party.

This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

How'd you do? Ready for this EOC yet?

May 26, 2011

2011-05-26T06:00:00.001-04:00

What is the correct way to write this title?

a. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
b. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
c. "Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix"
d. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

Scroll for the answer.

________________
Titles of books should be underlined or put in italics. They should also have the first word and all major words capitalized. Keep lower case small words like articles and small prepositions.

b. is the correct answer.

~

May 25, 2011

2011-05-25T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following sentences:

There were several instances at the zoo today. First, the monkeies got free and terrorized the tigers, who kept jumping at the bars to get them. Next, a little boy got lost and was found inside the gorilla cage. Finally, the parking lot had a tree fall and block the exit, so everyone was backed up waiting to leave. It was an awful day.

What needs to be changed to correct these sentences?

a. change There to They're
b. change monkeies to monkeys
c. change them. to them;
d. change everyone to every-one

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________
a. is incorrect. Learn your homophones. They will appear as both right and wrong answers all over the composition section of the EOC.
b. is correct. Never make a plural by creating a situation where three vowels would be in a row.
c. is incorrect. You cannot join the sentences without lower casing the next word.
d. is incorrect. Most of the time, you will not want to use a hyphen.

May 24, 2011

2011-05-24T06:00:00.001-04:00

Look at the picture below:

What needs to change to make this sign correct?

a. TEACHER'S to TEACHERS
b. TEACHER'S to TEACHERS'
c. LOUNGE to LOUNGES
d. nothing - teachers don't make mistakes

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________
In order to get this question, know that the lounge belongs to the teachers. We need to show both possessive and plural.

a. is incorrect. It only shows plural - not possessive.
b. is correct. When the apostrophe comes after the S, it means the word is both plural and possessive.
c. is incorrect. There is only one lounge (and some schools are lucky to get one!)
d. is incorrect. While it is true that teachers do not make mistakes, this sign would have been commissioned by a principal or superintendent. Those people are always making mistakes.

For more apostrophe failures, check out http://www.apostropheabuse.com
~

May 23, 2011

2011-05-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following sentence:

The explorers finally discovered that the place where they landed did not have none of the minerals they wanted.

What needs to be changed to correct this sentence?

a. change none to any
b. change place to place,
c. change explorers to explorer's
d. change landed to land

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________
a is correct. This is a double negative. Pay attention to the EOC when it offers to change none or nothing. Chances are likely that it is a double negative problem.
b. is incorrect. When in doubt about a comma issue, read the sentence to see if a pause is used there. This doesn't always work, but it does most times.
c. is incorrect. Never use an apostrophe to make a plural.
d. is incorrect. Keep all verb tenses the same.

May 19, 2010

2011-05-19T06:00:00.002-04:00

Read part IV of "The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe:

Hear the tolling of the bells -Iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people - ah, the people -
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone -
They are neither man nor woman -
They are neither brute nor human -
They are Ghouls: -
And their king it is who tolls: -
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells: -
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells: -
To the sobbing of the bells: -
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells -
To the tolling of the bells -
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells, -
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

What literary term is used way too much in this poem?

a. allusion

b. hyperbole

c. repetition

d. verbal irony

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________

c. is the correct answer.

May 17, 2011

2011-05-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following sentence:

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

After you've tried to say this three times fast, what literary term is this an example of (twice even?

a. hyperbole
b. verbal irony
c. alliteration
d. pun

Scroll down for the answer.

______________
a. is incorrect. There is no exaggeration here.
b. is incorrect. While verbal irony does deal with saying things, it means that what is said is not what is meant.
c. is correct. The tongue twister alliterates the "l" sound and the "w" sound by placing them at the beginning of words spaced closely together.
d. is incorrect. A pun is a play on words and while this sentence maybe playful, it's not a pun. The punned word must have a double meaning.

~

May 16, 2011

2011-05-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the first stanza from "The Star Spangled Banner."

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

According to this stanza, where is the flag?

a. flying proudly over the fort
b. flying proudly over the land of the free and the home of the brave
c. destroyed by a bomb that burst in mid air
d. the author doesn't know where the flag is

Scroll down for the answer.

___________________
See that question mark at the end of the stanza? The author is asking if the flag is still up. Therefore the correct answer is d.

~

Friday the 13th

2011-05-13T06:00:00.002-04:00

By using word parts and any other clues available on this blog entry, what does this word mean?

triskaidekaphobia

Scroll down for a hint.

Break it into word parts and you'll recognize "tri" "dek" and "phobia"

Scroll down for the answer.

____________________
Based on tri=3, dek=10, and phobia=fear of plus the fact that today is Friday the 13th, you can deduce that this word means, "fear of the number 13."

May 11, 2011 Mystery Men Part 2

2011-05-11T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following passage (same one as yesterday). It involves three small time superheroes talking about a major hero - Captain Amazing.

Furious: You know who doesn't think it's a waste of money? Little Mr. Captain Amazing.

Shoveler: Well, Captain--If we had a billionare like Lance Hunt as our benefactor, yeah, we could spend one-fifty.

Furious: Yeah well that's 'cause Lance Hunt /is/ Captain Amazing.

Shoveler: Oh, don't start that again.

Raja: Oh, here we go.

Shoveler: Lance Hunt wears glasses. Captain Amazing doesn't wear glasses.

Furious: He takes them off when he transforms.

Shoveler: That doesn't make any sense. He wouldn't be able to see.

In the highlighted line above, what is the most likely the word "is" is set off by / / ?

a. to separate the names "Lance Hunt" from "Captain Amazing"

b. it was an error in the script writer's draft that was later fixed by the editor

c. to how that this word isn't said outloud

d. to insure the actor emphasizes that word more

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________

d. is the correct answer.

May 10, 2010 Mystery Men Part 1

2011-05-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following passage taken from Mystery Men. In this excerpt, three failed superheroes (Mr. Furious, The Shoveler, and the Blue Raja) discuss getting a public relations agent to help them out.


Shoveler: It's a waste of money.

Furious: You know who doesn't think it's a waste of money?  Little Mr. Captain Amazing.
Shoveler: Well, Captain--If we had a billionare like Lance Hunt as our benefactor, yeah, we could spend one-fifty.
Furious: Yeah well that's 'cause Lance Hunt /is/ Captain Amazing.
Shoveler: Oh, don't start that again.
Raja: Oh, here we go.
Shoveler: Lance Hunt wears glasses. Captain Amazing doesn't wear glasses.
Furious: He takes them off when he transforms.
Shoveler: That doesn't make any sense. He wouldn't be able to see.

What type of genre is the above passage?

a. fable b. drama c. epic d. nonfiction

Scroll down for the answer.

______________________

a. is incorrect. A fable is a short story that teaches a lesson and usually has animals as the main character

b. is correct. The EOC will use the term drama to mean a play.

c. is incorrect. An epic is a looooooong poem about a hero. While this is about heroes, it is not poetry.

d. is incorrect. Nonfiction means that it is a true story. While this is a funny story and a great story, it is far from being a true story.

May 9, 2011

2011-05-09T06:00:00.002-04:00

Read the following quotes taken from the Harry Potter books. All quotes are from Hagrid, the giant friend of Harry and his pals who lives outside the castle and is not allowed to use magic like the rest of the characters.

"I'm not blamin' yeh...but I gotta tell yeh, I thought you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all."

"What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does."

"Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."

"Yeh did as much as yer father would've done, an' I can' give yeh no higher praise than that."

"Gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?"

"Yer' great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."

What is the most likely reason that the author has Hagrid speaking this way?

a. to make Hagrid seem very different from the other characters
b. the author can't spell well
c. Hagrid is an idiot
d. it foreshadows that Hagrid is not to be trusted

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________
a. is correct. Everything about Hagrid is to make him different. He's big, he has no fashion sense, he lives in a small house outside the castle, he can but doesn't normally use magic, etc.

Note that you do not need to have read or watched the movies to get this question correct. The EOC will give you everything you need to know in the little blurb before the passage.

May 4, 2011

2011-05-04T06:00:00.002-04:00

What is the picture below an example of? (Teachers please forgive me.)

a. archetypes

b. soliloquy

c. hyperbole

d. irony

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________

d. is the correct answer. Irony comes in different forms, but mostly it is the unexpected in some way.

May 3, 2011

2011-05-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following excerpt taken from: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20110502/NEWS01/105020306

A. I am a big fan of establishment. Really.

B. It gets things done. It keeps people safe. Establishment means running water and electricity.

C. But there's a caveat to that. I am a fan of purposeful establishment. Establishment with a reason. Purposeful establishment can mean running water.

D. On the other hand, I absolutely loath pointless establishment. Standardized college tests, such as the ACT or SAT, are an example of this, something that has turned into an establishment with no real reason for it.

Which of the above paragraphs have an example of redundancy?

Scroll down for the answer.

_________________________________

Redundancy is repeating the same ideas, just not using the same words. They are sometimes difficult to spot in someone else's writing and practically impossible to find in your own (but something that you need to do).

d. is the correct answer. Why? Well, here's the statement: "Standardized college tests, such as the ACT or SAT, are an example of this, something that has turned into an establishment with no real reason for it." see the italicized words? They mean the same. There is no reason that they should be in the same paragraph, much less the same sentence.

April 29, 2011

2011-04-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following:

On her way home, Jan found a gold man's watch.

What needs to be changed to make this sentence correct?

a. change home, to home;
b. change home, to home
c. change gold man's to man's gold
d. change man's to men

Scroll down to see the answer.

_______________________
a. is incorrect. On the EOC you will probably only use a semicolon to join two independent clauses (two complete sentences).
b. is incorrect. Place commas after introductory phrases
c. is correct. This is a misplaced modifier. The way it is written means that the man is gold, not the watch.
d. is incorrect. Since this is a possessive word, there is no need to change it to a plural spelling.

~

More on misplaced modifiers at: http://www.towson.edu/ows/moduledangling.htm

April 25, 2011

2011-04-25T06:05:00.001-04:00

Which of the following is a fragment?

a. The Aztecs didn't usually kill their enemies in battle.
b. Weapons designed for maiming and injuring, mostly, not for killing their opponents.
c. Instead, they took them prisoners and sacrificed them to their gods.
d. Heads would roll down the pyramids by the hundreds.

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________________
b. is the sentence fragment

~

April 21, 2011

2011-04-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

Read the following poem by Basho:

It is deep autumn
My neighbor
How does he live, I wonder.

What is most likely the meaning of this poem?

a. The narrator worries about how his neighbor is going to make it through the cold nights
b. The narrator is approaching death and is now beginning to concern himself with the welfare of those around him
c. The narrator has just realized he knows nothing about his neighbor's life
d. The narrator cannot understand how the neighbor is still alive.

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________
Since this is a poem, a short one at that, we must look for clues to see if there is more to this than meets the eye. The only clue we are given is that it is autumn. Autumn is an archetype that means approaching old age and death. With this in mind, the correct answer is b.

April 19, 2011

2011-04-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Read the following sentence.

"Your going to get yours!" yelled the soaking wet kid after getting a swirly by the school bully.

What needs to be changed to make this sentence correct?

a. change "Your to "You're
b. change yelled to Yelled
c. change soaking wet to soaking, wet
d. change school bully to school-bully

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________
a. is correct. It should be "You are" so the "you're" homophone is the correct one.
b. is incorrect. This was tricky. In a quotation, an ! and ? can act the same as a comma.
c. is incorrect
d. is incorrect

~