English 3R Sample Midterm

English 3R

SAMPLE Midterm

Part 1 Multiple Choice:

You will be provided with TWO reading passages.

They will be challenging and we STRONGLY suggest that you reach each passage twice before you answer any questions.

You will answer multiple choice questions.

Part 2 Written Response:

You will read a third passage and write a well-developed, text-based response of two to three paragraphs about ONLYthe third passage.

You have to:

  • identify a central idea in the text
  • analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy

(literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) supports the central idea

Important Terms:

Definition / Example
Allusion
Central Idea
Characterization
Claim
Comparison
Conflict
Contrast
Diction
Ethos
Exaggeration
Figurative Language
Flashback
Foil
Foreshadow
Irony
Logos
Metaphor
Mood
Narrator
Repetition
Pathos
Simile
Structure
Symbolism
Theme
Tone

In the excerpt, Jonathan Edwards presents his most famous sermon, which he delivered on a visit to the congregation at Enfield, Connecticut, in 1741. The “uncovenantedor natural men” he is trying to awaken and persuade are those in the congregation who have not been “born again,” meaning that they have not accepted the Christian god as their savior.

Excerpt from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

By Jonathan Edwards

So that thus it is that natural men held in the hand of God over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked: His anger is as great towards them as those that are actually suffering the execution of the fierceness of His wrath in hell; and they have done nothing in the least to appease[1] or abate[2] that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up for one moment. The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain[3] lay hold on them, and swallow them up.

Your wickedness makes you, as it were, heavy as lead, and to rend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell, and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink, and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf; and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you, and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock….

The wrath of God is like great waters that are restrained for the present; but they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped the more rapid and mighty is its course when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the meantime is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw His hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.

The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string; and justice directs the bow to your heart, and strains at the bow: and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.

Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God.

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much in the same way as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; His wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. You have offended Him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet, it is nothing but His hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this would, after you closed your eyes to sleep; and there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arouse in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given, but His mercy; yea, no other reason can be given why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

O sinner! consider the fearful danger you are in! It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath that you are held over in the hand of that God whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of Divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder. . . .

It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite, horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see along forever a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul. And you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages in wrestling with this Almighty, merciless vengeance. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite.

Oh! who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it. It is inexpressible and inconceivable: for "who knows the power of God's anger"!

How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh! that you would consider it, whether you be young or old!

There is reason to think that there are many in this congregation, now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have.

If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing it would be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him!

But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell! And it would be a wonder, if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons that now sit here in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, and quiet and secure, should be there before tomorrow morning!

Part 1: Multiple Choice

The questions below refer to the selection “from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

____ 1. In lines 1-8, Edwards presents God as a being who —

a. wants humans to suffer

b. continually redefines the universe

c. is irritated and vengeful

d. easily forgives repentant sinners

____ 2. Jonathan Edwards probably draws the comparison of God’s fury to natural forces inlines 15-17 (“The wrath of God … once it is let loose”) in order to

  1. put abstract things into physical terms people can understand
  2. achieve a poetic effect
  3. suggest that it is nature, not God, that people should fear
  4. make God seem less terrifying

____ 3. What contrasting images does Edwards use to describe God’s wrath in lines 6-8 and lines 15-20?

a. heat and cold

b. sunlight and rain

c. darkness and light

d. fire and water

____ 4. What is the meaning of the metaphor in line 28?

  1. God is violent.
  2. God’s wrath is misdirected.
  3. God’s anger will cause much pain.
  4. God is prepared to demonstrate his anger.

____ 5. The expression “you that never passed under a great change of heart” (Line 32)refers to

a. people who have died while in the midst of evil activities.

b. those who have not yet adopted the Christian God as their savior

c. those whose sins have caused their deaths.

d. people who are not religious and never attend church.

____ 6. Edwards compares each of his listeners to “a spider, or some loathsome insect [held] over the fire” (Lines 36-37) in order to stress a human being’s

a. powerlessness in comparison to God.

b. unimportance in God’s plan.

c. ugliness in God’s eyes.

d. courage in the face of God’s wrath.

____ 7. The purpose of figurative language in lines 46-50 is to

a. frighten the audience.

b. amuse the audience.

c. fascinate the audience.

d. make the audience feel superior.

____ 8. The phrase “exquisite, horrible misery” in line 52 serves to emphasize

a. the beauty of hell

b. the reason for suffering

c. the length of punishment

d. the sharp, intense pain in hell

____ 9. In lines 72-76, Edwards builds a sense of urgency and danger by suggesting that

a. death and damnation may occur at any moment

b. the church is being persecuted by unholy forces

c. ministers alone can determine who is to be saved

d. the end of the world is coming soon

____ 10. Jonathan Edwards’s primary purpose in using such strong, graphic language such as in lines 6-8 is to

  1. terrorize his audience
  2. make real the concept of sin and its punishment
  3. parade his own rhetorical gifts
  4. shock the staid Puritans

____ 11. Toward the end of the sermon, Edwards’s tone shifts from

a. sorrowful to joyous.

b. joyous to resentful.

c. frightening to hopeful.

d. threatening to accusatory.

____ 12. Edwards’s purpose in delivering this sermon is to—

  1. frighten his listeners so much that they never return to church
  2. shock his congregation into mending their ways and seeking salvation
  3. give such a memorable speech that his congregation will never forget him
  4. dominate his congregation and maintain his position in the church

Part 2

Text-Based Response

Your Task: Closely read the text provided and write a well-developed, text-based response of two to three paragraphs. In your response, identify a central idea in the text and analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea. Use strong and thorough evidence from the text to support your analysis. Do not simply summarize the text. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and the next page to plan your response. Write your response in the spaces provided.

Guidelines:

Be sure to:

  • Identify a central idea in the text
  • Analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea.
  • Examples include: characterization, conflict, denotation/connotation, metaphor, simile, irony, language use, point-of-view, setting, structure, symbolism, theme, tone, etc.
  • Use strong and thorough evidence from the text to support your analysis
  • Organize your ideas in a cohesive and coherent manner
  • Maintain a formal style of writing
  • Follow the conventions of standard written English

[1]to make (someone) pleased or less angry by giving or saying something desired

[2]to put an end to

[3] willingly