IPG KAMPUS TEMENGGONG IBRAHIM, JOHOR BAHRU

PPISMP TESL COHORT 03

REVISION QUESTIONS
ESSAY: SHORT STORIES 25 MARKS
1. Compare the element of nature in A Worn Path by Eudora Welty with B.
Wordsworth by V.S. Naipul.
2. Life can take unexpected turn Discuss this statement in reference to A Worn
Path by Eudora Welty and An Ounce of Cure by Alice Munroe.
3. Compare the protagonists in The Third and Final Continent by Jhumpa Lahiri
with Two Kinds by Amy Tan.
4. Compare the theme of filial piety in The Third and Final Continent by Jhumpa
Lahiri and Two Kinds by Amy Tan.
5. Compare the protagonists in An Ounce of Cure by Alice Munroe and A&P
by John Updike.
6. Discuss the challenges in life faced by teenagers in An Ounce of Cure by Alice
Munroe and A&P by John Updike.
7. Discuss the significance of the setting in B. Wordsworth by V.S. Naipul and
The Third and the Final Continent by Jhumpa Lahiri
8. Love can change everything Discuss this statement in reference to The Kiss
by Kate Chopin and The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber.
Answer all the questions below:
Poetry
1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou
i)

Identify the persona. Does the persona send different message from the

ii )

List down two issues discussed in the poem.

iii )

Identify two literary devices and quote the evidence.

poet?

1. Democracy Langston Hughes

i ) What kind of mood does the poem has?
ii )

Identify the personas tone. How does it affect the reading?

iii )

Discuss the theme. Quote one piece of evidence from the text?

1. On A Tree Fallen Across The Road Robert Frost

i)

Identify the elements of nature in the poem.

ii )

How nature is portrayed in it?

iii )

Discuss the personas message. Identify two.

1. Hawk Roosting Ted Hughes

i)

Identify the persona. What is the personas perceive nature?

ii) Identify three literary devices in the poem. How do they affect the
understanding of the text?
iii)

Discuss the theme. Support your answer with two quotations from the

text.
1. I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud William Wordsworth
i)

Does nature affect the personas mood? How?

ii)

Compare stanza one and four.

iii)

Identify the tone and mood. How do they affect the personas message?

1. The Way Things Are Roger McGough

i)

Discuss the impact of repetition in the poem.

ii) List down three messages in the poem. Support the messages with
evidence from the text.
iii)
messages?

Highlight the irony in the poem. How does it relate to the personas

1. Mid-Term Break Seamus Heaney

i)

Identify the symbolism used in the poem. Quote evidence from the text.

ii)

How does the persona perceive death? Quote evidence from the text.

iii)

Identify the persona. Connect the personas mood with the theme.

1. Sadie and Maud Gwendolyn Brooks

i)

Highlight the irony in the poem. How does it relate to the personas

ii)

Identify the tone and mood. How do they affect the personas message?

messages?

iii) Who do you think is more successful? Why?

Short Stories Revision Questions
1. The Unicorn In The Garden James Thurber
i)

Identify the genre of this text. List down three characteristics of this genre.

ii ) Compare the husbands and the wifes character traits. List down two
positive and two negative character traits for each character.
iii ) What is the lesson learnt at the end of the story?
1. The Third And The Final Continent Jhumpa Lahiri
i)

What are the significant of the settings in the text?

ii)

Compare Mrs. Croft with the personas mother

iii) Identify the theme. How does the theme develop in the text? Support
your answer with evidence from the text.
1. An Ounce of Cure Alice Munro
i)

What is the significant of the title?

ii)

What does the protagonist try to prove when she got drunk?

iii)

How the adults react when she was caught drunk?

1. B. Wordsworth V.S. Naipul

i) Identify the theme. How does the theme develop in the text? Support
your answer with evidence from the text.
ii)

Discuss on the influence of nature on B. Wordsworths personality.

iii)

List down three issues raised in the text.

1. The Kiss Kate Chopin

i)

What reward that Nathalie expect in the dinner party?

ii) Compare Brantain and Harvy. List down two positive and two negative
character traits.
iii)

Does Nathalie make a good choice? Yes/No, Why?

1. Two Kinds Amy Tan

i)

Does the mothers expectation reasonable? Why?

ii)

Family is everything discuss this in relation to the protagonist and her

mother.
iii) Identify the theme in the story. Discuss how the theme is related to the
protagonists character traits.
1. A&P John Updike
i)

ii)

Identify the character traits for the characters below:

i.

Sammy

ii.

Quennie & her friends

iii.

Lengel

Does Sammy take the right action when he quit the job? Why?

iii) What does Lengel and A&P store symbolize?

1. A Worn Path Eudora Welty
i)

List down the challenges that Old Phoenix encounter in her journey to

ii)

How does nature treat human in the story? List down three ways.

the town.

iii)

Discuss the theme in this text. Provide suitable evidence for the

discussion.

Mock Exam Revision: Essay Pointers

What to write?
v A good, simple introduction
v Focus on similarities and differences on the topics below.
v Make sure all the points are supported with direct quotations from the text.
v Show critical analysis of the discussion.
v Provide some personal insights to the discussion (which poem that you like most or
which topic/element you find most unusual/interesting?)
v Show the effect of each topic on the readers
v Show direct comparison on all the topics below.
v A solid summary and reinforcement of personal insight to the analysis.

Poetry Essay:

subject matter
o the general info on the topic
o the persona why special?
o point of view

form and structure

o structure regular/ irregular ?

form Ballard/Sonnet/lyric?

open or closed form?

Language
o diction words:

standard/ x standard English shows the social status/education of

the persona

Slang shows the social status/education of the persona

Spelling regular/ irregular? Capital letter? Small letter?

Foreign words?

o rhyme scheme what is the rhyme scheme? Consistent? e.g. abab or

irregular? abcd?
o tone & mood the personas tone shows the character traits of the
persona. It also shows his/her emotion that link to the poem.
o figurative language? Too many? None? Does it affect the
reading/meaning?
o Poetic devices?
simile/metaphor/alliteration/hyperbole/imagery/onomatopoeia provide
specific quotation from the text. Do the devices share common image?
Does it affect the reading/meaning?

Theme/s
o Common theme/s
o How is theme developed in the poem?
o How does theme affect the reader?
o What evidence supports the theme/s?

Conclusion:

Summarize all the points above.

Reinforce the personal points.

End with a quotation to remember.

Short Stories Essay:

A good, simple introduction

Focus on similarities and differences on the topics.
Make sure all the points are supported with direct quotations from the text.
Show critical analysis of the discussion.
Provide some personal insights to the discussion (which traits/ topic/element you find
most unusual/interesting?)
Show the effect of each topic on the readers
Show direct comparison on all the topics.
A solid summary and reinforcement of personal insight to the analysis.

What to focus on?

Character
o Focus on similarities and differences in the protagonist and antagonists
character traits. Support with evidence from the text.
o Highlight the specific events that support the characters
action/behaviour/emotion/reaction.
o Highlight the positive and negative traits for each character.

o Which character that you like/dislike? Why? Why does this character
affect you?
o Theme/s and issues

Identify the theme/s.

Highlight how the theme connects the characters.

Highlight how the theme connects to the moral/social/religious

issues highlight in the text.

Always support with evidence from the text.

Point-of-view

Identify the point-of-view. First person? Third person?

What is the difference?

How does the p.o.v affect the reader?

How does the p.o.v affect the story?

Is there any change in the perspective is it same p.o.v

from the beginning to the end?

Always support with evidence from the text.

Setting

Where? Rural/urban? City/ village? Geographical

location.

Is there any significant landmark/historical

monument/ images?

Is there any link to history? Significant social

event?

How does the setting affect the story line/character/

theme?

Is there any significant change in the setting from

the beginning to the end of the story? Major/minor
change?

What are the similarities and differences in the

setting for both texts?

Conclusion:

Summarize all the points above.

Reinforce the personal points.

End with a quotation to remember.

TEST ONE SHORT STORIES

Essay
20%
Answer all the questions below:
1. Based on The Third and the Final Continent by Jhumpa Lahiri and Two Kinds by
Amy Tan discuss the ups and down in family relationship.
1. Compare An Ounce of Cure by Alice Munroe and A&P by John Updike. In your
comparison, the following aspects must be considered:
o Characters
o Theme/s and issues
o Point of view
o Setting
1. Based on B. Wordsworth by V.S. Naipul and A Worn Path by Eudora Welty,
discuss the connections between nature and human spirit.
1. Compare B. Wordsworth by V.S. Naipul and A Worn Path by Eudora Welty. In
your comparison, the following aspects must be considered:
o Characters
o Theme/s and issues

o Point of view
o Setting
1. Based on The Kiss by Kate Chopin and A&P by John Updike, discuss the ups and
downs in man-woman relationship
1. Compare The Kiss by Kate Chopin and The Third and the Final Continent by
Jhumpa Lahiri. In your comparison, the following aspects must be considered:
o Characters
o Theme/s and issues
o Point of view
o Setting
Requirements:

Read the questions carefully.

Use the answer sheets provided.

Use both texts in the discussion.

The minimum number of words 300 words.

All statements must be supported with suitable evidence from the text.

The evidence can be quoted directly from the text or in paraphrase forms.

TEST ONE SHORT STORIES

100%
1. The Unicorn in the Garden James Thurber
Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from
his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the
roses in the garden.
2. (a) What kind of genre used in this story? Provide another example for this
genre.
__________________________________________________________

(1 mark)
(b)

(i)

Identify the husbands character trait when he says, "Of course

not," said the husband. "The unicorn is a mythical beast."

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii) Identify the wifes character trait when she say, You are a booby," she said, "and I
am going to have you put in a booby-hatch."
____________________________________________________(1 mark)
(c) Identify the theme for this story. Support your answer with one piece of evidence
from the text.
Explanation: _______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________
Evidence: _________________________________________________
(3 marks)
(d) Does the wife deserve to be treated as a mad woman? Provide one reason for your
answer. _________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Reason: ___________________________________________________
(3 marks)
Total:________
2. The Third and The Final Continent Jhumpa Lahiri
(a) (i)

Identify the tone when the protagonist says, Until then I had not

thought very much about the moon shot. It was in the newspaper, of course, article upon
article. The astronauts had landed on the shores of the Sea of Tranquility, I had read,
traveling farther than anyone in the history of civilization.

___________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)
Identify the tone when the protagonist says, Before we cremated her I had
cleaned each of her fingernails with a hairpin, and then, because my brother could not
bear it, I had assumed the role of eldest son, and had touched the flame to her temple, to
release her tormented soul to heaven.
____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(b) Identify two conflicts in the story. Provide one piece of evidence for each conflict.
Conflict 1:___________________________________________________
Evidence: ____________________________________________________
Conflict 2: ____________________________________________________
Evidence: ____________________________________________________
(4 marks)
I was mortified. I had assumed Mrs. Croft was in her eighties, perhaps as old as ninety. I
had never known a person who had lived for over a century. That this person was a
widow who lived alone mortified me further still. Widowhood had driven my own mother
insane.
(c) Based on the extract above, how does it affect the protagonists relationship with
other women? ___________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
Based on the extract below, answer the following questions:
I know that my achievement is quite ordinary. I am not the only man to seek his fortune
far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by
each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room

in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my
imagination.
(d) (i)

How does the protagonist see his life achievement? Why?

____________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
(2 marks)
(ii)

What is the protagonists message to the reader?

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

___________________________________________________
(2 marks)
Total:________
1. An Ounce Of Cure Alice Munro
(a) Discuss the irony in the title, An Ounce of Cure Provide one piece of evidence
from the text.
__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
Evidence: _________________________________________________
(3 marks)
(b) Identify the literary devices below:
No.
Text
Device
1White Slave trade (pg. 20)
2 Martin has enough conceit to sink a battleship (pg. 22)
3The big softly lit room, with green and leaf-brown colours (pg. 22)
4perhaps feeling in my head a rustle of things come and went (pg. 23)
5 I was sick everywhere, everywhere (pg. 24)
6 I was sick everywhere, everywhere, and dropped like a stone, (pg.24)
(3 marks)
I supposed that besides being angry and disgusted with me, he was worried about taking
me home in this condition to my strait-laced parents, who could always say I got the
liquor in his house. Plenty of Temperance people would think that enough to hold him
responsible, and the town was full of Temperance people. Good relationships with the
town were very important to him from business point of view. (pg.26)
(c) Based on the extract above, why the adults reacted in such manner?

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(2 marks)

(d) Highlight the different reactions between the adults and the teenager in dealing with
teen alcoholism.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(2 marks)

Total: _________

1. B. Wordsworth V.S. Naipul

(a) Discuss the affect of the social class differences in the relationship between the
protagonist and Mr. B. Wordsworth.
__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
Based on the extract below, answer the following questions:
I said, Is a funny way to go round selling poetry like that. Only calypsonians do that sort
of thing. A lot of people does buy?
He said, No one has yet bought a single copy.
But why you does keep on going round, then?
He said, In this way I watch many things, and I always hope to meet poets.
I said, You really think I is a poet?
Youre as good as me, he said.
(b) (i)

What seems strange from the protagonists view?

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)
Identify the protagonists character trait when he says, Is a funny way to go
round selling poetry like that. Only calypsonians do that sort of thing. A lot of people
does buy? _______________________________________________
(1 mark)
(iii) What does Mr. B. Wordsworth do for a living?

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
Based on the extract below, answer the following questions:

He said, Good. Well, listen. That story I told you about the boy poet and the girl poet, do
you remember that? That wasnt true. It was something I just made up. All this talk about
poetry and the greatest poem in the world, that wasnt true, either. Isnt that the funniest
thing you have heard?
(c) (i)

Why Mr. Wordsworth do this?

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
(2 marks)
(ii)

What is the impact of the revelation towards the protagonist?

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
(2 marks)
I walked along Alberto Street a year later, but I could find no sign of the poets house. It
hadnt vanished, just like that. It had been pulled down, and a big, two-storied building
had taken its place. The mango tree and the plum tree and the coconut tree had all been
cut down, and there was brick and concrete everywhere.
It was just as though B. Wordsworth had never existed.
(d) Based on the extract above, what does the protagonist learn from his encounter with
Mr. B. Wordsworth? List down two lessons learnt.

Lesson 1:__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Lesson 2: _________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(4 marks)

Total:_________
1. The Kiss Kate Chopin
(a) How does Nathalie present herself to everyone around her?

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
For two weeks past he had sought her society eagerly and persistently. She was
confidently waiting for him to declare himself and she meant to accept him. The rather
insignificant and unattractive Brantain was enormously rich; and she liked and required
the entourage which wealth could give her.
(b) Based on the extract above, how does the situation above lead to conflict?

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
(c) (i)

Identify Nathalies character trait when she says, Of course, I

know it is nothing to you, but for my own sake I do want you to understand that Mr.
Harvy is an intimate friend of long standing. Why, we have always been like cousins -like brother and sister, I may say
____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)
Identify Brantains character traits when the narrator says, Her voice had
grown very low and agitated. The misery had all disappeared from Brantain's face.

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(d) Discuss the significance of the title The Kiss. Support your answer with two pieces
of evidence from the text.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Evidence 1: ________________________________________________

Evidence 2: ________________________________________________
(4 marks)
Well, she had Brantain and his million left. A person can't have everything in this
world; and it was a little unreasonable of her to expect it.
(e) Do you agree with Nathalies decision? Provide two reasons for your answer.
Answer: ___________________________________________________
Reason 1:__________________________________________________
Reason 2: _________________________________________________
(3 marks)

Total:_________

1. Two Kinds Amy Tan

(a) How does the protagonist react when her mother says, "Of course, you can be a
prodigy, too," my mother told me when I was nine. "You can be best anything.

__________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
Based on the extract below, answer the following questions:
In all of my imaginings I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect: My
mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the
need to sulk, or to clamor for anything. But sometimes the prodigy in me became
impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good," it
warned. " And then you'll always be nothing."
(b) (i)

What kind of conflict the protagonist has to face?

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)
How does this conflict affect the relationship between the protagonist and her
mother?

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
(2 marks)

(c) Identify the theme. How the theme is developed in the story? Provide two pieces of
evidence from the text.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(4 marks)
(d) (i)

Identify the protagonists mood when she says, She and I were

the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts - or. rather, thoughts filled with lots of
won'ts. I won't let her change me, I promised myself. I won't be what I'm not.
____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)
Identify the mothers mood when she says, our problem worser than yours. If
we ask Jing-mei wash dish, she hear nothing but music. It's like you can't stop this
natural talent."
____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
1. A & P John Updike
(a) What does the protagonist means when he says, She had sort of oaky hair that the
sun and salt had bleached, done up in a bun that was unravelling, and a kind of prim
face. Walking into the A & P with your straps down, I suppose it's the only kind of face
you can have.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(2 marks)

(b) Identify the literary devices below:

No.
Text
Device
1 the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal
tilted in the light.
2 The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle
3 the A & P was a great big dune
4 "Hello (bing) there, you (gung) hap-py pee-pul (splat)"-the splat being the drawer
flying out
(4 marks)
(c) (i) What does the persona means when he says, I bet you could set
off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking
oatmeal off their lists and muttering "Let me see, there was a third thing, began with A,
asparagus, no, ah, yes, applesauce!" or whatever it is they do mutter.
____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii) What does Lengel means when he says, Girls, this isn't the beach."
____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
(2 marks)
As I say, we're right in the middle of town, and if you stand at our front doors you can see
two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store and three real-estate
offices and about twenty-seven old free-loaders tearing up Central Street because the
sewer broke again. It's not as if we're on the Cape; we're north of Boston and there's
people in this town haven't seen the ocean for twenty years.
(d) Based on the extract above, discuss the significance of the setting.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(3 marks)
(e) (i)

Identify the theme in A&P.

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)

Relate the theme with Sammys decision to quit.

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
(3 marks)
Total: _________
1. A Worn Path Eudora Welty
(a) She wore a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe tops, and an equally long
apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket: all neat and tidy, but every time she
took a step she might have fallen over her shoelaces, which dragged from her unlaced
shoes.
Based on the descriptions above, discuss the protagonists character.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
(b) How nature is portrayed in the text? Provide two pieces of evidence from the text.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Evidence 1:________________________________________________

Evidence 2: ________________________________________________
(4 marks)

(c) (i)

What does the hunter means when he says, "I know you old

colored people! Wouldn't miss going to town to see Santa Claus!"

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
(2 marks)

(ii)
But something held old Phoenix very still. The deep lines in her face went into a
fierce and different radiation.
What kind of mood is Old Phoenix in?

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(d) (i)

"Speak up, Grandma," the woman said. "What's your name? We

must have your history, you know. Have you been here before? What seems to be the
trouble with you?"
Identify the tone in the extract above.

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)

Phoenix spoke unasked now, "No, missy, he not dead, he just the same.

Identify the tone in the extract above.

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(e) (i)

Why Old Phoenix brave the journey to town?

____________________________________________________
(1 mark)
(ii)
What kind of treatment Old Phoenix received on her journey? Identify two
characters and describe how they treated Old Phoenix.
Character
Action
(4 marks)

(iii)

Identify theme in this story. Support your answer with two pieces

of evidence from the text.

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
(4 marks)
Total:_________