Title: Reading Literature
Course: Grade 12 Language Arts - In Review

Q: When reading a story the author often relies upon the reader to make certain assumptions about details in the story. If a character sees a person that he or she does not like very much the author may tell us details that imply this dislike. Instead of saying, “Thor really hates Frost Giants,” the storyteller might allow the reader to draw that conclusion by saying, “As he spotted the Frost Giant, Thor gripped his hammer tightly and prepared himself for a fight.”

Allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about details in a story is called:
- Inference (That is correct. That is the process of arriving at a logical conclusion based on the clues in the text.)
- Direct Evidence (No. This might apply to where the author comes out and states exactly what you should think.)
- Explicit Narration (No. This might apply to where the author comes out and states exactly what you should think.)
- Literal interpretation (No. While it is up to the reader to interpret what is going on, a literal interpretation is made from something directly stated in the text.)
A: Inference

Q: Determining a theme in a particular text often depends on how the details build upon each other throughout the entire work. Identifying these details is what will help you to provide an accurate summary of the work. A theme is generally not something that is stated in the text but something that a reader determines throughout the reading process.

Choose the response that WOULD NOT help you to identify a text’s theme or central idea:
- Imagery/Symbolism (No. An author will often use this to help support a particular theme or central idea.)
- Recurring concepts/elements (No. An author will often use this to help support a particular theme or central idea.)
- Scanning the text to look for key words. (That’s right. This particular answer would not be of much assistance when determining a theme or central idea since authors rarely come out and state what the theme is.)
- Overall impression after reading (No. This impression will often assist you in finding support for a particular theme or central idea.)
A: Scanning the text to look for key words.

Q: Which of the following would not be an author choice relating to how a story is developed?
- Glossary (That’s right. While some books (particularly Science Fiction) may include a glossary, it rarely provides details that develop elements of the story.)
- Rising Action (No, Rising Action is a key component of how a story is developed. This is what leads up to a story’s climax. We learn a great deal about characters in this phase of a story.)
- Complicating Incident (No, the Complicating Incident is a key component of how a story is developed. This is the event which causes a story’s conflict and the main motivation for characters.)
- Exposition (No, the Exposition is a key component of how a story is developed. This is where the setting and characters are introduced.)
A: Glossary

Q: Which of the following would not be considered a figurative use of language?
- Allusion (No. Referring to a famous character or event often implies some type of connection to the actual events in a work of literature.)
- Metaphor (No. A metaphor is considered a figure of speech in which a relationship between two unlike things is implied through their comparison.)
- Hyperbole (No. Exaggerated statements are never to be considered as literal.)
- Definition (Correct. A Definition would be considered a literal use of language.)
A: Definition

Q: Knowing the end of a story or specific details about it before you are able to read or watch the entire thing are often called spoilers. Sometimes authors will purposefully spoil the ending at the beginning of a story by having it start at the end and work its way back. If a story starts at the end and then fills in the blanks as it goes on it is typically done through the use of...
- Foreshadowing (No. Foreshadowing is what gives details about what is to come in a story.)
- Backshadowing (No. This is a made-up term for this quiz.)
- Time travel (Not quite. While this may sometimes be the case, it is not the most common method.)
- Flashback (That’s right. Flashbacks are regularly used to help fill in the blanks for readers/viewers to provide insight into events in a character’s life or specific thoughts he/she might have.)
A: Flashback

Q: Frank L. Visco in the 1986 Writer’s Digest once said that exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. Satire, sarcasm and irony often employ the use of extreme exaggeration to prove a point. The text of a story is saying one thing while the implied message is actually the opposite. Some of the headlines below are from a satire news site called The Onion and one is not. Select the one that is likely the one that should be taken literally.
- Johnson & Johnson introduces ‘Nothing But Tears; shampoo to toughen up newborns
- New TSA security fee hike will make airfare more expensive
- Scientists successfully teach gorilla it will die someday
- NASA announces plans to launch chimpanzee into sun
A: New TSA security fee hike will make airfare more expensive

Q: Which of these works would be considered a source text?
- A YouTube video based on a short story (No. By it’s very nature this type of work would be considered a derivative.)
- An author who reads a selected work at a poetry event (Close. While the author may be the one who wrote it, reading a work that has already been published would not be considered the source text.)
- The book upon which a movie is based (Yes. In this case the source for the film would be the published text.)
- A graphic novel version of Beowulf (No. While these are quite common in classrooms to help demonstrate more clearly the action of a particular story, the source would be the original work upon which it the graphic novel is based.)
A: The book upon which a movie is based