CHSPE Language Practice Questions

Read the sentence. If it needs to be changed, select the correct version. Otherwise select Correct as is.

1. Even so the bat flew so fast that he could not catch it.
A: Correct as is.
B: Even so, the bat flew so fast that he couldn't not catch it.
C: Even so, the bat flew so fast that he could not catch it.
D: Even so; the bat flew so fast that he could not catch it.

2. Through travel and education, your able to open your mind.
A: Correct as is.
B: Through travel and education your able to open your mind.
C: Though travel and education, you're able to open your mind.
D: Through travel and education, you're able to open your mind.

3. 'It works', she said excitedly.
A: Correct as is.
B: 'It works,' she said excitedly.
C: 'It works.' She said excitedly.
D: 'It works, she said excitedly.'

4. The most dangerous animals in the jungle, the lions, are always hungry.
A: Correct as is.
B: The most dangerous animals, in the jungle, the lions, are always hungry.
C: The most dangerous animals in the jungle the lions, are always hungry.
D: The most dangerous animals in the jungle the lions are always hungry.

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:

Breakfast was laid for two in the smallest room--a jewel of a room--of perhaps the largest house in Park Lane . It was already half-past ten, but as yet there was only one occupant of the room, an elderly lady of striking appearance. Her face, a long oval face, was wrinkled and crow-footed in a thousand lines; her capacious forehead was contracted as if with thought; her white eyebrows were thick and firmly drawn; her deep-set eyes were curiously keen and bright; her features were strongly marked, --it was a handsome face which could never, even in early girlhood, have been a pretty face; her abundant hair was of a rich creamy white, the kind of white which in age compensates its owner for the years of her youth when it was inclined to redness; her mouth was full, the lower lip slightly projecting, as is often found with those who speak much and in large rooms; her fingers were restless; her figure was withered by time. When she laid aside the paper she had been reading, and walked across the room to the open window, you might have noticed how frail and thin she seemed, yet how firmly she walked and stood. This wrinkled face, this frail form, belonged to the foremost intellect of England ; the lady was none other than Dorothy Ingleby, Professor of Ancient and Modern History in the University of Cambridge .

5. Which word best describes the tone of this passage?
A: lazy
B: lyrical
C: hilarious
D: intriguing

6. What does the author mean when he describes the woman's face as 'crow-footed'?
A: it is covered in wrinkles
B: she has crows painted on her cheeks
C: it is black
D: it is dirty

7. What does the author infer from the appearance of the woman's lower lip?
A: she is sad
B: that she speaks in public often
C: she is pouting
D: she is stupid

8. Which sentence best describes the elderly woman?
A: She used to be very beautiful.
B: She looks weak but is really very strong
C: She is extremely lonely.
D: She looks strong but is really very weak

9. Why does the author wait so long to identify the elderly woman?
A: he can't remember her name
B: to build suspense
C: no reason
D: to make the story less interesting

10. What kind of book did this passage most likely come from?
A: autobiography
B: editorial
C: novel
D: news article

Answer Key

1. C. A comma is necessary after 'so' in order for the sentence to make sense.

2. D. The proper form is the contraction of 'you are.'

3. B. The comma should go inside the quotation marks.

4. A. The sentence is correct as is.

5. D. The purpose of the passage is to interest the reader in the elderly woman.

6. A. The wrinkles on the woman's face look like the tracks left by crow's feet.

7. B. The author claims that a protruding lower lip indicates that a person 'speaks much and in large rooms.'

8. B. The author states that though the woman, looks weak, she is actually steady and formidable.

9. B. By withholding the woman's name, the author tries to pique the reader's interest.

10. C. This passage is most interested in entertaining the reader, and in drawing the reader into a story.

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CHSPE Practice Questions