Midterm Exam Review for English 9

There will be questions that you need to answer about A Separate Peace. Your answers must be well developed paragraphs. You will have choices for this. The answers are worth 10 points of your total.

For these, think about the following:

  1. What is the theme of the novel? (What lesson does Gene learn?)
  2. What character traits does the protagonist (Gene) demonstrate?
  3. Analyze the plot (exposition, inciting event, rising action, climax, and resolution).
  4. What does the tree symbolize for Gene? What are other symbols in the novel?
  5. How does having the story occur during World War II impact the novel?
  6. What are the internal and external conflicts in the novel?
  7. How does a minor character such as Brinker or Leper enhance the novel?
  8. In what ways is Gene an “unreliable narrator”?
  9. What is a framework story? How does this novel work as a framework story?

These are the literary terms that you may need to review:

  1. Imagery— when the author describes something in a way that it appeals to your senses; usually this is visual imagery where you can “see” the image in your mind.
  2. Simile—comparison using “like” or “as”
  3. Metaphor—comparison not using “like” or “as”; Life is a bowl of chocolates. Life=bowl of chocolates
  4. Personification—giving inanimate objects human qualities
  5. Tone—the writer’s feeling towards what he or she is writing about
  6. Symbolism—when one “thing” stands for something else; the eagle represents the U. S.
  7. Plot—the sequence of events in a work of fiction; remember that nonfiction (like a science textbook) does not have a plot.

Be prepared to read a poem and sections of newspaper articles, short stories, and other works of literature. You will have questions to answer. Make sure that you know the words—synonym (words that mean the same) and antonym (opposites); opinion and fact; main idea; author’s purpose (to entertain, to summarize, to persuade, to justify); compare and contrast.

You will have to look at a Venn Diagram with ideas and determine how to best construct topic sentences based for an essay on those notes.

There are sentence combining sections. Re-write these sets of sentences as 1 sentence on a separate sheet.

Remember that the comma comes BEFORE the FANBOYS:

Correct: The midterm will not require much studying, BUT you do need to read very carefully.

You may need to combine the sentences with a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) or a subordinating conjunction such as “while.” Remember those complex sentences.

  1. Reading a book is a sedentary activity. Playing a sport is an active one.
  2. Mrs. Murray is tired from reading essays. She needs a vacation.
  3. Students need to complete their makeup work. If they don’t, they will have failing grades.
  4. Mrs. Murray is a very energetic person. She needs to lose weight.
  5. My daughter Sam hates to eat spinach. She always asks for another vegetable.
  6. Nansemond River High School has 1200 students. Nansemond River High School does not have many fights.
  7. Jogging on a treadmill is quite boring. Running on a warm, sandy beach is much more preferable.
  8. The wrestling team practices for four hours every day. They are in condition and win many matches.
  9. Jordan and Jason are gifted writers. They both need to work on their spelling.
  10. The teachers at NRHS have tutoring after school at least one day each week. Students have the opportunity to get extra help.
  11. Mr. McLemore comes to every home game. He can tell you the scores of all of those games.
  12. Midterm exams are not hard. You must study in order to be successful on them.

You will have an essay that requires sentence revision. Reminders—

  • Make sure that the sentences that you select are descriptive and specific.
  • Watch your verb tenses in the passage. If the story starts in past tense, make sure that every sentence continues in past tense. The same goes for present tense.
  • Watch your comma placement. Be careful with unnecessary commas.
  • Watch out for repeated uses of words. Sometimes, you may have to use a synonym.
  • Remember that it is NOT grammatically correct to write—“could of,” “should of,” “would of,” etc. The correct formation is “could HAVE,” should HAVE,” “would HAVE,” etc.

PARTICPIAL PHRASES-- You will have 6 questions related to participial phrases. Reminder: these are the phrases that look like verbs (ed, ing, or irregular ending) but act as adjectives.

Be careful when you combine sentences with participial phrases because the phrase usually must be next to the noun or pronoun that it is describing.

Correct: Running for the bus, the child stumbled on the curb. (Here, the phrase is next to “child” which it is describing.)

Incorrect: The child stumbled on the curb, running for the bus. (Here, the phrase is incorrectly placed next to “curb.” The curb is NOT running for the bus!)

Watch the use of commas with participial phrases. If the phrase is needed to identify the noun, do NOT use commas.

Correct: A policeman flashing his lights pulled over the driver. (Here, “flashing his lights” tells which policeman.)

Incorrect: A policeman, flashing his lights, pulled over the driver. (No commas needed)

Correct: The man wearing the black suit is my pastor. (Here, you need “wearing the black suit” to tell which man—no commas.)

Incorrect: The man, wearing the black suit, is my pastor. (Get rid of the commas!)

The exception to the “next to” rule occurs when the phrase follows a verb and describes the subject—

Correct: The driver stopped suddenly, causing an accident. (There is no noun between “causing an accident” and “driver” so it is clear that the phrase describes the driver.

APPOSITIVE PHRASES: There are 2 questions about appositives. Remember that these phrases are nouns that rename the noun or pronoun that comes before them. (The ones on the test come after the noun.)

Use commas around these when they are not needed and therefore can be removed from the sentence.

Correct: Michelle Obama, the wife of the President and the First Lady of the United States, just celebrated her 50th birthday. (The underlined phrase is not needed to know who Michelle Obama is so commas are needed.)

Incorrect: Michelle Obama, the wife of the President, and the First Lady of the United States, just celebrated her 50th birthday. (You do not need an extra comma in the middle; the commas go around the entire phrase.)

PRONOUN CASE: There are a couple of questions related to using the correct pronouns.

Incorrect: The coach and him are watching the game film. Correct: The coach and he are watching the game film.

In situations like this, switch the pronoun around with the other word, and you will instantly know the answer:

He and the coach are watching the game film. You would never “say”—Him and the coach are watching the game film.

Incorrect: The birthday gifts are for Sara and he. Correct: The birthday gifts are for Sara and him.

In prepositional phrases, use the objective case (me, him, her, them).

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Incorrect: The football teams, the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos, is playing in the Superbowl.

Incorrect: Doesn’t they plan to go on vacation?