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9th grade English Language Arts practice sheet

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards · from Gradelings · Name: ______________________

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  1. Question 1

    The word “performed” in the second paragraph is used to suggest that the town in summer…

    The Quiet Season

    Every winter, the town of Alder Creek went quiet. The loggers headed south, the tourists vanished, and the only sound along Main Street was snow sliding off tin roofs.

    Some people called it boring. Odile called it honest. In summer, the town performed: banners on lampposts, a fiddler in the park, shopkeepers smiling at strangers. In winter, you saw what the town was when nobody was watching: a handful of neighbors shoveling each other's walks, a lit window at the library, a pot of soup passed over a fence.

    “You can't see a place properly when it's showing off,” Odile liked to say. She had lived there for seventy years and had never once wanted to leave during the quiet season.

    • puts on a show for visitors
    • works more slowly
    • is dishonest with the law
    • acts in a play

  2. Question 2

    Which literary device does this excerpt use?

    The leaves danced and the wind sang its low, lonely song.

    • Irony
    • Simile
    • Symbolism
    • Personification

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence has parallel structure?

    • She enjoys painting, hiking and to cook.
    • She enjoys to paint, hiking and cook.
    • She enjoys painting, to hike and cooking.
    • She enjoys painting, hiking and cooking.

  4. Question 4

    Choose the best meaning of scarce. “Fresh water was scarce in the dry valley.”

    • everywhere
    • cold
    • hard to find
    • unsafe

  5. Question 5

    Why might a writer use juxtaposition?

    • To highlight a contrast so the reader notices a difference
    • To change the narrator
    • To shorten the story
    • To make two ideas sound identical

  6. Question 6

    Misinformation is…

    • false information spread on purpose to mislead
    • private information about a person
    • information that is always true
    • false information shared without meaning to mislead

  7. Question 7

    Which pair of signal words shows a compare and contrast pattern?

    • for example, such as
    • similarly, however
    • first, next
    • because, as a result

  8. Question 8

    After reading two paragraphs about the Red River Cart, you write: “The cart was built from wood and carried goods across the Prairies.” This is a…

    • prediction
    • summary
    • question

  9. Question 9

    Which transition word shows contrast?

    • however
    • also
    • therefore

  10. Question 10

    Which detail shows a website may be imitating a real news site?

    • a contact page
    • a clear author name
    • a slightly misspelled web address
    • a correction policy

Answer key

  1. 1. puts on a show for visitors (Close Reading)
  2. 2. Personification (Literary Elements)
  3. 3. She enjoys painting, hiking and cooking. (Grammar & Style)
  4. 4. hard to find (Word Detective)
  5. 5. To highlight a contrast so the reader notices a difference (Literary Devices)
  6. 6. false information shared without meaning to mislead (Digital Smarts)
  7. 7. similarly, however (Forms & Features)
  8. 8. summary (Summarizing Texts)
  9. 9. however (Form & Composing)
  10. 10. a slightly misspelled web address (Research & Credibility)

Want more than 10 questions?

In Gradelings the questions change every time and adjust to your child, with hints and kind feedback. See all English language arts units.

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