Grade 8: Reading/Literature & Research (2003 VDOE Released Items)

What does the phrase "on the go" mean
in this advertisement?
1. Hard to find
2. About to leave
3. Working properly
4. Very active
In this advertisement, tantalizing
means --
1. original
2. frequent
3. tempting
4. common
From information in this
advertisement, the reader can
conclude that "Neavest" is probably
a --
1. food manufacturer
2. government agency
3. consumer organization
4. supermarket chain
This ad is designed to appeal to people
who --
1. like home-cooked meals
2. want to save money
3. want to be like others
4. don't have much time
Which of these is a fact presented in
this advertisement?
1. Eating Quickeats is like eating homemade food.
2. Quickeats fit in people's daily routine.
3. One Quickeats meal consists of vegetables and pasta.
4. Quickeats are packaged in a convenient way.
Which of these questions is answered
in the advertisement?
1. What kinds of dried fruit are included in a Cool Blue Quickeats meal with yogurt?
2. Is a Quickeats container small enough to fit into a backpack?
3. Can Red Hot Quickeats be prepared on a stove as well as in a microwave oven?
4. How long are Quickeats available at local stores?
Which of these is the best summary
of this advertisement?
1. Neavest can be contacted at P.O. Box 90210 in Lexinet, Virginia.
2. Quickeats are easy to prepare and come in both hot and cold varieties.
3. One Red Hot Quickeats meal is stew with garden vegetables.
4. People with questions or suggestions should call 1-888-293-3151.
What is the setting of this story?
1. A historical house
2. An imaginary house
3. A haunted house
4. An unoccupied house
Which kind of language is the narrator
using when she says that Jackie
"nearly jumped out of her skin" in
paragraph 3?
1. Technical
2. Formal
3. Literal
4. Figurative
The author builds tension in the story
by --
1. listing one detail after another
2. describing what Jackie is doing
3. providing information gradually
4. using limited dialogue
The message on the blackboard
reinforces --
1. Jackie's overactive imagination
2. Mr. Herrera's presence in the house
3. Mrs. Herrera's confusion
4. the narrator's sense of humor
In the story, the author uses the
character Mr. Herrera to --
1. add humor to the situation
2. resolve the problem
3. introduce other characters
4. present a second point of view
Which point of view does the author
use in this story?
1. First person, Mrs. Herrera
2. First person, Jackie
3. Third person, limited
4. Third person, omniscient
Which statement expresses the theme
of the story?
1. A good imagination helps you make better judgments.
2. Things are not always what they appear to be.
3. Never stay alone all night in a new house.
4. The things that happen in scary books do not happen to real people.
"Alone in the Night" can best be
described as a --
1. mystery
2. tall tale
3. biography
4. fantasy
The first line of "Ups and Downs" is an
example of --
1. personification
2. simile
3. metaphor
4. onomatopoeia
Why does the speaker "see logs we've
never seen" (line 9)?
1. Beavers are busy cutting logs to build dams.
2. New trees are falling into the river.
3. The river is drying up and exposing the logs.
4. People have thrown odd things into the river.
What does the description in line 13
mean?
1. The dock is old and is sinking into the river.
2. The dock is lower at one end than the other.
3. The river is rising higher.
4. The river is eating the dock away.
1. jerking
2. rising
3. starting
4. leaping
The poet uses the term "high and
mighty" in line 39 to show that the
river is --
1. very inviting
2. threatening to leave its banks
3. more powerful than people
4. strong again
Who is the speaker in this poem?
1. A person who lives near a river
2. Different people at different times of the year
3. The river that needs water
4. A beaver that lives near the river
Which is a simile expressed in this
poem?
1. "We read books . . ."
2. "September brings thunder . . ."
3. "Rocks appear like nightmares . . ."
4. "As we pull out . . ."
Which description from the poem best
creates a clear, visual image of the
weather in September?
1. "Drinks and guzzles, sloshing, slobbering . . ."
2. "Days of torrents, drizzles, sheets, and showers."
3. "And the stiff brown moss turns green and lush again."
4. "As the golden leaves are pelted off their branches . . ."
In the first paragraph, the word
infamous means --
1. notorious
2. celebrated
3. ornate
4. large
Masters felt confident about the
location of the Queen Anne's Revenge
because --
1. many artifacts had been found nearby
2. he had found written evidence
3. many people talked about it
4. he was able to get a permit
The La Concorde made just one trip to
West Africa because --
1. the English captured it back from the French
2. it became disabled before it could return
3. the French entered another war
4. Blackbeard captured it after the first trip
1. arrested
2. understood
3. seized
4. dreaded
Which question is answered in paragraph 7?
1. Where was the ship's bell made?
2. What artifacts have been found?
3. How many pewter plates were found?
4. When will the search end?
Which word from paragraph 8 contains
a root word that means "to build"?
1. material
2. activities
3. studying
4. construction
Based on information in the last
paragraph, the reader can best
conclude that Blackbeard --
1. lost his way in the inlet
2. was able to avoid capture
3. often destroyed his ships
4. had buried his treasure on the beach
Looking for the Queen Anne's Revenge
was significant because --
1. it would prove that many other ships were in the same area
2. the ship and its captain had played important roles in history
3. it would provide valuable cannons to use for other purposes
4. the Maritime Research Institue was conducting the search
Which of these is an opinion
expressed in this passage?
1. What the archaeologists want most from the Queen Anne's Revenge is much more important than material objects.
2. The quest for the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge had actually begun on land about ten years earlier.
3. A man named Phil Masters was searching the London Archives, which is a collection of historical records.
4. During this time, Blackbeard reportedly captured at least 18 other ships, stealing their cargo.
Which is the best summary of this
passage?
1. On the final day of their search, marine archaeologists discovered the remains of the Queen Anne's Revenge and have since uncovered many interesting artifacts.
2. Blackbeard, the pirate, captured and used the Concord for seven months after renaming the ship the Queen Anne's Revenge.
3. The search for the Queen Anne's Revenge was begun in 1986 by a man named Phil Masters after he became interested from reading an eyewitness account.
4. A diver named Will Kirkman was the first to discover the Queen Anne's Revenge near a sandbar on the North Carolina Coast.
It is clear that this selection is a tall
tale because --
1. tall tales were very popular in West Virginia
2. the details become less and less believable
3. many legends of giant lumberjacks have been told
4. the story is set in the nineteenth century
What can the reader conclude about
Tony Beaver's accomplishments in this
story?
1. They were not important.
2. They inspired others.
3. They never really happened.
4. They were well known.
In paragraph 2, what does the author
mean by the phrase "snap in two like a
matchstick"?
1. Break easily
2. Shed light
3. Fall apart
4. Crash down
What does the author mean when he
writes that the oxen could pull
anything "right into the middle of next
month"?
1. The oxen could carry the load anywhere.
2. Time was not important to the oxen.
3. The lumberjacks were dependent upon the oxen.
4. It usually took the oxen one month to complete the work.
What does Tony do to solve the
problem?
1. Uses bigger oxen to haul logs
2. Turns the river into candy
3. Works with a double-bladed axe
4. Stirs the river with a tree
Which phrase from the story offers an
image of Tony's abilities?
1. The Eel began to rise rapidly above its banks.
2. That's the kind of lumberman big Tony Beaver was.
3. Then Tony blew a cloud right across the sun.
4. Oxen were used to drag the timber to nearby rivers.
The author probably meant for this
story to be --
1. humorous
2. educational
3. historical
4. dangerous
The author uses exaggeration to make
the story more --
1. frightening
2. believable
3. action-packed
4. entertaining
In which literary category does this
story belong?
1. Nonfiction
2. Biography
3. History
4. Fiction

Grade 8: Reading/Literature & Research (2003 VDOE Released Items)

Multiple-Choice ExerciseContent © 2003 Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Education; Permission to Use Granted by VDOE; Author of Activity: Tami Maloney; All rights reserved. No commercial, for-profit use of this material is allowed. E-mail comments and questions to Tami Maloney.

Multiple-Choice Exercise
Content © 2003 Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Education; Permission to Use Granted by VDOE; Author of Activity: Tami Maloney; All rights reserved.
No commercial, for-profit use of this material is allowed. E-mail comments and questions to Tami Maloney.