USUS UKUKIndiaIndia

Every Question Helps You Learn

Parents Students Tutors Teachers
Join Us
USUS UKUKIndiaIndia
Join Us
Elementary (Grade 1-2)Elementary (Grade 3-5)Middle (Grade 6-8)Junior High (Grade 9-10)Senior High (Grade 11-12)Spanish (All ages)ESL (All ages)GamesSpecialist (All ages)
  1. Home
  2. High School: 9th and 10th Grade
  3. Literature: High School: 9th and 10th Grade
  4. A Christmas Carol - Language
Streak
Leading Streak Today 11
Your Streak Today 0
Streak
Leading Streak Today
11
Your Streak Today
0
A Christmas Carol - Language
Test your English Literature skills by playing this quiz.

A Christmas Carol - Language

This Literature quiz is called 'A Christmas Carol - Language' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at high school. Playing educational quizzes is a user-friendly way to learn if you are in the 9th or 10th grade - aged 14 to 16.

It costs only $12.50 per month to play this quiz and over 3,500 others that help you with your school work. You can subscribe on the page at Join Us

This high school English Literature quiz takes a look at language in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Language use in A Christmas Carol presents a mix of simple dialog, direct narration and long, complex poetic descriptions. Word play features prominently, especially in Scrooge’s dry and frequently sarcastic observations. Often the language engages the senses by evoking the sights in the marketplace, by mimicking the sound of bells or by trying to recreate the movement of people in crowds, dances or games.

Analyzing language in a text

Although visual elements of a text, such as layout, font and illustration, are all important, language is the primary medium through which a reader understands a text. Written texts could not, by definition, exist without words.

Authors use language with great care. Beyond the literal meaning of each word lies a weight of symbolic meanings and other associations. Language provides the matter through which imagery, such as metaphor, simile and personification, and other literary effects can be created. Dialogue, setting and characterisation all depend on an author’s skillful use of language.

Pay close attention to language choices in a text. Deeper understanding will be the reward for your efforts. Allow yourself to linger over words in order to get beyond the surface meaning. What does the language suggest? Does it invite you to think about anything else? Remember that the author has chosen this language carefully; this means that you should devote similar care to your analysis. Taking time to think about language choice will help you to decipher the text’s deeper meanings.

Answer the questions below to develop your understanding of the way language choices affect the interpretation of a text.

1.
"The customers were all so hurried and so eager in the hopeful promise of the day, that they tumbled up against each other at the door, clashing their wicker baskets wildly, and left their purchases upon the counter, and came running back to fetch them, and committed hundreds of the like mistakes in the best humor possible." Which language choices create an impression of jolly chaos?
Eager, hopeful, promise, purchases, humor, possible
Hurried, eager, tumbled, clashing, wildly, running
Customers, day, door, counter, fetch, mistakes
Customers, hurried, hopeful, other, baskets, humor
This is a marvelously chaotic scene, with its customers running and bumping into each other repeatedly
2.
"Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that." What effect does the use of the word "doubt" have here?
It reassures the reader, who before this sentence naturally assumes that Marley is alive
It immediately introduces an element of doubt
It informs the reader that the book will not be about Marley, because he is already dead
It informs the reader that the story to follow will be realistic
Just by reassuring the reader that Marley is certainly dead, the first sentence of the novel introduces the idea that there is reason to doubt this certainty
3.
When the Ghost of Christmas Present orders Scrooge to look upon him, Scrooge is described as doing so "reverently". What does the use of this word tell the reader?
Scrooge has always worshiped Christmas
Scrooge has already begun to change after experiencing the first ghostly visitor
The word reminds us that Scrooge is a deeply respectful person
Scrooge's negative ideas about Christmas have only intensified
Reverence is similar to worship. Scrooge has already revised his contemptuous attitude towards Christmas
4.
"The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow." What effect is created by the use of the first person pronoun?
It compares the reader to the "unearthly visitor"
All nineteenth-century authors used first-person narration
It brings the author closer to Scrooge
The reader is being "haunted" by the author
The use of the first person throughout the text reminds us that we, like Scrooge, might need to change our ways
5.
"It was succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit, looking slowly all along the carving-knife, prepared to plunge it in the breast; but when she did, and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round the board." In this sentence, "plunge", "gush" and "murmur" are examples of which type of imagery?
Alliteration
Simile
Metaphor
Onomatopoeia
The reader can almost hear the sound of the stuffing and of the appreciative family ("issued" also mimics the sound of the stuffing oozing out of the goose)
6.
"The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove, from every part of which bright gleaming berries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there." Which language choices create the impression of brightness in Scrooge's formerly dim room?
Living, green, bright, crisp, reflected, scattered
Living, green, grove, berries, leaves, holly
Bright, gleaming, glistened, reflected, light, mirrors
Walls, ceiling, reflected, ivy, mirrors, scattered
The brightness contrasts sharply with the crispness of the abundant greenery
7.
"'I hope he didn't die of anything catching? Eh?' said old Joe, stopping in his work, and looking up. 'Don't you be afraid of that,' returned the woman. 'I ain't so fond of his company that I'd loiter about him for such things, if he did.'" To what does "things" refer here?
Ghosts
The curtains from Scrooge's bed
Contagious diseases
None of the above
The woman has taken the shirt off Scrooge's corpse and the blankets from his bed in order to make a profit from the fine quality materials. Old Joe's only concern is that they will not get sick from the theft
8.
"The kind hand trembled." Why is the word "kind" surprising in this description of Scrooge's last sight of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?
The hand is all Scrooge can see of this Spirit and its actions have until the last moment been foreboding
None of the Spirits have been kind
The hand is all Scrooge can see of this Spirit and all of its gestures have been friendly and kind
The Spirit offers no hope to Scrooge
Scrooge views the foreboding hand as kind once he realizes that he still has the opportunity to change the future
9.
"External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty." What is the simile implied here? Choose the best answer.
Scrooge is like a thermometer
Scrooge is like a weathervane
Scrooge is like the temperature
Scrooge is like bad weather
Like bad weather, Scrooge is not open to persuasion. He will not change his mind whatever approach another human being might take in attempting to encourage more kindness in him
10.
What is the term used by the Ghost of Christmas Past for the visions which he shows to Scrooge?
Facts
Dreams
Shadows
Echoes
The Ghost tells Scrooge that he shows him "but shadows of the things that have been"
Author:  Sheri Smith
Literature: High School: 9th and 10th Grade Play this quiz again

Contact Details

Education Quizzes

Heron's Way, Wragg Marsh
Spalding
Lincolnshire
PE12 6HH
England

Email

admin@educationquizzes.com

Customer Service

Home Page Students Free Teacher Resources in the USA - 4,000 Teacher-Written Quizzes Tutors

Here To Help

Contact Us Quiz List and Sitemap FAQs

About Us

Our Team Testimonials Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy

© Copyright 2016-2024 - Education Quizzes
Work Innovate Ltd - Design | Development | Marketing

We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website.

To comply with the e-Privacy directive, we need your consent - I agree - No thanks - Learn more