from Sinners in the Hands of

an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards

Look for examples of
the following as you
read this selection.
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
Language used in a
nonliteral way, usually
involving imaginative
comparisons such as
similes and metaphors.
IMAGERY
Language that appeals
to the senses.

LITERARY FOCUS: FIGURES OF SPEECH

Writers use figures of speech to help us see the world in new, imaginative
ways. A figure of speech compares one thing to another, very different,
thing. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards uses
figures of speech to make his readers experience the horrors he is describing. In one memorable example, he describes wickedness as being heavy
as lead. By using this figure of speech, a simile, Edwards compares the idea
of wickedness to an everyday material his audience is familiar with. The
figure of speech helps them feel the dead weight of wickedness.

Whats the Difference? Three of the most commonly occurring figures of

speech are simile, metaphor, and personification.
A simile compares two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than,
or resembles: Her heart is as cold as a dungeon.
A metaphor compares two different things without using such words
as like or as: Life is a carnival.
Personification gives human characteristics to objects, animals, or
abstractions: The flowers nodded their heads in agreement.

READING SKILLS: IDENTIFYING AN AUTHORS PURPOSE

Literary Skills
Understand
figures of
speech.
Reading
Skills
Identify an
authors
purpose.

Most writers have a purpose for putting words to paper. Some writers want
to create a whole imaginative world of their own. Some want to share
information. Some want to convey a message to their readers. Others hope
to tap into readers feelings or reason and persuade them to accept a way
of thinking or to take some particular action. Jonathan Edwardss vivid,
intense sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was written with a
clear purpose_to make the experience of hell so real and frightening that
people in his audience would change their lives.

Use the Skill

As you read the selection, circle the details that reveal the
authors purpose.

Review Skills
Understand
figurative
language and
imagery.

22

Part 1

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

REVIEW SKILLS

from

Jonathan Edwards
So that, thus it is that natural men1 are 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 toward them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of His wrath in hell, and they

provoked (pr vkt) v.

used as adj.: angered.
appease ( pz) v.: calm;
satisfy.

have done nothing in the least to appease or abate2 that anger,

neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them
up one moment: The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for
them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain3
10

lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their

Re-read lines 8-10. Circle the

nouns, and underline the
verbs and verb forms that
create images of horror.
(Review Skill)

own hearts is struggling to break out: And they have no interest

in any Mediator,4 there are no means within reach that can be
Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

any security to them.

In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all
that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will,
and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance5 of an incensed6 God.

Re-read lines 17-21. What

does Edwards say is his
purpose for discussing the
subject of sinners and
punishment? Underline the
answer.

The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is
the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world
20

of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad

Underline the images in lines

19-22 that help you picture
this world of misery.
(Review Skill)

under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the
wrath of God; there is hells wide gaping mouth open; and you

1.
2.
3.
4.

natural men: people who have not been reborn.

abate v.: reduce in amount or intensity.
fain adv.: archaic word meaning happily or gladly.
Mediator: Jesus Christ. In general, one who intervenes between two
parties in conflict.
5. forbearance n.: tolerance or restraint.
6. incensed v. used as adj.: angered; enraged.
from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

23

Yale University Art Gallery. Bequest of Eugene Phelps

Edwards (1938.74).

have nothing to stand upon,

nor anything to take hold of;
there is nothing between you

According to Edwards, what

would happen if God were
to withdraw His hand
(lines 29-38)?

and hell but the air; it is only

the power and mere pleasure
of God that holds you up.
You probably are not
30

sensible of this; you find you

are kept out of hell, but do
not see the hand of God in it;

State the message of lines

39-46 in your own words.

Reverend Jonathan Edwards

(17501755) by Joseph Badger. Oil
on canvas (2812 22).

but look at other things, as

the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your
own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But
indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw His
hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than
the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and
40

to tend downward with great weight and pressure toward hell;

and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and
swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your
contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more
influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spiders
web would have to stop a fallen rock. . . .
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for
the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and

constitution
(knst tn) n.:
physical condition.

higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is

50

contrivance (kn trvns) n.:

scheme; plan.

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 Gods vengeance have
been withheld; but your guilt in the meantime is constantly

Lines 47-51 contain a powerful simile. To what is

Edwards comparing Gods
wrath? Underline the answer.
(Review Skill)

24

Part 1

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

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best

go forward. If God should only withdraw His hand from the

floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods
60

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 it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than
the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be

inconceivable
(inkn sv bl) adj.:
unimaginable; beyond
understanding.
omnipotent (m nip tnt)
adj.: all-powerful.

nothing to withstand or endure it.

The bow of Gods wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready
on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and
strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God,
and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at
70

all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk

Underline the extended

metaphor in lines 66-71 that
Edwards uses to describe
Gods wrath. Explain the
metaphor in your own
words. (Review Skill)

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. However you may have reformed your
life in many things, and may have had religious affections,7 and
Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets,8 and

in the house of God, it is nothing but His mere pleasure that
80

keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting

destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth
of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it.
Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with
you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly
upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while

What does Edwards believe

will happen to people who
practice religion but havent
given themselves to God
(lines 76-81)?

they were saying, peace and safety: Now they see, that those
things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.

7. affections n. pl.: feelings.

8. closets n. pl.: rooms for prayer and meditation.

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

25

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one
90

holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors

you, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath toward you burns

Re-read lines 89-95. What

two creatures does Edwards
compare sinners to?

like fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be

cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in
His sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in His
eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. 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

abhors (ab hrz) v.: scorns;

hates.

100

was suffered to awake again in this world, 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 arose in the morning, but

abominable
( bm n bl) adj.:
hateful; disgusting.

that Gods hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be
given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in

ascribed ( skrbd) v.:

regarded as coming from
a certain cause.

the house of God, provoking His pure eyes by your sinful

wicked manner of attending His solemn worship. Yea, there is
nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this

induce (in ds) v.:

persuade; force; cause.

very moment drop down into hell.

110

Re-read lines 98-103.

Underline the phrases that
sum up Edwardss belief
about why sinners have not
fallen into the fires of hell.

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;9 and you have no

Read the boxed passage

aloud two times. On the
first read, pay attention to
punctuation signaling when
you should pause, when you
should come to a complete
stop, and where you should
use your voice to show
emotion. The second time
you read, try to bring
Edwardss imagery to life.

interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save

yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of
your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you
can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. . . .

9. asunder adv.: into pieces.

26

Part 1

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: It is a

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Reading Skills: Identifying an Authors Purpose
Most authors have a
purpose, or reason, for writing. Jonathan Edwardss purpose for writing
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is very clear, and his vivid details and
frightening metaphors help him get his message across. Fill in the chart below
with some details from the sermon that reveal Edwardss purpose for writing.

Authors Purpose
To scare his congregation into obeying the word of God
Passage 1

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Passage 2

Passage 3

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

27

from Sinners in the Hands

of an Angry God
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
DIRECTIONS: Write vocabulary words from the Word Box on the correct blanks to complete the paragraph. Not all words will be used.

Word Box

Jonathan Edwardss emotional sermons described an all-powerful,

provoked

(1)

appease

(2)

constitution
contrivance
inconceivable
omnipotent

God. Edwards wanted to

, or force, his listeners to obey God. His descrip-

tions of God were not meant to calm or (3)

fears of his audience. Instead, he wanted them to believe that Gods anger
was (4)

by their sins. Many modern readers find

Edwardss scare tactics loathsome and (5)

abhors

the

abominable

induce

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

A prefix is a letter, syllable, or word part that is added to the beginning of a
word. A suffix is a letter, syllable, or word part that is added to the end
of a word. Both prefixes and suffixes change the meaning of a word.
DIRECTIONS: Using the information in the box, match each numbered word
with its definition. Write the letters on the blanks.
Common Prefixes and Suffixes
con- means with or together
omni- means all
Vocabulary
Skills
Use vocabulary
in context.
Understand
prefixes and
suffixes.

28

Part 1

_____
_____
_____
_____
_____

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

omnipresent
arguable
attendance
converge
breakable

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

-able means capable of

-ance means state of being

come together
able to be argued
state of being present at (an event)
able to be broken
everywhere; present at all times

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

ascribed

22

Part 1

Review Skills
Understand
figurative
language and
imagery.

Reading
Skills
Identify an
authors
purpose.

Literary Skills
Understand
figures of
speech.

IMAGERY
Language that appeals
to the senses.

FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
Language used in a
nonliteral way, usually
involving imaginative
comparisons such as
similes and metaphors.

Look for examples of

the following as you
read this selection.

REVIEW SKILLS

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

Use the Skill

As you read the selection, circle the details that reveal the
authors purpose.

Most writers have a purpose for putting words to paper. Some writers want
to create a whole imaginative world of their own. Some want to share
information. Some want to convey a message to their readers. Others hope
to tap into readers feelings or reason and persuade them to accept a way
of thinking or to take some particular action. Jonathan Edwardss vivid,
intense sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was written with a
clear purpose_to make the experience of hell so real and frightening that
people in his audience would change their lives.

READING SKILLS: IDENTIFYING AN AUTHORS PURPOSE

Whats the Difference? Three of the most commonly occurring figures of

speech are simile, metaphor, and personification.
A simile compares two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than,
or resembles: Her heart is as cold as a dungeon.
A metaphor compares two different things without using such words
as like or as: Life is a carnival.
Personification gives human characteristics to objects, animals, or
abstractions: The flowers nodded their heads in agreement.

Writers use figures of speech to help us see the world in new, imaginative
ways. A figure of speech compares one thing to another, very different,
thing. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards uses
figures of speech to make his readers experience the horrors he is describing. In one memorable example, he describes wickedness as being heavy
as lead. By using this figure of speech, a simile, Edwards compares the idea
of wickedness to an everyday material his audience is familiar with. The
figure of speech helps them feel the dead weight of wickedness.

LITERARY FOCUS: FIGURES OF SPEECH

from Sinners in the Hands of

an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

20

10

23

Underline the images in lines

19-22 that help you picture
this world of misery.
(Review Skill)

Re-read lines 17-21. What

does Edwards say is his
purpose for discussing the
subject of sinners and
punishment? Underline the
answer.

Re-read lines 8-10. Circle the

nouns, and underline the
verbs and verb forms that
create images of horror.
(Review Skill)

appease ( pz) v.: calm;

satisfy.

provoked (pr vkt) v.

used as adj.: angered.

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

natural men: people who have not been reborn.

abate v.: reduce in amount or intensity.
fain adv.: archaic word meaning happily or gladly.
Mediator: Jesus Christ. In general, one who intervenes between two
parties in conflict.
5. forbearance n.: tolerance or restraint.
6. incensed v. used as adj.: angered; enraged.

1.
2.
3.
4.

wrath of God; there is hells wide gaping mouth open; and you

under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the

of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad

the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world

verted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is

The use of this awful subject may be for awakening uncon-

and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance5 of an incensed6 God.

that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will,

In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all

any security to them.

in any Mediator,4 there are no means within reach that can be

own hearts is struggling to break out: And they have no interest

lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their

them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain3

up one moment: The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for

neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them

have done nothing in the least to appease or abate2 that anger,

ing the executions of the fierceness of His wrath in hell, and they

anger is as great toward them as to those that are actually suffer-

already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, His

over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are

So that, thus it is that natural men1 are held in the hand of God,

Jonathan Edwards

from

Collection 1

Student pages 2223

Student Pages with Answers

13

14

30

The Holt Reader: Teachers Manual

Reverend Jonathan Edwards
(17501755) by Joseph Badger. Oil
on canvas (2812 22).

24

Part 1

50

waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to

and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that holds the

waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty;

increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the

been withheld; but your guilt in the meantime is constantly

not been executed hitherto; the floods of Gods vengeance have

let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has

stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is

higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is

the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and

The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for

web would have to stop a fallen rock. . . .

influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spiders

contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more

healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best

swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your

and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

Lines 47-51 contain a powerful simile. To what is

Edwards comparing Gods
wrath? Underline the answer.
(Review Skill)

contrivance (kn trvns) n.:

scheme; plan.

constitution
(knst tn) n.:
physical condition.

a falling rock.

spider web could stop

you, any more than a

ness would not protect

to tend downward with great weight and pressure toward hell;

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and

the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.

your health, your care,

and your righteous-

hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than

indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw His

own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But

the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your

but look at other things, as

not see the hand of God in it;

are kept out of hell, but do

sensible of this; you find you

You probably are not

God should let you go,

heavy as lead, and if

Your wickedness is as

State the message of lines

39-46 in your own words.

40

of God that holds you up.

into hell.

the power and mere pleasure

Sinners would fall

and hell but the air; it is only

According to Edwards, what

would happen if God were
to withdraw His hand
(lines 29-38)?

there is nothing between you

nor anything to take hold of;

have nothing to stand upon,

80

70

60

7. affections n. pl.: feelings.

8. closets n. pl.: rooms for prayer and meditation.

ing but thin air and empty shadows.

wont be saved.

He believes they

25

What does Edwards believe

will happen to people who
practice religion but havent
given themselves to God
(lines 76-81)?

to the hearts of sinners.

arrow that is directed

anger to a bow and

He compares Gods

Underline the extended

metaphor in lines 66-71 that
Edwards uses to describe
Gods wrath. Explain the
metaphor in your own
words. (Review Skill)

omnipotent (m nip tnt)

adj.: all-powerful.

inconceivable
(inkn sv bl) adj.:
unimaginable; beyond
understanding.

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

things on which they depended for peace and safety, were noth-

they were saying, peace and safety: Now they see, that those

upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while

you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly

Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with

of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it.

destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth

keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting

in the house of God, it is nothing but His mere pleasure that

may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets,8 and

life in many things, and may have had religious affections,7 and

hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your

and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the

creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new,

your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new

change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon

with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great

all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk

and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at

strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God,

on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and

The bow of Gods wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready

nothing to withstand or endure it.

the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be

times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than

omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand

inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with

of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with

floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods

go forward. If God should only withdraw His hand from the

Collection 1

Student pages 2425

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Yale University Art Gallery. Bequest of Eugene Phelps

Edwards (1938.74).

26

Part 1

110

100

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one

9. asunder adv.: into pieces.

can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. . . .

your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you

yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of

interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save

moment to singe it, and burn it asunder;9 and you have no

the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every

many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with

wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against

of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose

great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: It is a

very moment drop down into hell.

nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this

wicked manner of attending His solemn worship. Yea, there is

the house of God, provoking His pure eyes by your sinful

given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in

that Gods hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be

have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but

eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you

was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your

nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you

from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to

did his prince; and yet it is nothing but His hand that holds you

have offended Him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel

eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You

His sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in His

cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in

like fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be

you, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath toward you burns

holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

Read the boxed passage

aloud two times. On the
first read, pay attention to
punctuation signaling when
you should pause, when you
should come to a complete
stop, and where you should
use your voice to show
emotion. The second time
you read, try to bring
Edwardss imagery to life.

Re-read lines 98-103.

Underline the phrases that
sum up Edwardss belief
about why sinners have not
fallen into the fires of hell.

induce (in ds) v.:

persuade; force; cause.

ascribed ( skrbd) v.:

regarded as coming from
a certain cause.

abominable
( bm n bl) adj.:
hateful; disgusting.

abhors (ab hrz) v.: scorns;

hates.

and to a serpent.

to a spider or insect

He compares them

Re-read lines 89-95. What

two creatures does Edwards
compare sinners to?

90

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

There is nothing between you and hell but the air. . . . (lines 25=26)

Passage 3

The use of this awful subject may be for awakening

unconverted persons in this congregation. (lines 17=18)

Passage 2

The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them. . . . (lines 8=9)

Passage 1

Authors Purpose
To scare his congregation into obeying the word of God

Reading Skills: Identifying an Authors Purpose

Most authors have a
purpose, or reason, for writing. Jonathan Edwardss purpose for writing
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is very clear, and his vivid details and
frightening metaphors help him get his message across. Fill in the chart below
with some details from the sermon that reveal Edwardss purpose for writing.
Suggested entries appear below.

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

27

Collection 1

Student pages 2627

Student Pages with Answers

15

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

16

The Holt Reader: Teachers Manual

God. Edwards wanted to

provoked

28

Part 1

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

omnipresent
arguable
attendance
converge
breakable

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Collection 1: Encounters and Foundations to 1800

e
_____
b
_____
c
_____
a
_____
d
_____

-able means capable of

-ance means state of being

come together
able to be argued
state of being present at (an event)
able to be broken
everywhere; present at all times

con- means with or together

omni- means all

Common Prefixes and Suffixes

abominable

by their sins. Many modern readers find

Edwardss scare tactics loathsome and (5)

was (4)

DIRECTIONS: Using the information in the box, match each numbered word
with its definition. Write the letters on the blanks.

Vocabulary
Skills
Use vocabulary
in context.
Understand
prefixes and
suffixes.

the

fears of his audience. Instead, he wanted them to believe that Gods anger

appease

, or force, his listeners to obey God. His descrip-

A prefix is a letter, syllable, or word part that is added to the beginning of a

word. A suffix is a letter, syllable, or word part that is added to the end
of a word. Both prefixes and suffixes change the meaning of a word.

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

induce

ascribed

abominable

abhors

omnipotent

inconceivable

contrivance

induce

omnipotent

Jonathan Edwardss emotional sermons described an all-powerful,

tions of God were not meant to calm or (3)

(2)

appease

constitution

(1)

provoked

Word Box

DIRECTIONS: Write vocabulary words from the Word Box on the correct blanks to complete the paragraph. Not all words will be used.

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT

from Sinners in the Hands

of an Angry God

What I Learned

29

Reading
Skills
Make inferences
about an
authors beliefs.

Literary Skills
Understand the
characteristics of
autobiography.

from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Use the Skill

As you read the selection, use the details in the text to make
inferences about Equianos beliefs. To make an inference, combine what you
already know with clues given in a text. Then, use this information to make
a good guess about what the author really thinks or feels about a subject.

In some pieces of literature, the writer may directly state a personal belief;
for example, I never believed communism was the answer. Sometimes,
however, writers only hint at their beliefs, leaving us to infer, or make an
educated guess, about what they are. In this autobiography, Olaudah
Equiano does both: He directly states some of his beliefs and hints at others.

READING SKILLS: MAKING INFERENCES ABOUT AN AUTHORS BELIEFS

Subject of Autobiography

Interesting Lives
Think for a moment about autobiographies youve read.
Write the author or subject of the autobiography in the left-hand column of
the chart below. Then, in the right-hand column, provide one or two details
you learned about each person.

An autobiography is the story of a persons life, written by that person. An

autobiography usually reveals the writers thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
Writers of autobiographies also tell how particular experiences shaped their
lives, providing details that only a person with firsthand experience would
know. This selection by Olaudah Equiano has unique historical value
because it was one of the first autobiographies written by a former slave.

LITERARY FOCUS: AUTOBIOGRAPHY

by Olaudah Equiano

from The Interesting Narrative of

the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Collection 1

Student pages 2829

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Name

Class

Selection:

Date
Author:

Figures of Speech
A figure of speech is a word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another and
that is not meant to be taken literally.
DIRECTIONS: The chart below describes the most common figures of speech. Fill in the
chart with examples from the selection. (Not all selections will include all types of figures
of speech.)
Figure of Speech

Example from the Selection

Simile: a comparison between two unlike

things, using a word such as like, than, as,
or resemblesfor example: She was as
graceful as a gazelle.

unlike things in which one thing is said to

be another thingfor example: She was a
gazelle leaping across the stage.

Personification: a figure of speech in

which an object or animal is given human
feelings or thoughtsfor example: The
stage refused all comfort to the dancers.

Symbol: a person, place, thing, or event

that has meaning in itself and that also
stands for something more than itselffor
example: A dove is a symbol of peace.

200

Graphic Organizers

Copyright by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Metaphor: a comparison between two