Mark Twain’s Language Name:Period:

Language Quiz

1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10. / What was your score?
What does this reflect about your dialect and cultural background?

Colloquial Language: The ______language we use in ______. It is sometimes ______, and it may contain ______words and phrases. It varies from ______to ______and among ______groups.

Dialect: the way of ______and writing that is ______to a specific ______of the country. Every ______differs from every other dialect in the details of its ______, grammar and pronunciation. Writers often use dialect to make their characters seem ______.

Regionalism: Words or ______peculiar to a particular region. In literature regionalism is the tendency among certain authors to write about ______geographical areas. Regional writers present the distinct ______of an area, including its speech, ______, beliefs and history.

Mark Twain and Humor

Exaggeration: To represent as______than is actually the case; ______

Hyperbole: ______exaggeration

Irony

Verbal: ______the ______of what is meant.

Situation: the ______of what is ______to ______occurs

Dramatic: Readers______something the character______

Dialect: ______or ______variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech______from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists

Understatement:a statement that is restrained(less) in ironic to what might have been said

Meiosis: understatement for______effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary meaning); "saying `I ______a little upset' when you mean `I was ______upset'

Parody/Satire: ______an original work

Interpret the Passage

Envelope/frame narrative- ______

Reading Questions

  1. What does the narrator hope to learn from Simon Wheeler? What does he learn instead?
  1. According to Wheeler, what was Jim Smiley’s favorite activity?
  1. Which frog wins the jumping contest? Why?
  1. “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a story within a story—that is, it consists of a frame story (at the beginning and the end) and an inner story. What is the basic plot of the frame story?
  2. The narrator asks Wheeler about Leonidas W. Smiley
  3. Instead, Wheeler tells him about ______
  4. ______
  5. ______

AFTER READING

Write a thesis statement answering the following Essential question:

What elements of humor are most effective in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”? (refer to the front of this page to review the elements of humor)

SAMPLE Thesis Statement:

Exaggeration, irony and dialect are the most effective elements of humor in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”.

THESIS: ______

______

Find a supporting quote (textual evidence) for each of the claims in your thesis.

Claim about the story / Evidence (Quotes with page #s) / Explanation of quote