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The Grammardog Guide to
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
All exercises use sentences from the novel.
Includes over 250 multiple choice questions.
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A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
All sentences are from the novel
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Exercise 1 --
Parts of Speech
25 multiple choice questions
....3
Exercise 2 --
Proofreading: Spelling, Capitalization,
Punctuation
12 multiple choice questions
....5
Exercise 3 --
Proofreading: Spelling, Capitalization,
Punctuation
12 multiple choice questions
....6
Exercise 4 --
Simple, Compound, Complex Sentences
25 multiple choice questions
....7
Exercise 5 --
Complements
25 multiple choice questions on direct objects,
predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives,
indirect objects, and objects of prepositions
....9
Exercise 6 --
Phrases
25 multiple choice questions on prepositional,
appositive, gerund, infinitive, and participial
phrases
. . . 11
Exercise 7 --
Verbals: Gerunds, Infinitives, and
Participles
25 multiple choice questions
. . . 13
Exercise 8 --
Clauses
25 multiple choice questions
. . . 15
1
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Exercise 9 --
Style: Figurative Language
25 multiple choice questions on metaphor,
simile, personification, and onomatopoeia
Exercise 10 --
Style: Poetic Devices
. . . 19
25 multiple choice questions on assonance,
consonance, alliteration, repetition, and rhyme
Exercise 11 --
Style: Sensory Imagery
20 multiple choice questions
. . . 21
Exercise 12 --
Style: Allusions and Symbols
20 multiple choice questions on literary,
religious, historical, and folklore allusions
. . . 23
Exercise 13 --
Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 1
6 multiple choice questions
. . . 25
Exercise 14 --
Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 2
6 multiple choice questions
. . . 27
Exercise 15 --
Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 3
6 multiple choice questions
. . . 29
Exercise 16 --
Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 4
6 multiple choice questions
. . . 31
Answer Key
Answers to Exercises 1-16
. . . 33
Glossary
--
Literary Glossary
. . . 35
Glossary
--
Grammar Glossary
. . . 46
2
. . . 17
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 1
PARTS OF SPEECH
Identify the parts of speech in the following sentences. Label the underlined words:
v = verb
prep = preposition
n = noun
pron = pronoun
adj = adjective
int = interjection
adv = adverb
conj = conjunction
____1.
Marley was dead to begin with.
____2.
This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of
the story I am going to relate.
____3.
Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a
squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!
____4.
Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks,
“My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?”
____5.
It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly
that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
____6.
“What right have you to be merry?”
____7.
“If I could work my will,” said Scrooge indignantly, “every idiot who
goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with
his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.”
____8.
He put his hand upon the key he had relinquished, turned it sturdily,
walked in, and lighted his candle.
____9.
But there was nothing on the back of the door, except the screws and
nuts that held the knocker on, so he said, “Pooh, pooh!” and closed it
with a bang.
____10.
It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound; but soon
it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house.
____11.
“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost.
____12.
He held up his chain at arm’s-length, as if that were the cause of all
his unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.
____13.
“At this time of the rolling year,” the specter said, “I suffer most.”
3
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 1
PARTS OF SPEECH
____14.
“I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day.”
____15.
The idea being an alarming one, he scrambled out of bed, and
groped his way to the window.
____16.
Marley’s Ghost bothered him exceedingly.
____17.
The arms were very long and muscular; the hands the same, as if
its hold were of uncommon strength.
____18.
The Spirit must have heard him thinking, for it said immediately:
“Your reclamation, then. Take heed!”
____19.
“I see a vacant seat, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved.”
____20.
Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he didn’t care twopence for it.
____21.
“He hasn’t the satisfaction of thinking – ha, ha, ha! – that he is ever
going to benefit us with it.”
____22.
After tea, they had some music.
____23.
He always knew where the plump sister was.
____24.
Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited,
but always with a happy end.
____25.
From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children, wretched,
abject, frightful, hideous, miserable.
4
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 2
PROOFREADING: SPELLING, CAPITALIZATION, PUNCTUATION
Read the following passages and decide which type of error, if any, appears in each underlined section.
PASSAGE 1
PASSAGE 2
The mention of Marleys’ funeral brings
1
me back to the point I started from. Their
2
is no doubt that Marley was dead. this
3
must be distinktly understood, or nothing
4
wonderfull can come of the story I am going
5
to relate
6
Scrooge never painted out old Marleys
1
name. There it stood, years afterward,
____1. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
above the wearhouse door: Scrooge and
2
Marley The firm was known as Scrooge
3
and Marley. sometimes people new to the
4
busines called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes
5
marley, but he answered to both names.
6
____1. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____2. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____2. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____3. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____3. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____4. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____4. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____5. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____5. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____6. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____6. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
5
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 3
PROOFREADING: SPELLING, CAPITALIZATION, PUNCTUATION
Read the following passages and decide which type of error, if any, appears in each underlined section.
PASSAGE 1
PASSAGE 2
When Scrooge awoke it was so dark, that,
The quarter was so long, that he was more than
looking out of bed, He could scarcely distinguish
1
the transparent windowe from the opaque walls
2
of his chamber He was endeavoring to pierce
3
the darkness with his ferret eyes, when the chimes
4
of a nieghboring church struck the four quarters.
5
so he listened for the hour.
6
once convenced he must have sunk into a doze
1
unconsciously, and missed the clock At length it
2
broke upon his listining ear.
3
“Ding, dong!”
“A quarter past,” said scrooge, counting.
4
“Ding, dong!
5
“Half past, said” Scrooge.
6
____1. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____1. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____2. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____2. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____3. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____3. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____4. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____4. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____5. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____5. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____6. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
____6. a. Spelling
b. Capitalization
c. Punctuation
d. No error
6
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 4
SIMPLE, COMPOUND, AND COMPLEX SENTENCES
Label each of the following sentences S for simple, C for compound, CX for complex, or
CC for compound/complex.
____1.
The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled
his cheek, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and spoke out
shrewdly in his grating voice.
____2.
Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller
that it looked like one coal.
____3.
This lunatic, in letting Scrooge’s nephew out, had let two other people in.
____4.
They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.
____5.
At the ominous word “liberality,” Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and
handed the credentials back.
____6.
“I don’t make merry myself at Christmas, and I can’t afford to make idle
people merry.”
____7.
“It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere
with other people’s.”
____8.
The clerk observed that it was only once a year.
____9.
Now it is a fact that there was nothing at all particular about the knocker on
the door, except that it was very large.
____10.
But before he shut his heavy door, he walked through his rooms to see that
all was right.
____11.
Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never
believed it until now.
____12.
“You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a
fragment of an underdone potato.”
____13.
Again the specter raised a cry, and shook his chain and wrung his shadowy hands.
7
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 4
SIMPLE, COMPOUND, AND COMPLEX SENTENCES
____14.
Scrooge lay in this state until the chime had gone three quarters more, when
he remembered on a sudden, that the Ghost had warned him of a visitation
when the bell tolled One.
____15.
Lights flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his bed
were drawn.
____16.
As the words were spoken, they passed through the wall, and stood upon an
open country road with fields on either hand.
____17.
The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold, winter
day, with snow upon the ground.
____18.
They left the highroad, by a well-remembered lane, and soon approached a
mansion of dull red brick, with a little weathercock-surmounted cupola, on
the roof, and a bell hanging in it.
____19.
Scrooge’s former self grew larger at the words, and the room became a little
darker and more dirty.
____20.
During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits.
____21.
But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to
observe what happened next.
____22.
“It really seemed as if he had known our Tiny Tim, and felt with us.”
____23.
Scrooge hastened to the window of his office, and looked in.
____24.
Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.
____25.
He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people
hurrying to and fro, and patted the children on the head, and questioned
beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows,
and found that everything could yield him pleasure.
8
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 5
COMPLEMENTS
Identify the complements in the following sentences. Label the underlined words:
d.o. = direct object
o.p. = object of preposition
i.o. = indirect object
p.a. = predicate adjective
p.n. = predicate nominative
____1.
Marley was dead, to begin with.
____2.
Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years.
____3.
Scrooge never painted out old Marley’s name.
____4.
The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open, that he might keep his eye upon
his clerk, who, in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters.
____5.
“You’re quite a powerful speaker, sir,” he added, turning to his nephew.
____6.
His nephew left the room without an angry word, notwithstanding.
____7.
They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold; and now stood with their hats
off, in Scrooge’s office.
____8.
“Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?”
____9.
He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceased partner.
____10.
Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes.
____11.
His body was transparent; so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through
his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind.
____12.
At this the spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook his chain with such a dismal
and appalling noise, that Scrooge held on tight to his chair, to save himself from
falling in a swoon.
____13.
“The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and
benevolence were all my business.
____14.
Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had
entered.
9
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 5
COMPLEMENTS
____15.
He gave the cap a parting squeeze, in which his hand relaxed, and had barely
time to reel to bed before he sank into a heavy sleep.
____16.
“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”
____17.
His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years, but it had begun to
wear the signs of care and avarice.
____18.
Alas for Tiny Time, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an
iron frame!
____19.
Scrooge was the Ogre of the family.
____20.
The old man, in a voice that seldom rose above the howling of the wind upon
the barren waste, was singing them a Christmas song – it had been a very old
song when he was a boy – and from time to time they all joined in the chorus.
____21.
For he had an expectation that the conduct of his future self would give him
the clue he missed, and would render the solution of these riddles easy.
____22.
Scrooge knew the men, and looked toward the Spirit for an explanation.
____23.
It gave him little surprise, however, for he had been revolving in his mind a
change of life, and thought and hoped he saw his newborn resolutions carried
out in this.
____24.
The only emotion that the Ghost could show him, caused by the event, was one
of pleasure.
____25.
The phantom was exactly as it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new
meaning in its solemn shape.
10
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 6
PHRASES
Identify the phrases in the following sentences. Label the underlined words:
par = participial
ger = gerund
inf = infinitive
appos = appositive
prep = prepositional
____1.
Once upon a time – of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve – old
Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house.
____2.
Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at
the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.
____3.
Becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and
extinguished the last frail spark forever.
____4.
“Let me hear another sound from you,” said Scrooge, “and you’ll keep your
Christmas by losing your situation!”
____5.
“I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute.”
____6.
“But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I’ll keep my Christmas
humor to the last.”
____7.
“Scrooge and Marley’s I believe,” said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list.
____8.
At length the hour of shutting up the counting-house arrived.
____9.
“In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley.”
____10.
He tried to say “Humbug!” but stopped at the first syllable.
____11.
He was endeavoring to pierce the darkness with his ferret eyes, when the
chimes of a neighboring church struck the four quarters.
____12.
To his great astonishment the heavy bell went on from six to seven, and from
seven to eight, and regularly up to twelve; then stopped.
____13.
He touched the spring of his repeater, to correct this most preposterous clock.
____14.
The idea being an alarming one, he scrambled out of bed, and groped his way
to the window.
11
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 6
PHRASES
____15.
Old Fezziwig laid down his pen, and looked up at the clock, which pointed
to the hour of seven.
____16.
Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit, Cratchit’s wife, dressed out but poorly in a
twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly
show for sixpence . . .
____17.
Passing through the wall of mud and stone, they found a cheerful company
assembled round a glowing fire.
____18.
The old man, in a voice that seldom rose above the howling of the wind upon
the barren waste, was singing them a Christmas song . . .
____19.
It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge to recognize it as his own nephew’s
and to find himself in a bright, dry, gleaming room, with the Spirit standing
smiling by his side, and looking at that same nephew with approving affability!
____20.
Knocking down the fire-irons, tumbling over the chairs, bumping up against
the piano, smothering himself among the curtains, wherever she went, there
went he!
____21.
When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee, for in the very air
through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.
____22.
The Ghost conducted him through several streets familiar to his feet and, as
they went along, Scrooge looked here and there to find himself, but nowhere
was he to be seen.
____23.
They entered poor Bob Cratchit’s house – the dwelling he had visited before –
and found the mother and the children seated round the fire.
____24.
“But, however and whenever we part from one another, I am sure we shall
none of us forget poor Tiny Tim – shall we? – or this first parting that there
was among us?”
____25.
The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One.
12
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 7
VERBALS: GERUNDS, INFINITIVES, AND PARTICIPLES
Identify the underlined verbals and verbal phrases in the sentences below as being either
gerund (ger), infinitive (inf), or participle (par). Also indicate the usage by labeling each:
subj = subject
adj = adjective
d.o. = direct object
adv = adverb
o.p. = object of preposition
Verbal Usage
____
____1.
To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human
sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call “nuts”
to Scrooge.
____
____2.
“What right have you to be dismal?”
____
____3.
Scrooge, having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment,
said “Bah!” again; and followed it up with “Humbug!”
____
____4.
“A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of
December!” said Scrooge, buttoning his greatcoat to the chin.
____
____5.
To say that he was not startled, or that his blood was not conscious
of a terrible sensation to which it had been a stranger from infancy,
would be untrue.
____
____6.
He fastened the door, and walked across the hall and up the stairs,
slowly, too, trimming his candle as he went.
____
____7.
To sit staring at those fixed glazed eyes in silence, for a moment,
would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him.
____
____8.
But how much greater was his horror when, the phantom taking off
the bandage round his head, as if it were too warm to wear indoors,
his lower jaw dropped down upon his breast.
____
____9.
Scrooge glanced about him on the floor, in the expectation of finding
himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable; but
he could see nothing.
____
____10.
Pondering on what the Ghost had said, he did so now, but without
lifting up his eyes, or getting off his knees.
____
____11.
Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the specter going on at this
rate, and began to quake exceedingly.
13
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 7
Verbal
Usage
VERBALS: GERUNDS, INFINITIVES, AND PARTICIPLES
____
____12.
“I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope
of escaping my fate.”
____
____13.
The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in
restless haste, and moaning as they went.
____
____14.
The children’s faces, hushed and clustered round to hear what they
little understood were brighter, and it was a happier house for this
man’s death!
____
____15.
“There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night.”
____
____16.
But now a knocking at the door was heard, and such a rush immediately
ensued that she, with laughing face and plundered dress, was borne
toward it, in the center of a flushed and boisterous group . . .
____
____17.
For he wished to challenge the Spirit on the moment of its appearance,
and did not wish to be taken by surprise, and made nervous.
____
____18.
Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing.
____
____19.
The mother and her daughters were engaged in sewing.
____
____20.
Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have his fate reversed, he saw an
alteration in the Phantom’s hood and dress.
____
____21.
“What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?”
____
____22.
Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make
amends in!
____
____23.
He was checked in his transports by the churches ringing out the lustiest
peals he had ever heard.
____
____24.
Shaving was not an easy task, for his hand continued to shake very much
and shaving requires attention, even when you don’t dance while you
are at it.
____
____25.
He had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it, holding him,
and calling to the people in the court for help and a strait-waistcoat.
14
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 8
CLAUSES
Indicate how clauses are used in the sentences below. Label the clauses:
subj = subject
p.n. = predicate nominative
d.o. = direct object
o.p. = object of preposition
adj = adjective
adv - adverb
____1.
“If I could work my will,” said Scrooge indignantly, “every idiot who goes
about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own
pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.”
____2.
Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought
on Marley, since his last mention of his seven-years-dead partner that
afternoon.
____3.
As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon it was a knocker again.
____4.
“We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party.”
____5.
Scrooge asked the question, because he didn’t know whether a ghost so
transparent might find himself in a condition to take a chair; and felt in
the event of its being impossible, it might involve the necessity of an
embarrassing explanation.
____6.
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge,
who now began to apply this to himself.
____7.
But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there
sprung a bright, clear jet of light, by which all this was visible . . .
____8.
The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of distracting his own
attention and keeping down his terror, for the specter’s voice disturbed the
very marrow in his bones.
____9.
“That which promised happiness when we were one in heart is fraught with
misery now that we are two.”
____10.
“How often and how keenly I have thought of this, I will not say.”
____11.
“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to
stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge.
____12.
“If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.”
____13.
“I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learned a lesson which is
working now.”
15
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 8
CLAUSES
____14.
Bob’s voice was tremulous when he told them this, and trembled more when
he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty.
____15.
“What the half-drunken woman whom I told you of last night said to me, when
I tried to see him and obtain a week’s delay, and what I thought was a mere
excuse to avoid me, turns out to have been quite true.”
____16.
When the strain of music sounded, all the things that Ghost had shown him
came upon his mind . . .
____17.
He always knew where the plump sister was.
____18.
At every fresh question that was put to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar
of laughter and was so inexpressibly tickled, that he was obliged to get up off the
sofa and stamp.
____19.
The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if
the Spirit had inclined its head.
____20.
The Phantom moved away as it had come toward him.
____21.
Scrooge followed in the shadow of its dress, which bore him up, he thought, and
carried him along.
____22.
“There’s the window where I saw the wandering Spirits!”
____23.
Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a
splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh.
____24.
He had never dreamed that any walk – that anything – could give him so much
happiness.
____25.
He passed the door a dozen times before he had the courage to go up and knock.
16
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 9
STYLE: FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Identify the figurative language in the following sentences. Label underlined words:
p = personification
s = simile
m = metaphor
o = onomatopoeia
h = hyperbole
____1.
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
____2.
Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous
fire, secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
____3.
He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his
office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.
____4.
The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage
over him in only one respect.
____5.
“We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly
felt, and Abundance rejoices.”
____6.
The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slyly
down at Scrooge out of a Gothic window in the wall became invisible, and
struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations
afterward, as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there.
____7.
The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold
as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge’s keyhole to regale him
with a Christmas carol . . .
____8.
It was not in impenetrable shadow, as the other objects in the yard were, but
had a dismal light about it, like a bad lobster in a dark cellar.
____9.
Upon its coming in, the dying flame leaped up, as though it cried, “I know him!
Marley’s Ghost” and fell again.
____10.
“You travel fast?” said Scrooge. “On the wings of the wind,” replied the Ghost.
____11.
“The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean
of my business!”
____12.
All he could make out was, that it was still very foggy and extremely cold, and
that there was no noise of people running to and fro, and making a great stir,
as there unquestionably would have been if night had beaten off bright day, and
taken possession of the world.
17
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 9
STYLE: FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
____13.
“A quarter past,” said Scrooge, counting. “Ding, dong!”
____14.
He was conscious of a thousand odors floating in the air, each one connected
with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys, and cares long, long forgotten!
____15.
All these boys were in great spirits, and shouted to each other, until the broad
fields were so full of merry music that the crisp air laughed to hear it.
____16.
They charged into the street with the shutters – one, two, three – had ’em up in
their places – four, five, six – barred ‘em and pinned ‘em – seven, eight, nine –
came back before you could have got to twelve, panting like race-horses.
____17.
. . . these young Cratchits danced about the table, and exalted Master Peter
Cratchit to the skies, while he (not proud, although his collars nearly choked
him) blew the fire, until the slow potatoes, bubbling up, knocked loudly at the
saucepan lid to be let out and peeled.
____18.
. . . two young Cratchits hustled Tiny Tim, and bore him off into the wash-house,
that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper.
____19.
“As good as gold,” said Bob, “and better.”
____20.
In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered – flushed, but smiling proudly with the
pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half a
quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.
____21.
These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would
have done and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the
fire sputtered and crackled noisily.
____22.
The noisy little Cratchits were as still as statues in one corner, and sat looking
up at Peter, who had a book before him.
____23.
“I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a
schoolboy.”
____24.
Clash, clash, hammer; ding, dong, bell! Bell, dong, ding; hammer, clang, clash!
____25.
“Thankee,” said Scrooge. “I am much obliged to you. I thank you fifty times.
Bless you!”
18
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 10
STYLE: POETIC DEVICES
Identify the poetic devices in the following sentences by labeling the underlined words:
a. assonance
b. consonance
c. alliteration
d. repetition
e. rhyme
____1.
Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole
residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner.
____2.
No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him.
____3.
What’s Christmas-time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a
time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer . . .
____4.
The clerk in the tank involuntarily applauded.
____5.
With an ill will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted the fact
to the expectant clerk in the tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out, and put
on his hat.
____6.
Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern; and having
read all the newspapers, and beguiled the rest of the evening with his banker’s
book, went home to bed.
____7.
The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, who knew its every stone, was fain to
grope with his hands.
____8.
It was not angry or ferocious, but looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look:
with ghostly spectacles turned up on its ghostly forehead.
____9.
The specter, after listening for a moment, joined in the mournful dirge; and
floated out upon the bleak, dark night.
____10.
Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought, and thought it over and
over, and could make nothing of it.
____11.
Fowls clucked and strutted in the stables, and the coach-houses and sheds were
over-run with grass.
____12.
At one of these a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire; and Scrooge sat
down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he had used to be.
____13.
He only knew that it was quite correct; that everything had happened so; that
there he was, alone again, when all the other boys had gone home for the
jolly holidays.
19
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 10
STYLE: POETIC DEVICES
____14.
Although they had but that moment left the school behind them, they were
now in the busy thoroughfares of a city, where shadowy passengers passed
and repassed, where shadowy carts and coached battled for the way, and
all the strife and tumult of a real city were.
____15.
There was nothing they wouldn’t have cleared away, or couldn’t have cleared
away, with old Fezziwig looking on.
____16.
When this result was brought about, old Fezziwig, clapping hands to stop the
dance, cried out, “Well done!” and the fiddler plunged his hot face into a pot of
porter, especially provided for that purpose.
____17.
When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up.
____18.
There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye, which showed the
passion that had taken root, and where the shadow of the growing tree would fall.
____19.
I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master passion,
Gain, engrosses you.
____20.
He felt that he was restored to consciousness in the right nick of time, for the
especial purpose of holding conference with the second messenger dispatched
to him through Jacob Marley’s intervention.
____21.
. . . he was ready for a good broad field of strange appearances, and that nothing
between a baby and a rhinoceros would have astonished him very much.
____22.
How it bared its breadth of breast, and opened its capacious palm, and floated
on, outpouring, with a generous hand, its bright and harmless mirth on
everything within its reach!
____23.
“Who suffers by his ill whims?”
____24.
Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the ruler.
____25.
He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good
old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good
old world.
20
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 11
STYLE: SENSORY IMAGERY
Identify the type of sensory imagery in the following sentences. Label the underlined words:
a. sight
b. sound
c. touch
d. taste
e. smell
____1.
It was cold, bleak, biting weather, foggy withal, and he could hear the people in
the court outside go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their
breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them.
____2.
He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of
Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes
sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
____3.
But there was nothing on the back of the door, except the screws and nuts that
held the knocker on, so he said, “Pooh, pooh!” and closed it with a bang.
____4.
Marley, in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter
bristling like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head.
____5.
The Ghost, on hearing this, set up another cry, and clanked his chain so
hideously in the dead silence of the night, that the Ward would have been
justified in indicting it for a nuisance.
____6.
He was obliged to rub the frost off with the sleeve of his dressing-gown before
he could see anything; and could see very little then.
____7.
It wore a tunic of the purest white; and round its waist was bound a lustrous
belt, the sheen of which was beautiful.
____8.
He was conscious of a thousand odors floating in the air, each one connected
with a thousand thoughts, and hopes, and joys, and cares long, long forgotten!
____9.
The Spirit touched him on the arm, and pointed to his younger self, intent
upon his reading.
____10.
This idea taking full possession of his mind, he got up softly, and shuffled in his
slippers to the door.
____11.
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.
21
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 11
STYLE: SENSORY IMAGERY
____12.
The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy
mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower
of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent,
caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts’ content.
____13.
A cat was tearing at the door, and there was a sound of gnawing rats beneath
the hearthstone.
____14.
His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, and back came Tiny Tim
before another word was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister . . .
____15.
The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was
the cloth.
____16.
The compound in the jug being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and
oranges were put upon the table, and a shovelful of chestnuts on the fire.
____17.
Scrooge’s nephew reveled in another laugh, and as it was impossible to keep
the infection off, though the plump sister tried hard to do it with aromatic
vinegar, his example was unanimously followed.
____18.
The moment Scrooge’s hand was on the lock, a strange voice called him by
his name, and bade him enter. He obeyed.
____19.
Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offenses of smell,
and dirt, and life, upon the struggling streets; and the whole quarter reeked
with crime, with filth and misery.
____20.
Mrs. Cratchit kissed him, his daughters kissed him, the two young Cratchits
kissed him, and Peter and himself shook hands.
22
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 12
STYLE: ALLUSIONS AND SYMBOLS
Identify the type of allusion or symbol in the following sentences. Label the underlined words:
a. historical
b. religious
c. folklore/superstition
d. literary
e. childhood games
____1.
If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s father died before the play
began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night,
in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other
middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot . . .
____2.
“I’ll retire to Bedlam.”
____3.
If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit’s nose with a touch of
such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then, indeed, he
would have roared to lusty purpose.
____4.
The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk . . . went down a slide on
Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honor of its being
Christmas Eve, and then ran home to Camden Town, as hard as he could pelt,
to play at blindman’s buff.
____5.
They were a gloomy suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of building up a yard,
where it had so little business to be, that one could scarcely help fancying it
must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with
other houses, and have forgotten the way out again.
____6.
To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might
have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.
____7.
There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh’s daughters, Queens of Sheba, angelic
messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds . . .
____8.
. . . and yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient
Prophet’s rod, and swallowed up the whole.
____9.
Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were
described as dragging chains.
____10.
“Well!” returned Scrooge, “I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of
my days persecuted by a legion of goblins all my own creation.
23
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 12
____11.
STYLE: ALLUSIONS AND SYMBOLS
“Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down,
and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a
poor abode?”
____12.
“Why, it’s Ali Baba!” Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy.
____13.
And the Sultan’s Groom turned upside down by the Genii; there he is upon
his head!
____14.
“Poor Robin Crusoe, he called him, when he came home again, after sailing
round the island.”
____15.
“There was a boy singing a Christmas carol at my door last night.”
____16.
In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see who bore
a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty’s horn, and held it up, high up . . .
____17.
“He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church,
because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember,
upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.”
____18.
After a while they played at forfeits, for it is good to be children sometimes,
and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child
himself.
____19.
It was a game called Yes and No, where Scrooge’s nephew had to think of
something, and the rest must find out what, he only answering to their
questions yes or no, as the case was.
____20.
Likewise, at the game of How, When, and Where, she was very great, and, to the
secret joy of Scrooge’s nephew, beat her sisters hollow, though they were sharp
girls, too, as Topper could have told you.
24
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 13
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 1
Read the following passage the first time through for meaning.
Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping,
clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous
fire, secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped
his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and spoke out
shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He
carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw
it one degree at Christmas.
External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no 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. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail,
and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often “came down” handsomely,
and Scrooge never did. (From Stave One)
Read the passage a second time, marking figurative language, sensory imagery, poetic
devices, and any other patterns of diction and rhetoric, then answer the questions below.
1 Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping,
2 clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous
3 fire, secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped
4 his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and spoke out
5 shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He
6 carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw
7 it one degree at Christmas.
8 External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him.
9 No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain
10 less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail,
11 and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often “came down” handsomely,
12 and Scrooge never did.
25
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 13
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 1
____1.
The underlined words in Lines 3 and 8 are examples of . . .
a. assonance b. consonance c. alliteration d. rhyme
____2.
Line 1 contains an example of . . .
a. metaphor b. simile c. personification
____3.
All of the following word pairs are examples of assonance EXCEPT . . .
a. Hard – sharp (Line 2)
b. cold – froze (Line 3)
c. thin – lips (Line 4)
d. wiry – chin (Line 5)
____4.
All of the following descriptions are parallel in meaning EXCEPT . . .
a. he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone (Line 1)
b. The cold within him froze his old features (Line 3)
c. He carried his own low temperature always about with him (Lines 5-6)
d. No wind that blew was bitterer than he (Line 9)
____5.
The words “dog-days” in Line 6 refer to . . .
a. The days that Scrooge would bring his dog to the office
b. The days of the summer months of June, July, and August
c. The days on which Scrooge was grouchy and unkind
d. The first days of winter in November and December
____6.
The word “rime” in Line 5 probably is closest in meaning to . . .
a. a poem set in winter
b. a scarf or muffler
c. a coating of ice or snow
d. a light colored wig or hat
26
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 14
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 2
Read the following passage the first time through for meaning.
Once upon a time – of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve – old Scrooge sat busy in his
counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather, foggy withal, and he could hear the people in the court
outside go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon
the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already –
it had not been light all day – and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighboring offices, like ruddy
smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense
without, that, although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see
the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard
by, and was brewing on a large scale.
The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open, that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who, in a dismal
little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was
so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box
in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be
necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at
the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed. (From Stave One)
Read the passage a second time, marking figurative language, sensory imagery, poetic
devices, and any other patterns of diction and rhetoric, then answer the questions below.
1 Once upon a time – of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve – old Scrooge sat busy in his
2 counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather, foggy withal, and he could hear the people in the court
3 outside go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon
4 the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already –
5 it had not been light all – and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighboring offices, like ruddy
6 smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense
7 without, that, although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see
8 the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard
9 by, and was brewing on a large scale.
10 The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open, that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who, in a dismal
11 little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was
12 so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box
27
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 14
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 2
13 in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be
14 necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at
15 the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.
____1.
The passage contains ALL of the following inferences EXCEPT . . .
a. The clerk is uncomfortable, but not afraid of Scrooge.
b. The clerk requires close supervision by Scrooge.
c. The clerk thinks he will be fired if he gets more coal from Scrooge.
____2.
The words “Once upon a time” in Line 1 are a signal to the reader to be
aware of all of the following possibilities EXCEPT . . .
a. The events of the story did not really happen.
b. The story may contain supernatural elements.
c. The story is factual, and therefore teaches a moral lesson.
d. The story probably has a happy ending.
____3.
All of the following words describe the tone of the passage EXCEPT . . .
a. dismal b. pessimistic c. gloomy d. dreary
____4.
The underlined words in Lines 5-6 are an example of . . .
a. metaphor b. simile c. personification
____5.
Lines 8 and 9 contain an example of . . .
a. allusion and personification
b. metaphor and personification
c. simile and personification
____6.
The author’s attitude toward the clerk is revealed in all of the following
descriptions EXCEPT . . .
a. that he might keep his eye upon his clerk (Line 10)
b. a dismal little cell beyond (Line 10-11)
c. tried to warm himself at the candle (Line 14-15)
d. not being a man of a strong imagination (Line 15)
28
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 15
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 3
Read the following passage the first time through for meaning.
For the people who were shoveling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee, calling out to one
another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball – better-natured missile
far than many a wordy jest – laughing heartily if it went right, and not less heartily if it went wrong. The
poulterers’ shops were still half open, and the fruiterers’ were radiant in their glory. There were great,
round, potbellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the
doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced,
broad-girthed Spanish onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish friars, and winking from
their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe.
There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made,
in the shopkeepers’ benevolence, to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people’s mouths might water
gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient
walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle-deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk
biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness
of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after
dinner. The very gold-and-silver-fish, set forth among these choice fruits in a bowl, though members of a
dull and stagnant-blooded race, appeared to know that there was something going on and, to a fish, went
gasping round and round their little world in slow and passionless excitement. (From Stave Three)
Read the passage a second time, marking figurative language, sensory imagery, poetic
devices, and any other patterns of diction and rhetoric, then answer the questions below.
1 For the people who were shoveling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee, calling out to one
2 another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball – better-natured missile
3 far than many a wordy jest – laughing heartily if it went right, and not less heartily if it went wrong. The
4 poulterers’ shops were still half open, and the fruiterers’ were radiant in their glory. There were great,
5 round, potbellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the
6 doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced,
7 broad-girthed Spanish onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish friars, and winking
8 from their shelves in wanton slyness at the girls as they went by, and glanced demurely at the hung-up
9 mistletoe. There were pears and apples, clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of
10 grapes, made, in the shopkeepers’ benevolence, to dangle from conspicuous hooks, that people’s mouths
11 might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their
12 fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle-deep through withered
29
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 15
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 3
13 leaves; there were Norfolk biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and
14 lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching
15 to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. The very gold-and-silver fish, set forth
16 among these choice fruits in a bowl, though members of a dull and stagnant-blooded race, appeared
17 to know that there was something going on and, to a fish, went gasping round and round their little
18 world in slow and passionless excitement.
____1.
Personification is used to describe ALL of the following EXCEPT . . .
a. baskets b. onions c. filberts d. oranges and lemons
____2.
The passage contains all of the following descriptions EXCEPT . . .
a. a snowball fight
b. men tumbling out of doorways
c. nuts that smell like dead leaves
d. a fish bowl set among fruit
____3.
In Lines 6-9, who is flirting with the girls?
a. old gentlemen b. Spanish friars c. Spanish onions
d. fruiterers
____4.
In Line 18, “passionless excitement” is an example of . . .
a. oxymoron b. analogy c. assonance
____5.
All of the following descriptions are parallel in meaning EXCEPT . . .
a. jovial and full of glee (Line 1)
b. facetious snowball (Line 2)
c. laughing heartily (Line 3)
d. radiant in their glory (Line 4)
____6.
All of the following statements accurately describe the passage EXCEPT . . .
a. The description moves from reality to fantasy.
b. The description is characterized by energy and vitality.
c. There is a shift in tone from optimism to pessimism.
d. The description reflects the boundless joy of Christmas.
30
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 16
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 4
Read the following passage the first time through for meaning.
And now, without a word of warning from the Ghost, they stood upon a bleak and desert moor, where
monstrous masses of rude stone were cast about, as though it were the burial-place of giants, and water
spread itself wheresoever it listed, or would have done so, but for the frost that held it prisoner, and
nothing grew but moss and furze, and coarse, rank grass. Down in the west the setting sun had left a
streak of fiery red, which glared upon the desolation for an instant, like a sullen eye, and frowning
lower, lower, lower yet was lost in the thick gloom of darkest night.
“What place is this?” asked Scrooge.
“A place where miners live, who labor in the bowels of the earth,” returned the Spirit. “But they know
me. See!”
A light shone from the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced toward it. Passing through the wall of
mud and stone, they found a cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire. An old, old man and
woman, with their children and their children’s children, and another generation beyond that, all decked
out gaily in their holiday attire. The old man, in a voice that seldom rose above the howling of the wind
upon the barren waste, was singing them a Christmas song – it had been a very old song when he was a
boy – and from time to time they all joined in the chorus. So surely as they raised their voices, the old
man got quite blithe and loud, and so surely as they stopped, his vigor sank again. (From Stave Three)
Read the passage a second time, marking figurative language, sensory imagery, poetic
devices, and any other patterns of diction and rhetoric, then answer the questions below.
1 And now, without a word of warning from the Ghost, they stood upon a bleak and desert moor, where
2 monstrous masses of rude stone were cast about, as though it were the burial-place of giants, and water
3 spread itself wheresoever it listed, or would have done so, but for the frost that held it prisoner, and
4 nothing grew but moss and furze, and coarse, rank grass. Down in the west the setting sun had left a
5 streak of fiery red, which glared upon the desolation for an instant, like a sullen eye, frowning
6 lower, lower, lower yet was lost in the thick gloom of darkest night.
7 “What place is this?” asked Scrooge.
8 “A place where miners live, who labor in the bowels of the earth,” returned the Spirit. “But they know
9 me. See!”
10 A light shone from the window of a hut, and swiftly they advanced toward it. Passing through the wall of
11 mud and stone, they found a cheerful company assembled round a glowing fire. An old, old man and
12 woman, with their children and their children’s children, and another generation beyond that, all decked
13 out gaily in their holiday attire. The old man, in a voice that seldom rose above the howling of the wind
14 upon the barren waste, was singing them a Christmas song – it had been a very old song when he was a
31
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
EXERCISE 16
STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 4
15 boy – and from time to time they all joined in the chorus. So surely as they raised their voices, the old
16 man got quite blithe and loud, and so surely as they stopped, his vigor sank again.
____1.
The underlined words in Line 1 are examples of . . .
a. assonance b. consonance c. alliteration d. rhyme
____2.
The word “giants” in Line 2 is an example of . . .
a. metaphor b. simile c. personification d. allusion
____3.
In Line 3, “the frost that held it prisoner” refers to . . .
a. the giant b. the sun c. ice and snow d. the Ghost
____4.
In Lines 5-6, “frowning lower, lower, lower” refers to . . .
a. the giant b. the streak d. Scrooge e. the Ghost
____5.
The author uses the scene with the miner’s family to support ALL of
the following themes EXCEPT . . .
a. Christmas is celebrated in remote, unexpected places.
b. Christmas is a family celebration.
c. Christmas is more important to elderly people than it is to the young.
d. Christmas is celebrated as joyously by the poor as by the rich.
____6.
The underlined words in Line 16 are examples of . . .
a. assonance b. consonance c. alliteration d. rhyme
32
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
ANSWER KEY
EXERCISES 1-16
EXERCISE 1:
1. adj 2. pron 3. int 4. pron 5. adv 6. adj 7. n 8. prep
9. int 10. conj 11. v 12. adv 13. adj 14. prep 15. v
16. pron 17. adj 18. conj 19. prep 20. pron 21. int
22. prep 23. adv 24. pron 25. n
EXERCISE 2:
Passage 1: 1. c 2. a 3. b 4. a 5. a 6. c
Passage 2: 1. c 2. a 3. c 4. b 5. a 6. b
EXERCISE 3:
Passage 1: 1. b 2. a 3. c 4. d 5. a 6. b
Passage 2: 1. a 2. c 3. a 4. b 5. c 6. c
EXERCISE 4:
1. S 2. CC 3. S 4. S 5. S 6. C 7. S 8. CX 9. CX 10. CX
11. CC 12. S 13. S 14. CX 15. C 16. CX 17. C 18. S
19. C 20. S 21. CX 22. CX 23. S 24. CX 25. CX
EXERCISE 5:
1. p.a. 2. p.n. 3. d.o. 4. p.a. 5. p.n. 6. o.p. 7. p.n. 8. d.o.
9. o.p. 10. p.n. 11. p.a. 12. o.p. 13. p.n. 14. d.o. 15. d.o.
16. p.n. 17. o.p. 18. d.o. 19. p.n. 20. i.o. 21. i.o. 22. o.p.
23. i.o. 24. p.n. 25. o.p.
EXERCISE 6:
1. prep 2. inf 3. par 4. ger 5. inf 6. prep 7. par 8. ger
9. appos 10. inf 11. prep 12. prep 13. inf 14. par 15. prep
16. appos 17. par 18. ger 19. prep 20. par 21. inf 22. inf
23. appos 24. ger 25. prep
EXERCISE 7:
1. inf subj 2. inf adj 3. par adj 4. ger o.p. 5. inf subj
6. par adj 7. inf subj 8. par adj 9. ger o.p. 10. ger o.p.
11. inf adv 12. ger o.p. 13. par adj 14. inf adv 15. par adj
16. ger subj 17. inf d.o. 18. inf adv 19. ger o.p. 20. par adj
21. ger o.p. 22. inf adj 23. par adj 24. ger subj 25. ger o.p.
EXERCISE 8:
1. adj 2. adv 3. adv 4. o.p. 5. adv 6. adj 7. p.n. 8. p.n.
9. adj 10. d.o. 11. o.p. 12. adv 13. adj 14. d.o. 15. subj
16. adv 17. d.o. 18. adj 19. adv 20. adv 21. adj 22. adj
23. adj 24. d.o. 25. adv
EXERCISE 9:
1. s 2. s 3. m 4. p 5. p 6. p 7. p 8. s 9. p 10. m 11. m
12. p 13. o 14. h 15. p 16. s 17. p 18. p 19. s 20. s
21. o 22. s 23. s 24. o 25. h
33
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens – Grammar and Style
ANSWER KEY
EXERCISES 1-16
EXERCISE 10:
1. d 2. c 3. b 4. b 5. e 6. c 7. a 8. d 9. b 10. d 11. a
12. c 13. a 14. a 15. e 16. c 17. b 18. a 19. a 20. a
21. b 22. c 23. a 24. b 25. d
EXERCISE 11:
1. b 2. a 3. b 4. a 5. b 6. c 7. a 8. e 9. c 10. b 11. a
12. a 13. b 14. b 15. e 16. d 17. e 18. c 19. e 20. c
EXERCISE 12:
1. d 2. a 3. c 4. e 5. e 6. c 7. b 8. b 9. c 10. c 11. b
12. d 13. d 14. d 15. b 16. c 17. b 18. b 19. e 20. e
EXERCISE 13:
1. c 2. a 3. d 4. a 5. b 6. c
EXERCISE 14:
1. a 2. c 3. b 4. b 5. a 6. b
EXERCISE 15:
1. c 2. b 3. c 4. a 5. d 6. c
EXERCISE 16:
1. c 2. d 3. c 4. b 5. c 6. a
34
Anapest. A foot of poetry with two
unaccented syllables followed by one
accented syllable. Example: disengage.
LITERARY GLOSSARY
A
Anaphora. A type of repetition in
which the same word or phrase is used at
the beginning of two or more sentences
or phrases.
Alexandrine. A line of poetry written in
iambic hexameter (six feet of iambs).
Allegory. A story with both a literal and
symbolic meaning.
Anecdote. A brief personal story about
an event or experience.
Alliteration. The repetition of initial
consonant or vowel sounds in two or
more successive or nearby words.
Example: fit and fearless; as accurate
as the ancient author.
Antagonist. A character, institution,
group, or force that is in conflict with the
protagonist.
Antihero – A protagonist who does not
have the traditional attributes of a hero.
Allusion. A reference to a well-known
person, place, event, work of art, myth,
or religion. Example: Hercules, Eden,
Waterloo, Prodigal Son, Superman.
Antimetabole. A type of repetition in
which the words in a successive clause
or phrase are reversed. Example: “Ask
not what your country can do for you
but what you can do for your
country.” John F. Kennedy.
Amphibrach. A foot of poetry with an
unaccented syllable, an accented
syllable, and an unaccented syllable.
Example: another
Antiphrasis. The use of a word or
phrases to mean the opposite of the
intended meaning. Example: In
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Antony’s
use of “. . . but Brutus is an honorable
man . . .” to convey the opposite
meaning.
Amphimacer. A foot of poetry with an
accented syllable, an unaccented
syllable, and an accented syllable.
Example: up and down.
Anadiplosis. A type of repetition in
which the last words of a sentence are
used to begin the next sentence.
Apostrophe. A figure of speech in
which the speaker directly addresses an
object, idea, or absent person. Example:
Milton! thou should be living at this
hour. (London, 1802 by William
Wordsworth).
Analogy. A comparison of two things
that are somewhat alike. Example: But
Marlow was not typical . . . to him the
meaning of an episode was not inside
like a kernel but outside, enveloping
the tale which brought it out only as a
glow brings out a haze . . . Heart of
Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
Archetypes. Primordial images and
symbols that occur in literature, myth,
religion, and folklore. Examples:
forest, moon, stars, earth mother.
warrior, innocent child, wizard.
35
LITERARY GLOSSARY
C
A
Cacophony. The unharmonious
combination of words that sound harsh
together.
Aside. In drama, lines delivered by an
actor to the audience as if the other
actors on stage could not hear what he is
saying.
Caesura. A natural pause or break in a
line of poetry. In scansion the symbol //
is used to mark a caesura.
Assonance. The repetition of vowel
sounds in two or more words that do not
rhyme. Example: The black cat
scratched the saddle.
Canto. A section of a long poem.
Caricature. Writing that exaggerates or
distorts personal qualities of an
individual.
Asyndeton. The omission of
conjunctions in a series. Example: “ I
came, I saw, I conquered.” Julius
Caesar.
Chiaroscuro. The contrasting of light
and darkness.
Cinquain. A five-line stanza.
Atmosphere. The way that setting or
landscape affects the tone or mood of a
work.
Classicism. A literary approach that
imitates the literature and art of ancient
Greece and Rome that stresses order,
balance, reason, and idealism.
B
Ballad. A songlike poem that tells a
story. Example: Barbara Allan.
Climax. The high point in the plot,
after which there is falling action. May
coincide with crisis.
Bathos. Sentimentality.
Colloquialism. A local expression that
is not accepted in formal speech or
writing.
Bildungsroman. A novel that deals
with the coming of age or growing up of
a young person from childhood or
adolescence to maturity. Example: Pip
in Great Expectations, Huckleberry
Finn, or Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.
Comedy. A work of literature that has a
happy ending.
Comic relief. Humorous action or lines
spoken in a serious point in a play.
Example: The Porter Scene in
Macbeth, Act II, scene iii).
Blank verse. Poetry written in
unrhymed iambic pentameter. Example:
Shakespeare plays.
Burlesque. Low comedy, ridiculous
exaggeration, nonsense.
Conceit. In poetry, an unusual,
elaborate comparison. Example: John
Donne compares separated lovers to the
legs of a drawing compass.
36
LITERARY GLOSSARY
Denouement. The falling action or final
revelations in the plot.
C
Description. Words that paint a picture
of a person, place, or thing using details
and sensory imagery.
Concrete poem. A poem that takes the
shape of its subject. Example: Easter
Wings by George Herbert).
Dialect. Regional speech that identifies
a character’s social status.
Conflict. The struggle between
characters and other characters, forces of
nature, or outside forces beyond their
control, internal conflict within a
character who struggles with moral
choices and matters of conscience.
Dialogue. Conversation between two or
more characters.
Diction. Word choice.
Doppelganger. A look-alike, double, or
twin. Example: Charles Darnay and
Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities.
Connotation. The universal
associations a word has apart from its
definition. Example: Connotations of
the word witch are: black cat, cauldron,
Halloween, broomstick, and evil spell.
Double entendre. A statement that has
two meanings, one of which is
suggestive, sexual, or improper.
Consonance. The repetition of a
consonant at the end of two or more
words. Example: Hop up the step.
Dramatic irony. When the reader or
audience knows or understands
something that a character does not
know.
Context. The words and phrases
surrounding a word.
Dramatic monologue. When a
character speaks to a silent listener.
Couplet. A pair of rhyming lines in the
same meter.
Dynamic character. A character who
undergoes change as a result of the
actions of the plot and the influence of
other characters.
Crisis. The point at which the
protagonist experiences change, the
turning point.
Dysphemism. A coarse or rude way of
saying something. The opposite of
euphemism. Example: A euphemism
for die would be pass away. A
dysphemism would be croak.
D
Dactyl. A poetic foot with one accented
syllable followed by two unaccented
syllables. Example: multitude.
Denotation. The definition or meaning
of a word.
37
LITERARY GLOSSARY
Ethos. Moral nature or beliefs.
D
Euphemism. An indirect way of saying
something that may be offensive.
Example: Passed away instead of died,
senior citizens instead of old people.
Dystopia. The opposite of utopia.
Literally bad place. Examples of
literature about dystopia include Anthem
by Ayn Rand, 1984 by George Orwell,
and Brave New World by Aldous
Huxley.
Existentialism. 20th century philosophy
concerned with the plight of the
individual who must assume
responsibility for acts of free will.
Characteristics are alienation, anxiety,
loneliness, absurdity. Example: The
Stranger by Albert Camus.
E
Elegy. A formal poem about death.
Extended metaphor. A metaphor that
is elaborated on and developed in several
phrases or sentences.
Elision. The omission of part of a word.
Example: o’er for over, and e’re for
ever.
Extended personification. A
personification that is elaborated on and
developed in several phrases or
sentences.
Ellipsis. Three periods (. . .) that signify
the omission of one or more words.
Epic. A long narrative poem about the
adventures of gods or a hero. Example:
Beowulf, The Odyssey by Homer.
Extended simile. A simile that is
elaborated on and developed in several
phrases or sentences.
Epilogue. A concluding statement.
F
Epiphany. A sudden insight or change
of heart that happens in an instant.
Fantasy. A 20th century literary
movement characterized by plots,
characters, and settings not based in
reality. Example: The Lord of the
Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien).
Epitaph. An inscription on a tomb or
gravestone.
Epithet. A word or phrase describing a
quality of a person, place, or thing that is
repeated throughout a work. Example:
wine-dark sea in Homer’s The Iliad.
Falling action. All action that takes
place after the climax.
Farce. Comedy that involves horseplay,
mistaken identity, exaggeration, and
witty dialogue. Example: The Comedy
of Errors by William Shakespeare, The
Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar
Wilde.
Essay. A short nonfiction work about a
specific subject. Essays may be
narrative, persuasive, descriptive,
expository, or argumentative. Example:
Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
38
Hero/Heroine. The main character, the
protagonist whose actions inspire and
are admired.
LITERARY GLOSSARY
F
Heroic couplet. In poetry, a rhymed
pair of iambic pentameter lines.
Fiction. Literature about imaginary
characters and events.
Homophone. A word that sounds like
another word but has a different spelling.
Example: see/sea, two/too, here/hear,
fair/fare, threw/through.
Figurative language. The use of
figures of speech to express ideas.
Figures of Speech. Include metaphor,
simile, hyperbole, personification, and
oxymoron.
Hyperbole. A figure of speech that uses
exaggeration. Example: Our chances
are one in a million. I like this car ten
times more than our other one. I will
love you till the seas run dry.
First person narration. The story is
told from the point of view of one
character. Example: David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens, Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain.
I
Iamb. A foot of poetry with one
unaccented syllable followed by one
accented syllable. Example: alone.
Flashback. A plot device that allows
the author to jump back in time prior to
the opening scene.
Flat character. A one-dimensional
character who is not developed in the
plot. See static character.
Idiom. A saying or expression that
cannot be translated literally. Example:
jump down someone’s throat, smell a
rat, jump the gun, bite the dust.
Foil. A character who, through contrast,
reveals the characteristics of another
character. Dr. Watson is a foil to
Sherlock Holmes.
Inference. Information or action that is
hinted at or suggested, but not stated
outright.
Interior monologue. A device
associated with stream of consciousness
where a character is thinking to himself
and the reader feels like he is inside the
character’s mind.
Foreshadowing. A clue that prepares
the reader for what will happen later on
in the story.
Free verse. Poetry that is not written in
consistent patterns of rhyme or meter.
Irony. The opposite of what is
expected. A reality different from
appearance.
H
Heptastich. A seven-line stanza.
39
Metaphor. A figure of speech in which
one thing is said to be another thing.
Example: Her eye of ice continued to
dwell freezingly on mine. ( Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte).
LITERARY GLOSSARY
K
Kenning. A kind of metaphor used in
Anglo-Saxon poetry to replace a
concrete noun. Example: In Beowulf
the ship is called the ringed prow, the
foamy-necked, and the sea-farer.
Metaphysical poetry. A 17th century
literary movement that includes English
poets John Donne, George Herbert, and
Andrew Marvell. Their poems featured
intellectual playfulness, paradoxes, and
elaborate conceits.
L
Meter. The rhythm in a line of poetry.
The number and types of stresses or
beats on syllables are counted as feet.
Examples: monometer (one foot),
dimeter (two feet), trimeter (three feet),
tetrameter (four feet), pentameter (five
feet), hexameter (six feet), and
heptameter (seven feet).
Legend. A tale or story that may or may
not be based in fact, but which reflects
cultural identity. Example: Legends
about King Arthur, Robin Hood, and
other folk heroes.
Litotes. Understatement that makes a
positive statement by using a negative
opposite. Example: He’s not a bad
singer.
Metonymy. The use of an object
closely associated with a word for the
word itself. Example: Using crown to
mean king, or oval office to mean
president.
Lyric poem. A poem that expresses the
emotions and observations of a single
speaker, including the elegy, ode, and
sonnet.
Mock epic. A poem about a silly or
trivial matter written in a serious tone.
Example: The Rape of the Lock by
Alexander Pope.
M
Magical realism. In 20th century art and
literature, when supernatural or magical
events are accepted as being real by both
character and audience. Example: One
Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel
Garcia Marquez.
Monologue. A speech given by one
person.
Mood. Synonymous with atmosphere
and tone.
Motif. A recurring pattern of symbols,
colors, events, allusions, or imagery.
Malapropism. The use of a word
somewhat like the one intended, but
ridiculously wrong. Example:
Huckleberry Finn’s use of diseased to
mean deceased.
Myth. A fictional tale about gods or
heroes. Allusions to Greek, Roman,
Norse, and Celtic myths are common in
English literature.
40
LITERARY GLOSSARY
N
Onomatopoeia. A figure of speech that
uses words to imitate sound. Example:
clink, buzz, hum, splash, hiss, boom.
Narrative poem. A poem that tells a
story. Example: ballads (Barbara
Allen) and epics (Beowulf, The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner).
Ottava rima. A stanza containing eight
iambic pentameter lines with the rhyme
scheme abababcc. Example: Sailing to
Byzantium by William Butler Yeats.
Narrator. The person telling the story.
Oxymoron. A figure of speech that
combines words that are opposites.
Example: sweet sorrow, dark victory,
jumbo shrimp.
Naturalism. A late 19th century literary
movement that viewed individuals as
fated victims of natural laws. Example:
To Build a Fire by Jack London.
P
Neoclassicism. A literary movement
during the Restoration and 18th century
(1660-1798) characterized by Greek and
Roman literary forms, reason, harmony,
restraint, and decorum.
Parable. A story that teaches a lesson.
Paradox. A statement that on the
surface seems a contradiction, but that
actually contains some truth. Example:
For when I am weak, then I am
strong. Saint Paul.
Nonfiction. Prose writing about real
people, places, things, or events.
Paraphrase. The restatement of a
phrase, sentence, or group of sentences
using different words that mean the same
as the original.
Novel. A long work of fiction that has
plot, characters, themes, symbols, and
settings.
Novella. A lengthy tale or short story.
Parallelism. Arranging words and
phrases consistently to express similar
ideas. Example: I like to hike, fishing,
and swimming. (Incorrect) I like hiking,
fishing, and swimming. (Correct).
O
Octave. An eight-line stanza.
Parataxis. Sentences, phrases, clauses,
or words arranged in coordinate rather
than subordinate construction. Example:
Every little while he locked me in and
went down to the store, three miles, to
the ferry, and traded fish and game
for whisky, and fetched it home and
got drunk and had a good time, and
licked me. (Huckleberry Finn by Mark
Twain).
Ode. A long, formal poem with three
alternating stanza patterns: strophe,
antistrophe, and epode.
Omniscient narrator. When the
narrator’s knowledge extends to the
internal thoughts and states of mind of
all characters. Example: The Pearl by
John Steinbeck.
41
Picaresque. A story told in episodes
where the protagonist has adventures
and may be a rascal. Example:
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
LITERARY GLOSSARY
P
Plot. The sequence of events in a story.
Parody. Witty writing that imitates and
often ridicules another author’s style.
Example: Ancient Mariner Dot Com
is a parody of The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner.
Poetic devices. Words with harmonious
sounds including assonance,
consonance, alliteration, repetition,
and rhyme.
Pastoral. A poem set among shepherds
or rural life.
Point of view. The perspective from
which a story is told.
Pathos. Pity, sympathy, or sorrow felt
by the reader in response to an author’s
words.
Polysyndeton. The overuse of
conjunctions in a sentence.
Postmodern. Contemporary fiction
characterized by an antihero and
experimental style.
Pentameter. Five feet of verse in a
poem.
Peroration. The last lines of an oration
in which the major points are
summarized.
Prose. Written language that is not
poetry, drama, or song. Prose can be
fiction or nonfiction.
Persona. The voice in a work of
literature. The persona may be the
narrator or the author who uses the
narrator to express ideas.
Protagonist. The main character.
Pun. A play on words. Example: He
wanted to become a chef, but he didn’t
have the thyme.
Personification. A figure of speech that
attributes human qualities to an
inanimate object. Example: The wind
sighed. The moon hid behind the
clouds.
Pyrrhic. A foot of poetry with two
successive unaccented syllables.
Example: unsinkable.
Petrarchan sonnet. A sonnet divided
into two parts: 8 line octave that rhymes
abba abba, 6 line sestet that rhymes cde
cde. The octave presents a situation or
problem, and the sestet solves the
problem. Also called an Italian sonnet.
Q
Quatrain. A four-line stanza.
R
Realism. Writing that is characterized
by details of everyday life.
42
Romanticism. 18th-19th century literary
movement that portrayed the beauty of
untamed nature, emotion, the nobility of
the common man, rights of the
individual, spiritualism, folklore and
myth, magic, imagination, and fancy.
LITERARY GLOSSARY
R
Refrain. Regularly repeated line or
group of lines in a poem or song.
Regionalism. Writing about a specific
geographic area using speech, folklore,
beliefs, and customs.
Round character. A complex character
who undergoes change during the course
of the story. Example: Sydney Carton
in A Tale of Two Cities.
Repartee. A comeback, a quick
response.
Run-on line. In poetry a line that does
not stop, but continues to the next line.
Repetition. A poetic device that uses
the repeating of words, sounds, phrases,
or sentences.
S
Sarcasm. A bitter remark intending to
hurt and express disapproval.
Rhetoric. The art of persuasion. Words
used to persuade.
Satire. Writing that blends humor and
wit with criticism of institutions or
mankind in general. Noted satirists
include Chaucer, Dante, Voltaire,
Moliere, Swift, and Twain.
Rhyme. Words with identical sounds,
but different spellings. Example:
cat/hat, glare/air, tight/write.
Rhyme scheme. The pattern of rhyming
words. The last word in each line is
assigned a letter of the alphabet
beginning with a. Example: If the last
words in each of four lines are me (a),
grave (b), see (a), and save (b), the
rhyme scheme is abab.
Scansion. The process of determining
the meter of a poem. Stressed syllables
are marked with a slanted line over the
sound. Unstressed syllables are marked
with a horseshoe over the sound. When
the pattern emerges, one can then
determine the meter and number of feet
in a line of poetry.
Rising action. The path of the plot
leading to the climax.
Sensory imagery. Language that
evokes images and triggers memories in
the reader of the five senses: sight,
sound, touch, taste, and smell.
Romance. A story about distant,
imagined events as opposed to realistic
experience. Originally referred to
medieval tales about knights and nobles.
Modern usage refers to sentimental love
stories.
Sestet. A six-line stanza.
Setting. The time and place where a
story takes place.
43
Static character. A character who
changes little in the course of the story.
Example: Jerry Cruncher in A Tale of
Two Cities, Tom Sawyer in Huckleberry
Finn.
LITERARY GLOSSARY
S
Shakespearean sonnet. A sonnet with
three four-line quatrains and a two-line
couplet that ends the poem and presents
a concluding statement. The rhyme
scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Also
called an English sonnet.
Stream of Consciousness. A narrative
technique that imitates the stream of
thought in a character’s mind. Example:
The Sound and the Fury by William
Faulkner.
Style. The individual way an author
writes.
Short story. A brief work of fiction
with a simple plot, and few characters
and settings.
Subplot. A minor or secondary plot that
complicates a story. Example: Mr.
Micawber and his family in David
Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
Simile. A figure of speech that
compares two things that are not alike,
using the words like, as, or than.
Example: eyes gleaming like live coals,
as delicate as a snowflake, colder than
ice.
Surrealism. 20th century art, literature,
and film that juxtaposes unnatural
combinations of images for a fantastic or
dreamlike effect.
Soliloquy. A long speech made by a
character who is alone, who reveals
private thoughts and feelings to the
reader or audience.
Suspense. Anticipation of the outcome.
Speaker. The imaginary voice that tells
a poem.
Symbol. Something that stands for
something else. Example: the albatross
(guilt) in The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner; the handkerchief (infidelity)
in Othello, the red letter A (adultery) in
The Scarlet Letter.
Spenserian stanza. A stanza with nine
iambic lines rhymed ababbcbcc. All
lines are pentameters except the last line
written in hexameter or alexandrine.
Synecdoche. A figure of speech in
which the part symbolizes the whole.
Example: All hands on deck, I’ve got
some new wheels.
Spondee. A foot of poetry with two
equally strong stresses. Example:
bathtub, workday, swing shift.
Syntax. Word order, the way in which
words are strung together.
Sonnet. A fourteen-line lyric poem
about a single theme.
Stanza. Lines of poetry considered as a
group.
44
LITERARY GLOSSARY
U
T
Understatement. Saying less than is
actually called for. Example: referring
to an Olympic sprinter as being pretty
fast.
Tercet. A three-line stanza.
Terza rima. A three-line stanza first
used by Dante Alighieri in his The
Divine Comedy. The first and last lines
of each tercet rhyme. The middle line of
the first tercet rhymes with the first and
last lines of the next tercet, aba bcb cdc
ded.
Unreliable narrator. A narrator who is
not credible when it comes to telling the
story. Example: Chief Bromden in
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or
Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein.
Theme. A central idea.
W
Third person narration. When a story
is told by a voice from outside the story.
Example: Ethan Frome by Edith
Wharton.
Wordplay. Verbal wit.
Utopia. A perfect or ideal world.
Tone. The attitude toward a subject or
audience implied by a work of literature.
Trochee. A foot of poetry consisting of
one accented syllable followed by one
unaccented syllable. Example: monkey
Trancendentalism. A 19th century
American philosophical and literary
movement that promoted the belief that
intuition and conscience transcend
experience and are therefore better
guides to truth than logic and the senses.
Characteristics are respect for the
individual spirit, the presence of the
divine in nature, the belief that divine
presence is everywhere (the Over-Soul, a
concept influenced by Hinduism).
Trope. In rhetoric, a figure of speech
involving a change in meaning, the use
of a word in a sense other than the
literal.
45
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
Antecedent. A word or group of words
that a pronoun refers to or replaces.
Example: He had a conscience, and it
was a romantic conscience. (Lord Jim
by Joseph Conrad).
A
Abbreviation. A shortened form of a
word, usually followed by a period.
Example: Mr., Dr., U.S.A. Mrs.
Bennet’s best comfort was that Mr.
Bingley must be down again in summer.
(Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen).
Apostrophe. A punctuation mark (‘)
used in contractions to replace a letter,
or added to the last letter of a noun
followed by an s to indicate possession.
Example: Don’t turn me out of doors
to wander in the streets again. (Oliver
Twist by Charles Dickens).
Active voice. A verb is active if the
subject of the sentence is performing
the action. Example: Rikki-Tikki shook
some of the dust out of his fur and
sneezed. (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard
Kipling).
Appositive. A noun, pronoun, or
phrase that identifies or extends
information about another noun or
pronoun in a sentence. Example:
At the man’s heels trotted a dog,
a big native husky, the proper wolf
dog. (To Build a Fire by Jack London).
Adjective. A word that describes.
An adjective modifies a noun or
pronoun. Example: Human madness
is oftentimes a cunning and most
feline thing. (Moby Dick by Herman
Melville).
C
Capitalization. The following words
are capitalized: brand names, business
firms, calendar items, course names with
numbers, first word of a direct quotation,
first word of a line of poetry, first word
of a sentence, geographical names,
government bodies, historical events,
institutions, interjections, languages,
proper nouns, proper adjectives, races,
religions, school subjects, seasons, special
events, titles of persons, publications,
works of art, movies, novels, plays, poems,
short stories, screenplays, essays, and
speeches, words referring to Deity, words
showing family relationship. Example:
The Pontelliers possessed a very charming
home on Esplanade Street in New Orleans.
(The Awakening by Kate Chopin).
Adjective clause. A clause that
modifies a noun or pronoun. Example:
The mother who lay in the grave, was
the mother of my infancy. (David
Copperfield by Charles Dickens).
Adverb. A word that describes a verb,
explaining where, when, how, or to what
extent. An adverb modifies a verb,
adjective, or another adverb. Example:
The time I spent upon the island is still
so horrible a thought to me, that I must
pass it lightly over. (Kidnapped by
Robert Louis Stevenson).
Adverb clause. A clause that modifies
a verb, adjective, or another adverb.
Example: As she kissed me, her lips
felt like ice. (Wuthering Heights by
Emily Bronte).
46
Comma. A punctuation mark (,)
used after the salutation and closing
of a letter, between parts of a
compound sentence, in a series,
after an introductory clause or
prepositional phrase, to set off
appositives and nonessential phrases
and clauses, with coordinate adjectives,
with dates and addresses, parenthetical
expressions, quotation marks, and two
or more adjectives. Example: They
talked much of smoke, fire, and blood,
but he could not tell how much might
be lies. (The Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane).
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
C
Clause. A group of words that has a
subject and a predicate. Clauses begin
with the words: as, that, what, where,
which, who, whose, until, since, although,
though, if, than. Example: At seven in
the morning we reached Hannibal,
Missouri, where my boyhood was
spent. (Life on the Mississippi by
Mark Twain).
Common noun. A word that names a
person, place, or thing. Example: A
night on the sea in an open boat is a
long night. (The Open Boat by
Stephen Crane).
Closing. In a letter, the words preceding
the signature at the end of a letter.
Example: Love, Best regards, Yours
truly, Sincerely. Example: Your
unworthy and unhappy friend, Henry
Jekyll (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by
Robert Louis Stevenson).
Complement. A word that completes
the meaning of an active verb. (direct
object, indirect object, predicate
adjective, and predicate nominative.
Collective noun. A singular noun that
names a group of persons or things.
Example: crowd, public, family, swarm,
club, army, fleet, class, audience. As for
the crew, all they knew was that I was
appointed to take the ship home. (The
Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad).
Complex sentence. One independent
clause and one or more subordinate
clauses. Example: About midnight,
while we still sat up, the storm came
rattling over the Heights in full fury.
(Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte).
Colon: A punctuation mark (:) used
after any expression meaning “note
this.” Also used after the salutation in
a business letter, before a list, between
hour and minute, biblical chapters and
verses, and volumes and pages. A colon
never follows a verb or preposition.
Example: I had three chairs in my
house: one for solitude, two for
friendship, three for society. (Walden
by Henry David Thoreau).
Compound adjective. An adjective
formed by two words separated by a
hyphen and treated as one word.
Example: He is a sweet-tempered,
amiable, charming man. (Pride and
Prejudice by Jane Austen).
47
Compound subject: Two or more
subjects that share the same verb.
Example: Bartleby and I were alone.
(Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman
Melville).
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
C
Compound verb. Two or more verbs
that share the same subject. Example:
He rose, dressed, and went on deck.
(Benito Cereno by Herman Melville).
Compound complement. Two or more
words used as direct objects of the same
verb, objects of the same preposition,
predicate nominatives or predicate
adjectives of the same verb, or indirect
objects of the same understood
preposition. Example: I have a rosy
sky and a green flowery Eden in my
brain. (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte).
Conjunction. A word that connects
words or groups of words. Examples:
and, or, nor, but, yet, for, so. Every
little while he locked me in and went
down to the store, three miles, to the
ferry, and traded fish and game for
whisky, and fetched it home and got
drunk and had a good time, and licked
me. (Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain).
Compound-complex sentence. Two or
more independent clauses and one or
more subordinate clauses. Example:
It is an honest town once more,
and the man will have to rise early
that catches it napping again. (The
Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg by
Mark Twain).
Contraction. A word formed by
combining two words, using an
apostrophe to replace any missing
letters. Example: Denmark’s a
prison. (Hamlet by William Shakespeare).
Compound noun. A noun composed of
more than one word. Example: The kiss
was a turning-point in Jude’s career.
(Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy).
D
Dash. A punctuation mark used to
set off abrupt change in thought, an
appositive, a parenthetical expression
or an appositivethat contains commas.
Example: My brother fired – once –
twice – and the booming of the gong
ceased. (The Lagoon by Joseph Conrad).
Compound preposition. A preposition
composed of more than one word.
Example: because of, on account of, in
spite of, according to, instead of, out of.
Example: The sun came up upon the
left, out of the sea came he! (The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel
Taylor Coleridge).
Declarative sentence. A sentence that
makes a statement. Example: I was
born a slave on a plantation in Franklin
County, Virginia. (Up From Slavery by
Booker T. Washington).
Compound sentence. A sentence
consisting of two or more independent
clauses. Example: I was now about
twelve years old, and the thought of
being a slave for life began to bear
heavily upon my heart. (Narrative of
the Life of Frederick Douglass).
48
Essential phrase or clause. Necessary
to the meaning of a sentence and
therefore not set off with commas.
Also called restrictive. Example:
Ethan was ashamed of the storm
of jealousy in his breast. (Ethan
Frome by Edith Wharton).
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
D
Demonstrative pronoun. A pronoun
used to point out a specific person, place,
thing, or idea. Example: this, that, these,
those. This was the noblest Roman of
them all. (Julius Caesar by
William Shakespeare).
Exclamation point. A punctuation
mark (!) used after an interjection and
at the end of an exclamatory sentence.
Example: Scrooge, having no better
answer ready on the spur of the moment,
said “Bah!” again; and followed it up
with “Humbug!” (A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens).
Dependent clause. Another name for
subordinate clause.
Direct object. A noun or pronoun that
receives the action of the verb.
Example: I sound my barbaric yawp
over the roofs of the world. (Song of
Myself by Walt Whitman).
Exclamatory sentence. Expresses
strong emotion and ends with an
exclamation point. Example: O Romeo,
Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead!
(Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare).
Direct quotation. The exact words
spoken. Quotation marks are used
before and after a direct quotation.
Example: “I have the advantage of
knowing your habits, my dear
Watson,” said he. (The Crooked
Man by Arthur Conan Doyle).
Expletive. A word inserted in the subject
position of a sentence that does not add to the
sense of the thought. Example: There is only
one thing in the world worse than being talked
about, and that is not being talked about.
(The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde).
E
G
Elliptical clause. A subordinate clause
in which a word or words are omitted,
but understood. Example: I thought
[that] the heart must burst. (The
Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe).
Gerund. A verbal ending in ing used as
a noun. Example: Saying is one thing,
and paying is another. (The Mayor of
Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy).
Ellipsis. A punctuation mark (. . .)
indicating the omission of words or
a pause. Example: “Oh! Ahab,” cried
Starbuck . . . “See! Moby Dick seeks
thee not.” (Moby Dick by Herman
Melville).
Gerund phrase. A gerund with all of
its modifiers. Example: The coming
of daylight dispelled his fears, but
increased his loneliness. (White Fang
by Jack London).
49
Independent clause. A clause that
expresses a complete thought and can
stand alone as a sentence. Example:
The artist must possess the courageous
soul that dares and defies. (The
Awakening by Kate Chopin).
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
H
Helping verbs. A verb that precedes the
main verb. Example: am, is, are, has
have, had, shall, will, can, may, should,
would, could might, must, do, did, does.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is
sitting, still is sitting on the pallid bust of
Pallas just above my chamber door.
(The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe).
Indirect object. A noun or pronoun
that precedes a direct object and answers
the questions to or for whom? or to or for
what? Example: The horse made me a
sign to go in first. (Gulliver’s Travels by
Jonathan Swift)
Infinitive. A verbal that begins with
to that is used as a noun, adjective, or
adverb. Example: to walk, to read,
to imagine. I sold the watch to get the
money to buy your combs. (The Gift
of the Magi by O. Henry).
Hyphen. Punctuation mark (-) used to
divide words at the end of a line,
between certain numbers (sixty-two), to
separate compound nouns and
adjectives, between some prefixes and
suffixes and their root words. Example:
Why didn’t you tell me there was danger
in men-folk? (Tess of the D’Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy).
Infinitive phrase. An infinitive with its
object and modifiers. Example: To see
him leap and run and pursue me over
hedge and ditch was the worst of
nightmares. (Treasure Island by Robert
Louis Stevenson).
I
Imperative sentence. A sentence that
gives a command or makes a request.
Example: Fetch me the handkerchief!
(Othello by William Shakespeare).
Interjection. A word that is used to
express strong feeling that is not related
grammatically to the rest of the sentence.
Example: Oh! No mortal could support
the horror of that countenance.
(Frankenstein by Mary Shelley).
Indefinite pronoun. A word that refers
to an unnamed person or thing.
Example: All, any, anybody, anything,
both each, either everybody, everyone
everything, few, many, most, neither,
nobody, none no one, nothing, others,
several, some someone, something. By
the pricking of my thumbs, something
wicked this way comes. (Macbeth by
William Shakespeare).
Interrogative sentence. A sentence
that asks a questions and ends with a
question mark. Example: Is there no
pity sitting in the clouds that sees into
the bottom of my grief? (Romeo and
Juliet by William Shakespeare).
Intransitive verb. A verb that does not
require an object. Example: By degrees
Rip’s awe and apprehension subsided.
(Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving).
50
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
N
I
Nominative pronoun. A pronoun
used as a subject or predicate
nominative. Example: I am a man
more sinned against than sinning.
(King Lear by William Shakespeare).
Inverted order. A sentence that does
not follow the typical order of
subject-verb-object. Example: Work
in the coal mine I always dreaded. (Up
From Slavery by Booker T. Washington).
Nonessential phrase or clause. Not
necessary to the meaning of a sentence
and therefore set off with commas.
Also called nonrestrictive. Example:
There stood, facing the open window,
a comfortable, roomy armchair. (The
Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin).
Irregular verb. A verb that does not
form the past tense or past participle
by adding ed or d to the present tense.
Example: But at night came his
revelry: at night he closed his shutters,
and made fast his doors, and drew out
his gold. (Silas Marner by Geroge Eliot).
Noun. A word that names a person,
place, thing, or idea. Example: This
time he was aware that it was the club,
but his madness knew no caution.
(The Call of the Wild by Jack London).
L
Linking verb. A verb that links the
subject with a predicate nominative
or a predicate adjective. Example:
is, became, remain, look, appear, seem.
Example: Miss Daisy Miller looked
extremely innocent. (Daisy Miller by
Henry James).
Noun clause. A subordinate clause used
as a subject, direct object, object of a
preposition, appositive, or predicate
nominative. Example: What saves us
is efficiency – the devotion to efficiency.
(Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad).
Loose sentence. An independent clause
followed by a dependent clause.
Example: I didn’t go shopping
because it was raining.
O
Object of preposition. The noun or
pronoun with its modifiers that follows
a preposition. Example: Along the Paris
streets, the death-carts rumble hollow and
harsh. (A Tale of Two Cities by
Charles Dickens).
M
Modifiers. Words that describe or
provide more meaning to a word.
Modifiers include adjectives, adverbs,
articles, prepositional phrases, verbals,
and clauses.
Objective case. Pronouns used as direct
objects, indirect objects, or as objects of
a preposition. Example: For he today
that sheds his blood with me shall be my
brother. (Henry V by William
Shakespeare).
51
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
O
Objective complement. A noun or adjective
that renames or describes a direct object.
Example: O God, I could be bounded
in a nutshell and count myself a king of
infinite space, were it not that I have bad
dreams. (Hamlet by William Shakespeare).
P
Passive voice. Indicates that the subject
receives the action of the verb in a
sentence. Example: The red sun was
pasted in the sky like a wafer. (The Red
Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane).
Period. A punctuation mark (.) used
at the end of a declarative sentence or
an abbreviation. Example: Such are
the true facts of the death of Dr.
Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.
(The Adventure of the Speckled Band
by Arthur Conan Doyle).
Periodic sentence. A dependent clause
followed by an independent clause.
Example: Because it was raining, I
didn’t go shopping.
Parallelism. Arranging words and
phrases consistently to express similar
ideas. Example: I like to hike, fishing,
and swimming. (Incorrect) I like hiking,
fishing, and swimming. (Correct).
Personal pronoun. Refers to a
particular person, place, thing, or idea.
Example: I, me, we, us, you, he, him,
she, her, it, they, them.
Parenthetical expression. Words that
are not grammatically related to the rest
of a sentence, set off by parentheses (( )).
Example: He had passed his life in
estimating people (it was part of the
medical trade), and in nineteen cases
out of twenty he was right. (Washington
Square by Henry James).
Phrase. A group of related words
that do not have a subject or a verb.
Example: Climbing to a high chamber,
in a well of houses, he threw himself
down in his clothes on a neglected
bed, and its pillow was wet with
wasted tears. (A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens).
Participial phrase. A participle with its
modifiers and complements. Example:
In the morning, looking into each
other’s faces, they read their fate. (The
Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte).
Possessive pronoun. A pronoun form
used to show ownership. Example: my,
mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, hers, its,
their, theirs. My Intended, my ivory ,my
station, my river, my – everything belonged
to him. (Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad).
Participle. A verbal ending in ing,
ed, d, or an irregular form that is used
as an adjective. Example: I am not
in the giving vein today. (Richard III
by William Shakespeare).
Predicate. A group of word or words
that tells something about the subject.
Example: Joe laid his hand upon my
shoulder with the touch of a woman.
(Great Expectations by Charles
Dickens).
Parts of Speech. The parts of speech
are verb, noun, adjective, adverb,
preposition, pronoun, interjection, and
conjunction.
52
Pronoun. A word that takes the
place of one or more nouns. Example:
Do all men kill the things they do
not love? (The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare).
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
P
Predicate adjective. An adjective that
modifies the subject in a sentence with a
linking verb. Example: No one is so
thoroughly superstitious as the godless
man. (Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet
Beecher Stowe).
Proper adjective. A capitalized
adjective formed from a proper
noun. Example: I changed to the
Illinois edge of the island to see
what luck I could have, and I
warn’t disappointed. (Huckleberry
Finn by Mark Twain).
Predicate nominative. A noun or
pronoun that identifies, renames, or
explains the subject in a sentence with a
linking verb. Example: The scarlet
letter was her passport into regions
where other women dared not tread.
(The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel
Hawthorne).
Prefix. A word part added to the
beginning of a word to change its
basic meaning. Example: Do your
work and you shall reinforce yourself.
Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson).
Proper noun. A capitalized noun that
names a particular person, place, thing,
or idea. Example: This is Inspector
Newcomen of Scotland Yard.
(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert
Louis Stevenson).
Punctuation. Punctuation marks
include apostrophe, colon, comma,
dash, ellipsis, exclamation point,
(Selfhyphen, period, question mark,
quotation marks, and semicolon.
Preposition. A word that shows the
relationship between a noun or
pronoun and another word in a
sentence. Example: I had worked
hard for nearly two years, for the
sole purpose of infusing life into an
inanimate body. (Frankenstein by
Mary Shelley).
Q
Question mark. A punctuation
mark (?) used to indicate a question
or to end an interrogative sentence.
Example: Who in the rainbow can
show the line where the violet tint
ends and the orange tint begins?
(Billy Budd by Herman Melville).
Prepositional phrase. A group of
words that begins with a preposition,
ends with a noun or pronoun, and is
used as an adjective or an adverb.
Example: The mass of men lead
lives of quiet desperation.
(Walden by Henry David Thoreau).
Quotation mark. Punctuation mark (‘)
used to enclose a quotation or title within
a quotation. Example: “There’s a charming
piece of music by Handel called ‘The
Harmonious Blacksmith.’” (Great
Expectations by Charles Dickens).
53
GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
Restrictive phrase or clause. Another
name for essential phrase or clause.
Q
S
Quotation marks. Punctuation mark (“)
used at the beginning and end of a
direct quotation, to enclose titles of
art works, chapters, articles, short
stories, poems, songs, and other parts
of books or magazines. Example:
Here in Milan, in an ancient
tumbledown ruin of a church, is the
mournful wreck of the most celebrated
painting in the world – “The Last
Supper,” by Leonardo da Vinci. (The
Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain).
Salutation. The opening greeting that
comes before the body of a letter. Use a
comma after the salutation in a friendly
letter and a colon after the salutation in a
business letter. My Dear Victor,
(Frankenstein by Mary Shelley).
Semicolon. A punctuation mark (;)
used to separate the independent clauses
of a compound sentence that are not
joined by conjunctions, before certain
transitional words (however, furthermore,
moreover, therefore, etc.), and between
items in a series if the items contain
commas. Example: Cowards die
many times before their deaths; the
valiant never taste of death but once.
(Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare).
R
Reflexive pronoun. A pronoun formed
by adding self or selves to a personal
pronoun. Example: myself, yourself,
himself, herself, itself, ourselves,
yourselves, themselves. The fault,
dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in
ourselves, that we are underlings.
(Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare).
Sentence. A group of words with a
subject and a verb that expresses a
complete thought. Example: The odor
of the sharp steel forced itself into
my nostrils. (The Pit and the
Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe).
Regular verb. A verb that forms its
past tense and past participle by adding
ed or d to the present tense. Example:
He ordered me like a dog, and I
obeyed like a dog. (David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens).
Sentence fragment. A group of words
that lacks either a subject or a verb that
does not express a complete thought.
Example: Scrooge! a squeezing,
wrenching, grasping, scraping,
clutching, covetous old sinner! (A
Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens).
Relative pronoun. A pronoun that
relates an adjective clause to its
antecedent. Example: who, whom,
whose, which, that. Note: Adjective
clauses sometimes begin with where
and when. Example: There was
things which he stretched, but
mainly he told the truth. (Huckleberry
Finn by Mark Twain).
Series. Three or more words or phrases
in succession separated by commas or
semicolons. Example: At a table he sat
and consumed beefsteak, flapjacks,
doughnuts, and pie. (The Cop and the
Anthem by O. Henry).
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GRAMMAR GLOSSARY
T
S
Tense. The form a verb takes to show
time. Example: present, past, future,
present perfect, past perfect, and future
perfect. Example: We will have rings
and things and fine array. (The Taming
of the Shrew by William Shakespeare).
Simple predicate. The verb. The main
word or phrase in the complete
predicate. Example: This cold night
will turn us all to fools and madmen.
(King Lear by William Shakespeare).
Transitive verb. An action verb that
requires an object. Example: Vanity,
working on a weak head, produces
every sort of mischief. (Emma by
Jane Austen).
Simple sentence. A sentence that is one
independent clause. Example: Tom
appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket
of whitewash and a long-handled brush.
(Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain).
U
Subject. A word or group of words that
names the person, place, thing, or idea
the sentence is about. Example: A long,
low moan, indescribably sad, swept over
the moor. (The Hound of the
Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle).
Understood subject. A subject that is
understood rather than stated. Example:
[You] Give me the worst first. (A Tale
of Two Cities by Charles Dickens).
Subordinate clause. A clause that
cannot stand alone as a sentence
because it does not express a complete
thought. Also called a dependent clause.
Example: As Ichabod approached
this fearful tree, he began to whistle.
(The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by
Washington Irving).
Verb. A word or words that show the
action in the sentence and tell what the
subject is doing. Example: A girl learns
many things in a New England village.
(The House of the Seven Gables by
Nathaniel Hawthorne).
V
Verbal. A verb form used as
some other part of speech. The
three verbals are: participles,
gerunds, and infinitives.
Suffix. A word part added to the
end of a word that changes its meaning.
Example: A minority is powerless
while it conforms to the majority.
(Civil Disobedience by Henry
David Thoreau).
Verbal phrase. The main verb
plus one or more helping verbs.
Example: would have made,
will be going, should do.
After such a fall as this, I
shall think nothing of tumbling
downstairs! (Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
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