Deck 4: Describing

Question 1

Read the following paragraphs and answer the questions after each paragraph.
Nameless, Tennessee, was a town of maybe ninety people if you pushed it, a dozen houses along the road, a couple of barns, same number of churches, a general merchandise store selling Fire Chief gasoline, and a community center with a lighted volleyball court. Behind the center was an open-roof, rusting metal privy with PAINT ME on the door; in the hollow of a nearby oak lay a full pint of Jack Daniel's Black Label. From the houses, the odor of coal smoke.
-William Least-Heat Moon
-What dominant impression does William Least-Heat Moon communicate in this paragraph?

Answer 1

This is a classic, rural town.

Question 2

Read the following paragraphs and answer the questions after each paragraph.
Nameless, Tennessee, was a town of maybe ninety people if you pushed it, a dozen houses along the road, a couple of barns, same number of churches, a general merchandise store selling Fire Chief gasoline, and a community center with a lighted volleyball court. Behind the center was an open-roof, rusting metal privy with PAINT ME on the door; in the hollow of a nearby oak lay a full pint of Jack Daniel's Black Label. From the houses, the odor of coal smoke.
-William Least-Heat Moon

-The author uses the senses to communicate his dominant impression. List three details from this paragraph and the senses they draw on.

Answer 2

Sight: a dozen houses a general merchandise store selling Fire Chief gasoline lighted volleyball court open-roof, rusting metal privy
PAINT ME on the door In the hollow of a nearby oak lay a full pint of Jack Daniel's Black Label
Smell: odor of coal smoke

Question 3

Read the following paragraphs and answer the questions after each paragraph.
Nameless, Tennessee, was a town of maybe ninety people if you pushed it, a dozen houses along the road, a couple of barns, same number of churches, a general merchandise store selling Fire Chief gasoline, and a community center with a lighted volleyball court. Behind the center was an open-roof, rusting metal privy with PAINT ME on the door; in the hollow of a nearby oak lay a full pint of Jack Daniel's Black Label. From the houses, the odor of coal smoke.
-William Least-Heat Moon
-List three details that show rather than tell.

Answer 3

Answers will vary, but see answer 2.

Question 4

Read the following paragraphs and answer the questions after each paragraph.
Nameless, Tennessee, was a town of maybe ninety people if you pushed it, a dozen houses along the road, a couple of barns, same number of churches, a general merchandise store selling Fire Chief gasoline, and a community center with a lighted volleyball court. Behind the center was an open-roof, rusting metal privy with PAINT ME on the door; in the hollow of a nearby oak lay a full pint of Jack Daniel's Black Label. From the houses, the odor of coal smoke.
-William Least-Heat Moon
-How does Least-Heat Moon organize the details in this paragraph?

Question 5

Mrs. McWeeney was dry, tight, small, and pig-eyed. She had hard gray hair pressed into waves that grasped her scalp like a migraine… . She wore a creaky white uniform and spongy ripple-soled nurse shoes that she painted white every week; we could watch the paint cracking and peeling off between Monday and Friday… .
Mrs. McWeeney was unpredictable. She'd gnarl her face up for no reason while giving us our bedtime meds and slam back into the nursing station without a word. We'd have to wait for her to calm down before getting our nightly [medicine]; sometimes we waited for as long as half an hour.
-Susanna Kaysen
-What dominant impression does Susanna Kaysen communicate in these paragraphs?

Question 6

Mrs. McWeeney was dry, tight, small, and pig-eyed. She had hard gray hair pressed into waves that grasped her scalp like a migraine… . She wore a creaky white uniform and spongy ripple-soled nurse shoes that she painted white every week; we could watch the paint cracking and peeling off between Monday and Friday… .
Mrs. McWeeney was unpredictable. She'd gnarl her face up for no reason while giving us our bedtime meds and slam back into the nursing station without a word. We'd have to wait for her to calm down before getting our nightly [medicine]; sometimes we waited for as long as half an hour.
-Susanna Kaysen

-The author uses the senses to communicate her dominant impression. List three details from these paragraphs and the senses they draw on.

Question 7

Mrs. McWeeney was dry, tight, small, and pig-eyed. She had hard gray hair pressed into waves that grasped her scalp like a migraine… . She wore a creaky white uniform and spongy ripple-soled nurse shoes that she painted white every week; we could watch the paint cracking and peeling off between Monday and Friday… .
Mrs. McWeeney was unpredictable. She'd gnarl her face up for no reason while giving us our bedtime meds and slam back into the nursing station without a word. We'd have to wait for her to calm down before getting our nightly [medicine]; sometimes we waited for as long as half an hour.
-Susanna Kaysen

-List three details that show rather than tell.

Question 8

Mrs. McWeeney was dry, tight, small, and pig-eyed. She had hard gray hair pressed into waves that grasped her scalp like a migraine… . She wore a creaky white uniform and spongy ripple-soled nurse shoes that she painted white every week; we could watch the paint cracking and peeling off between Monday and Friday… .
Mrs. McWeeney was unpredictable. She'd gnarl her face up for no reason while giving us our bedtime meds and slam back into the nursing station without a word. We'd have to wait for her to calm down before getting our nightly [medicine]; sometimes we waited for as long as half an hour.
-Susanna Kaysen

-How does Kaysen organize the details in these paragraphs?

Question 9

A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green-and-yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun.
-N. Scott Momaday
-What dominant impression does N. Scott Momaday communicate in this paragraph?

Question 10

A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green-and-yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun.
-N. Scott Momaday

-The author uses the senses to communicate his dominant impression. List three details from this paragraph and the senses they draw on.

Question 11

A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green-and-yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun.
-N. Scott Momaday

-List three details that show rather than tell.

Question 12

A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green-and-yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun.
-N. Scott Momaday
-How does Momaday organize the details in this paragraph?

Question 13

Describing is a ____________ process that we engage in every day.

A) difficult
B) intelligent
C) natural
D) little understood

Question 14

Description allows you to

A) include every detail that you remember.
B) convey a dominant impression about what you remember.
C) relive a memory.
D) tell a story.

Question 15

Effective description will allow you to

A) let your reader feel your experience.
B) explain something difficult to understand.
C) relate a detailed story.
D) mislead your reader.

Question 16

Sensory details refer to

A) the aspects of an experience you can intuitively sense.
B) the aspects of an experience you cannot name but only describe.
C) the minute details that can be easily forgotten if not included in a description.
D) the aspects of an experience that you can physically perceive.

Question 17

Which of the following sentences shows rather than tells?

A) Jackie has such beautiful hair.
B) Adrianne's new gray stereo with three-foot speakers, a remote control, and a six-CD changer is cool.
C) I just bought a new camera, bookshelf, picture frame, and albums from the store yesterday.
D) Shawn is nervous.

Question 18

How can you ensure that you are showing rather than telling your reader what they should know?

A) Use concrete details.
B) Use abstract details.
C) Use all the details you can remember.
D) Use sensory details.

Question 19

Which of the following organizations is not common to descriptive writing?

A) from particular to general
B) chronologically
C) spatially
D) from general to particular

Question 20

Which of the choices describes the organization used in this paragraph?
I feel really comfortable in my bedroom because I have a soft, plush carpet in the entry. Its brown and tan hues are calming colors that put me at ease as soon as I walk in. The thin and breezy white curtains are sheer so they allow just enough sunlight to warm my bedroom with the golden light of the afternoon sun. Beside my bed is my white nightstand that holds my radio, and its relaxing music tinkles and hums while I sit back on my six puffy pillows. My favorite, the giraffe print, has a silky exterior and is filled with a spongy stuffing. On the other side of my bed is a row of five vanilla-scented candles that radiate a warm and tempting fragrance.

A) from specific to general
B) chronologically
C) spatially
D) from most complex to least complex

Question 21

In Joseph Bruchac's autobiographical description, which sense does the author predominantly use?

A) sound
B) sight
C) touch
D) taste

Question 22

Which of the choices describes the organization used in Bruchac's descriptive paragraph?

A) chronologically
B) from most complex to least complex
C) spatially
D) from general to particular

Question 23

Description paints a picture in words to help a reader ________________ something you have seen or heard or done.

Question 24

Choosing a dominant impression will give your description ____________ and unity.

Question 25

The ____________ senses you draw on, the ________________ interesting your description will be.

Question 26

Effective description includes ________________ your readers your experience as opposed to simply telling them about your experience.

Question 27

Most descriptions are organized from ____________ to ________________, from _______________ to _______________, or ___________________.

Question 28

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-This was a wonderful clock to see, but after I heard it that first hour, then the next, and then always, this clock became an extravagant nuisance.

A) fancy
B) ugly
C) expensive
D) drab

Question 29

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-If I look upon my whole life, I cannot think of another time when I felt more comfortable: when I had no worries, fears, or desires, when my life seemed as soft and lovely as lying inside a cocoon of rose silk.

A) haze
B) trap
C) shell
D) room

Question 30

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-I tired of anything that was not a novelty .

A) expensive item
B) unique item
C) colorful item
D) large item

Question 31

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-In the evening, when there was nothing to do, we talked about the servants: who was clever, who was diligent , who was loyal.

A) responsible
B) irresponsible
C) lazy
D) stubborn

Question 32

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-First Wife, her daughters … gone on a pilgrimage to another Buddhist temple.

A) vacation
B) religious journey
C) school trip
D) business trip

Question 33

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-And the first thing I saw, the only thing I could see at first, was a magnificent bed.

A) fine
B) uncomfortable
C) comfortable
D) bare

Question 34

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-Four posts held up a silk canopy, and at each post dangled large silk ties holding back curtains.

A) grew
B) reached
C) grasped
D) hung

Question 35

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-There were no willows or sweet-smelling cassia trees, no garden pavilions , no benches sitting by a pond, no tubs of fish.

A) recreational buildings
B) sheds
C) baths
D) laundry lines

Question 36

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-It was three stories high, of mortar and stone, with long metal balconies on each floor and chimneys at every corner.

A) glass
B) steel
C) wood
D) masonry cement

Question 37

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-And then shehastily explained that Second Wife had told everyone not to expect us for another week at least.

A) calmly
B) hurriedly
C) quietly
D) loudly

Question 38

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-According to the narrator, in what style is her new home built?

A) Eastern
B) Western
C) contemporary
D) soothing

Question 39

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-The narrator's new home has what at each corner?

A) chimneys
B) gargoyles
C) flags
D) large clocks

Question 40

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-Who is Yan Chang?

A) the mother
B) the first wife
C) the mother's maid
D) a cousin

Question 41

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What is the first thing the narrator sees in her new bedroom?

A) an enormous window
B) a beautiful rug
C) a small puppy
D) an enormous bed

Question 42

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-The narrator describes the bed as both

A) depressing and moldy.
B) heavy and light.
C) pink and blue.
D) big and comfortable.

Question 43

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-How does the narrator's uncle feel about the marriage of his mother to Wu Tsing?

A) that her marriage will be beneficial
B) that her marriage is shameful
C) that her marriage will be a happy one
D) that her marriage is an honor

Question 44

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What ability does the narrator learn from her experience with the clock?

A) She learns that she can withstand disappointment.
B) She learns that she can fix clocks.
C) She learns patience.
D) She learns how not to hear some noises.

Question 45

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-The narrator indicates that by having so many new and wonderful things she became

A) a generous person.
B) an expert on fine art.
C) spoiled and quickly bored with anything new.
D) appreciative of all that she had.

Question 46

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What does the narrator's mother do at night with her daughter?

A) stare out the window
B) bathe the other children in the house
C) get into arguments
D) tell stories

Question 47

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-How does the narrator feel about this time in her life?

A) It was one of the most stressful times in her life.
B) It was one of the hardest times in her life.
C) It was one of the most worry-free times in her life.
D) It was one of the most confusing times in her life.

Question 48

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-The narrator and her mother had stayed at ____________ house before moving.

Question 49

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-The narrator and her mother moved to a new house because __________________.

Question 50

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-The narrator was kept awake for many nights by a _____________.

Question 51

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-Wu Tsing had become rich through his ___________ factories.

Question 52

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-Wu Tsing liked to own things made by _______________.

Question 53

Answer the following questions about the essay.

-What sort of change was the move for the narrator and her mother?

Question 54

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-In what order does Tan describe the house? Is this effective, or could she have chosen a better method of organization?

Question 55

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-On which items does Tan focus her descriptions? What tone do these items set? What other items were probably in the house but were not described? Why do you think Tan doesn't describe them?

Question 56

Answer the following questions about the essay.

-Despite the luxurious setting, Tan includes a number of clues that indicate the situation may not be as positive as it first appears. What are these clues?

Question 57

Answer the following questions about the essay.

-Do you think things will continue to go as well for the narrator in the future? Why or why not?

Question 58

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-Like many immigrant offspring I felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new, approved of on either side of the hyphen.

A) doubtful
B) stressful
C) motivated
D) confident

Question 59

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-These ordinary facts seemed part of a secret, utterly alien way of life, and I took pains to hide them from my American friends.

A) foreign
B) crazy
C) passionate
D) mysterious

Question 60

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-I felt doomed by their pronouncement , misunderstood and gradually defiant.

A) statement
B) report
C) encouragement
D) discouragement

Question 61

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-I felt doomed by their pronouncement, misunderstood and gradually defiant .

A) difficult
B) upset
C) rebellious
D) frustrated

Question 62

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-My first book was published in 1999, and around then, on the cusp of a new century, the term "Indian-American" had become part of this country's vocabulary.

A) mark
B) rumor
C) opening
D) border

Question 63

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-What a difference from my early life, when there was no such way to describe me, when the most I could do was to clumsily and ineffectually explain.

A) remotely
B) weakly
C) strangely
D) clearly

Question 64

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-The traditions on either side of the hyphen dwell in me like siblings, still occasionally sparring , one outshining the other depending on the day.

A) falling
B) arguing
C) embracing
D) disappearing

Question 65

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-Around non-Indian friends, I no longer feel compelled to hide the fact that I speak another

A) forced
B) ready
C) ashamed
D) lost

Question 66

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-I feel Indian not because of the time I've spent in India or because of my genetic composition but rather because of my parents' steadfast presence in my life.

A) imaginary
B) unresolved
C) exciting
D) loyal

Question 67

Choose the correct definition for each of the following underlined words from the essay.

-The immigrant's journey, no matter how ultimately rewarding, is founded on departure and deprivation , but it secures for the subsequent generation a sense of arrival and advantage.

A) lack
B) appreciation
C) confidence
D) approval

Question 68

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-Where is Lahiri's family from?

A) Dubai
B) Calcutta
C) Bangladesh
D) New York City

Question 69

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-Which of the following terms does Lahiri identify with?

A) a foreigner
B) an American citizen
C) American Indian
D) Indian-American

Question 70

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-As a child, Lahiri felt comfortable with having both Indian and American cultures.

Question 71

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What language does Lahiri speak at home with her parents?

A) Hindi
B) Urdu
C) Bengali
D) Indian

Question 72

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-Which of the following constituted Lahiri's American culture?

A) school
B) books
C) television
D) all of the above

Question 73

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-Which of the following is not a reason Lahiri considers herself different from her American classmates?

A) not attending Sunday school
B) wearing traditional Indian clothing
C) not knowing how to ice skate
D) going to India for months at a time

Question 74

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What is the main subject of Lahiri's writing?

A) The Indian-American experience
B) Indian traditions
C) The parent-child relationship
D) Growing up in Rhode Island

Question 75

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What is the difference between Lahiri and her friends who identify as "Irish-American" or "Italian American"?

A) They did not take pride in their heritage.
B) They were several generations removed from immigration.
C) They did not look Irish or Italian.
D) They spoke their native languages fluently.

Question 76

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What protects Lahiri from being an "imposter"?

A) her religion
B) her writing
C) her parents
D) her children

Question 77

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions about the essay.

-What does Lahiri now appreciate about using the term "Indian-American"?

A) many people identify as "Indian-American."
B) she qualifies for many social programs.
C) it is a highly respected title.
D) she doesn't have to explain her background further.

Question 78

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-Lahiri struggles about her identity as both Indian and ____________________.

Question 79

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-Lahiri's parents listen to _________________ songs.

Question 80

Answer the following questions about the essay.
-Lahiri's first book was published in ________________________.