ENGLISH 9B:
Final exams are coming up soon. Students should study the following
information.
Grammar Parts of Speech, Subject Complements, and Sentence Parts
Parts of the Plot Diagram
Logical Fallacies
Foreign Terms and End of Course Terms
ENGLISH 12B:
The following list of questions will be those from which 4 of the 8 will be
chosen for the final exam. Good luck Seniors!!!!!!
1. The archetypal hero is familiar to people of all places and all times. He
represents the human quest for knowledge and understanding. As in our own
journey through life, there are always obstacles that stand in the way of the
hero’s goals. Like Beowulf, we must fight our own Grendel’s and dragons—our
inner and outer demons. One particularly useful technique used in heroic
epics is the use of the foil character. In one paragraph, give me a detailed
description of the person who serves as the foil to Beowulf and give me at
least three examples from the text to show how you know he is the foil.
Beowulf begins on page 21.
2. In a paragraph, discuss how the three major divisions of the medieval
society (the feudal order, the church order, and the merchant , or
professional, order) are represented in The Canterbury Tales are portrayed.
Give a description of each order based on what you learned through reading
The Canterbury Tales and which characters on the pilgrimage are
representative of the three varied social classes. Your descriptions should
contain examples from the text. The Canterbury Tales is on page 142.
3. Of the Seven Deadly Sins, avarice, or greed, is the one most despised by
Geoffrey Chaucer. In “The Pardoner’s Tale”, both the narrator of the tale
(the Pardoner) and the main characters, are avarice to the core. In a
paragraph, discuss what you feel Chaucer was saying about greed in society
during the middle ages. Consider how it affected all the social classes as
listed in the above question. You must incorporate examples from the text to
back up what you say. “The Pardoner’s Tale” is on page 168.
4. Many poems of the Renaissance were designed to reflect the ideas of “carpe
diem”. Discuss in one paragraph how the “To the Virgins Make Much of Time”
and “To His Coy Mistress” portrayed Herrick’s and Marvell’s ideas on the
subject of love and “carpe diem”. Make sure to use examples from both poems.
5. The 154 sonnets of William Shakespeare are not only rich in language and
imagery, they have an unusual depth of perception and feeling which extends
beyond the conventional subject of love to a contemplation of the beauty of
life and the mortality of man. Using one of his sonnets from this text,
analyze the sonnet for evidence of this depth of beauty of life and the
mortality of man. You must use at least three examples from the sonnet to
show that you understand the concepts. Shakespeare’s sonnets begin on page
313.
6. Discuss in a paragraph the quote from Francis Bacon’s of Studies: “Some
books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and
digested: That is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be
read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence
and attention.” In your own words, discuss how this quote applies to both
past and present readers concerning the habits of studying. Use examples
where needed.
7. Leo Tolstoy, when writing “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” was addressing
the issue of greed concerning the people of Russia during the emancipation in
1861. This is discussed on page 950 of the text. What was it that Tolstoy
was trying to say through this piece? In a paragraph, discuss the theme of
greed as applied not only to the characters in the story, but for the Russian
serfs as well.
8. In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift draws parallels between Lilliputian
politics and the British politics of his time. In a paragraph, discuss the
parallels you can detect between Lilliput and what you know of modern
politics in America. Use examples from the text to support your opinions.
Gulliver’s Travels begins on page 652.
