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Acknowledgments
Grateful acknowledgment is given to authors, publishers, and agents for permission to reprint the copyrighted material in this
program. Every effort has been made to determine copyright owners. In case of any omissions, the Publisher will be pleased to
make suitable acknowledgments in future editions.
Contents
About the Student and Teacher Editions .......................................................................... iv
Teacher Introduction .......................................................................................................... v
Letter to Parents and Guardians ....................................................................................... viii
Multiple-Choice Answer Sheet .......................................................................................... ix
Answer Key ......................................................................................................................... x
Student Introduction to the Test........................................................................................ 1
Student Scoring Rubrics .................................................................................................... 2
Test-Taking Tips and Techniques ...................................................................................... 3
Lesson 1: Note Taking with Reading Passages ............................................................... 6
Lesson 2: Main Idea, Authors Purpose, and Authors Point of View .............................. 11
Lesson 3: Drawing Conclusions and Making Inferences ................................................. 14
Lesson 4: Analyzing Literature .......................................................................................... 17
Lesson 5: Note Taking with Listening Passages .............................................................. 20
Lesson 6: Completing Charts ............................................................................................ 23
The Student Introduction describes the overall structure of the test and gives tips on
how to prepare for the test. The Test-Taking Tips and Techniques section outlines
general test-taking strategies that students will apply as they complete the lessons.
The Lessons provide a systematic approach to preparing for the test. Each lesson
introduces a skill or concept, then provides an exercise in which students apply what
they have learned. Test tips are also included in each lesson to help students with
general test-taking techniques.
The Teachers Annotated Edition of this workbook includes the Student Edition along with
the following resources:
A Teacher Introduction, which provides guidance on how to use the workbook,
scoring rubrics, and the Practice Test.
An Answer Key to the Practice Test with correlations to the New York State Learning
Standards that were tested.
Listening passages for the teacher to read aloud to students during the Lessons
and the Practice Test. Passages appear on pages 8688.
Before your class begins using this workbook, you may wish to send out a letter to parents
that describes the ELA Test and explains the purpose of this workbook. Such a letter
appears on page viii of this workbook for reproduction and distribution to parents.
Teacher Introduction
About the New York English Language Arts Test
The New York English Language Arts (ELA) Test measures individual student achievement
relative to the New York State Learning Standards. It evaluates students skills in reading,
listening, and writing, and uses a variety of literature genres.
The eighth grade ELA Test is administered in three sessions on two consecutive days.
Students are asked to demonstrate their comprehension of a listening selection and several
reading selections. The test includes multiple-choice, short-response, and extendedresponse questions. Students also edit a passage to show their understanding of grammar
and mechanics.
Each multiple-choice question will be followed by four choices. Students record their
responses on a separate answer sheet.
The short-response and extended-response questions require students to provide a written
response. Students write their answers directly in their test books.
The test is divided and administered in three books. The test sessions are structured
as follows:
Day 1
Book 2
Day 2
Book 3
Reading selections
26 multiple-choice questions
(Students fill in circles on answer sheet)
Listening selection
3 short-response questions
(Students write answers directly in Book 2)
1 extended-response question
(Students write answer directly in Book 2)
Reading selections
3 short-response questions
(Students write answers directly in Book 3)
1 extended-response question
(Students write answer directly in Book 3)
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Language Use demonstrating the clear and effective use of vocabulary and
sentence structure.
Answers to more specific questions about scoring can be found on the New York State
Education Department Web site, at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/3-8/faq/ela-scoring06.htm
vi
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Cluster scoring (i.e., one listening cluster, one reading cluster, and one writing mechanics
cluster) will be used to evaluate short-response and extended-response questions. Scores
are determined using a holistic rubric, rather than by scoring each individual question. This
method of scoring allows the student to be evaluated on a cohesive body of work that
shows the extent of his or her understanding of the passage. Sample scoring rubrics are
shown on the next page.
Scoring Rubrics
5-point rubric for Listening and Reading responses at Grade 8
Score
1
0
Score
Criteria
The writing demonstrates control of the conventions of written English. There are few, if any, errors and none that interfere with
comprehension. Grammar, syntax, capitalization, punctuation, and paragraphing are essentially correct. Any misspellings are minor
or repetitive; they occur primarily when a student takes risks with sophisticated vocabulary.
The writing demonstrates partial control of the conventions of written English. It contains errors that may interfere somewhat with
readability but do not substantially interfere with comprehension. There may be some errors in grammar, syntax, capitalization,
punctuation, or spelling.
1
0
The writing demonstrates minimal control of the conventions of written English. There may be many errors in grammar, syntax,
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling that interfere with readability and comprehension.
The writing demonstrates a lack of control of the conventions of written English. The errors make the writing incomprehensible.
Source: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
vii
__________________
___________________
viii
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
17 A
25 A
10 A
18 A
26 A
11 A
19 A
12 A
20 A
13 A
21 A
14 A
22 A
15 A
23 A
16 A
24 A
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
ix
Answer Key
Item
Number
Correct
Answer
Standard
Book 1
C
R2e Recognize how the authors use of language creates images or feelings
R2c Identify the authors point of view, such as first-person narrator and
omniscient narrator
R2e Recognize how the authors use of language creates images or feelings
R2d Determine how the use and meaning of literary devices, such as symbolism,
metaphor and simile, illustration, personification, flashback, and foreshadowing,
convey the authors message or intent
R2b Interpret characters, plot, setting, theme, and dialogue using evidence from
the text
LC R15 Analyze, contrast, support, and critique points of view in a wide range of
genres
10
11
R1l Draw conclusions and make inferences on the basis of explicit and implied
information
12
R1l Draw conclusions and make inferences on the basis of explicit and implied
information
13
R2d Determine how the use and meaning of literary devices, such as symbolism,
metaphor and simile, illustration, personification, flashback, and foreshadowing,
convey the authors message or intent
14
R3a Evaluate the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and
experiences in texts. For example: question the writers assumptions, beliefs,
intentions, and biases
15
R3a Evaluate the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and
experiences in texts. For example: question the writers assumptions, beliefs,
intentions, and biases
16
R2e Recognize how the authors use of language creates images or feelings
17
18
R1b Apply thinking skills, such as define, classify, and infer, to interpret data, facts,
and ideas from information texts
19
R1b Apply thinking skills, such as define, classify, and infer, to interpret data, facts,
and ideas from information texts
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Correct
Answer
20
R2e Recognize how the authors use of language creates images or feelings
21
R2b Interpret characters, plot, setting, theme, and dialogue using evidence from
the text
22
23
R2b Interpret characters, plot, setting, theme, and dialogue using evidence from
the text
24
R2e Recognize how the authors use of language creates images or feelings
25
R2b Interpret characters, plot, setting, theme, and dialogue using evidence from
the text
26
R2b Interpret characters, plot, setting, theme, and dialogue using evidence from
the text
Standard
Book 2
27
Short
R1b Apply thinking skills, such as define, classify, and infer, to interpret data, facts,
Response and ideas from information texts
28
Short
R3a Evaluate the validity and accuracy of information, ideas, themes, opinions, and
Response experiences in texts. For example: question the writers assumptions, beliefs,
intentions, and biases
29
Short
R1b Apply thinking skills, such as define, classify, and infer, to interpret data, facts,
Response and ideas from information texts
30
Extended W1g Connect, compare, and contrast ideas and information from one or more
Response sources
Book 3
31
Short
R2e Recognize how the authors use of language creates images or feelings
Response
32
Short
R2b Interpret characters, plot, setting, theme, and dialogue using evidence from
Response the text
33
Short
R1b Apply thinking skills, such as define, classify, and infer, to interpret data, facts,
Response and ideas from information texts
34
Extended W1g Connect, compare, and contrast ideas and information from one or more
Response sources
Please note: The numbering system for the New York English Language Arts Core Curriculum
has been created by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill for the readers ease of reference. It is not intended
to indicate any order of importance to the standards.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
xi
You can use the rubrics on page 2 to learn how your test will be scored.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Score
is mostly focused
shows a clear effort to organize your ideas
is readable, with some sense of voice
uses mostly simple sentences and basic vocabulary
1
0
Your responses do not answer the question, are incorrect, or do not make sense.
Score
Criteria
Your writing shows that you understand how to use conventions. You have few or no errors, and none of your errors change the meaning
of the writing. Grammar, syntax, capitalization, punctuation, and paragraphing are correct. There are very few or no misspellings.
Your writing shows that you have some understanding of conventions. You have errors that may make your writing more difficult to
read but do not significantly change its meaning. You may have some errors in grammar, syntax, capitalization, punctuation, or
spelling.
1
0
Your writing shows that you have little understanding of conventions. You may have many errors in grammar, syntax, capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling. The errors may make your writing difficult to read or understand.
Your writing shows that you do not know how to use conventions. The errors make your writing very difficult or impossible to understand.
Source: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
You have two days to complete the ELA Test. On day one, you will have two 45-minute
sessions. On day two, you will have one 60-minute session. That means you need to keep
track of the time and to pace yourself as you take each part of the test. Apply the following
pacing strategies as you complete the lessons in this book so that, by testing day, you will
have developed good habits:
Wear a watch. Do not become so preoccupied with time that you cannot focus on the
test, but be aware that you are under time constraints.
Do not get stuck on one question. If you cannot answer a multiple choice question
after a few minutes, mark your best guess, circle the question number, and move on
to the next question. If you have time later, you can go back to the questions you have
circled and think more about them. You are not penalized for guessing, so rather than
leave an answer blank, choose one of the answer choices.
Be systematic. Some of the lessons in this book suggest steps for you to take so that
your answers and essays are complete and thorough. Make a mental checklist of
these steps and keep a steady rhythm while you complete the test.
Short-Response and Extended-Response questions ask you to think about what you
have learned and to write about it in one or more paragraphs. Be sure to leave
yourself enough time to answer these questions. Decide what the question is asking
you and what information is needed to answer it. Be sure to provide details. Reread
your essay and make corrections as needed.
Austin
Dover
Phoenix
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Do you know the capital of Illinois? Even if you dont, you can still figure it out! Use the
process of elimination. First eliminate the answer choices that you KNOW are wrong. Then
choose from the remaining answers. The fewer the answer choices you have to choose
from, the better chance you have of picking the correct answer.
Take a look at how it works. Which cities do you know are NOT the capital of Illinois? You
may know that Austin is the capital of Texas, Dover is the capital of Delaware, and Phoenix
is the capital of Arizona, so none of those can be the correct answer. That leaves you with
only Springfield. Springfield must be the capital of Illinois. Even if you didnt know the capital
of Illinois, the process of elimination helped you get the right answer!
To use the process of elimination for multiple-choice questions on the test, cross out all the
answers you KNOW are wrong. Then take your best guess from those choices that are left.
Here is another example.
Laura stormed up the stairs and through the front door. She slammed the door behind
her and threw her backpack on the living room sofa. Her mother put down her newspaper
and looked up in surprise. That Roberta is so irksome! Laura proclaimed in a loud voice.
1
The word irksome means
kind
mean
annoying
friendly
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
A
B
C
D
C\jjfej
Lesson
In some sessions of the ELA Test, you will read passages and then answer
multiple choice questions based on those passages. Note taking can make your
job of answering questions easier.
The reading passages in the ELA Test differ in length and subject matter. It can
be difficult to keep track of the main ideas, plot, and details while you read,
especially when you are reading several passages one after the other. Instead
of memorizing details, keep track of the main idea by taking notes. When you
read a passage, stop after each paragraph and write a label a word or phrase
that summarizes the main ideas of that paragraph.
Read the passage below and see how to label paragraphs.
Having a fire emergency plan in place
is something every family should do. A
good first step is to have a family meeting
to talk about what to do if there is a fire
in your home. Talking about what to do
to stay safe and get out of a burning house
is much easier to do before it happens!
practice plan
Once you have read the passage, use the paragraph labels to write a summary
statement that expresses the main idea of the entire passage.
Discuss...
How can you use labels to help keep track of main ideas?
How do notes help you write a summary?
Tip
Keep notes and labels
short and to the point.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Apply It
irections
DRead
the story below and make notes as you go along. Then answer the questions
that follow.
from The
Promised Land,
An Immigrant Goes to School
by Mary Antin
Our initiation into American ways began with the first step on the
new soil. My father found occasion to instruct or correct us even on
the way from the pier to Wall Street, which journey we made
crowded together in a rickety cab. He told us not to lean out of the
windows, not to point, and explained the word greenhorn. We did
not want to be greenhorns, and gave the strictest attention to my
fathers instructions. . . .
The first meal was an object lesson of much variety. My father
produced several kinds of food, ready to eat, without any cooking,
from little tin cans that had printing all over them. He attempted to
introduce us to a queer, slippery kind of fruit, which he called
banana, but had to give it up for the time being. After the meal, he
had better luck with a curious piece of furniture on runners, which
he called rocking chair. There were five of us newcomers, and we
found five different ways of getting into the American machine of
perpetual motion, and as many ways of getting out of it. One born
and bred to the use of a rocking chair cannot imagine how ludicrous
people can make themselves when attempting to use it for the first
time. We laughed immoderately over our various experiments with
the novelty, which was a wholesome way of letting off steam after the
unusual excitement of the day.
In our flat we did not think of such a thing as storing coal in the
bathtub. There was no bathtub. So in the evening of the first day my
father conducted us to the public baths. As we moved along in a little
procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So
many lamps, and they burned until morning, my father said, and so
people did not need to carry lanterns. In America, then, everything
was free, as we had heard in Russia. Light was free; the streets were as
bright as a synagogue on a holy day. Music was free; we had been
serenaded, to our gaping delight, by a brass band of many pieces,
soon after our installation on Union Place.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Apply It (continued)
Education was free. That subject my father had written about
repeatedly, as comprising his chief hope for us children, the essence
of American opportunity, the treasure that no thief could touch, not
even misfortune or poverty. It was the one thing that he was able to
promise us when he sent for us; surer, safer than bread or shelter. On
our second day I was thrilled with the realization of what this
freedom of education meant. A little girl from across the alley came
and offered to conduct us to school. My father was out, but we five
between us had a few words of English by this time.
We knew the word school. We understood. This child, who had
never seen us till yesterday, who could not pronounce our name, who
was not much better dressed than we, was able to offer us the
freedom of the schools of Boston! No application made, no questions
asked, no examinations, rulings, exclusions; no machinations, no
fees. The doors stood open for every one of us. The smallest child
could show us the way.
This incident impressed me more than anything I had heard in
advance of the freedom of education in America. It was a concrete
proofalmost the thing itself. One had to experience it to understand it.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Apply It (continued)
The two of us stood a moment in the doorway of the tenement
house of Arlington Street, that wonderful September morning when I
first went to school. It was I that ran away, on winged feet of joy and
expectation; it was she whose feet were bound in the treadmill of
daily toil. And I was so blind that I did not see that the glory lay on
her, and not on me.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
LC R7
F
G
H
J
worst
end
beginning
height
10
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
R1f
Lesson
Not all questions on the ELA Test ask you about specific details from a
passage. Some of the questions ask you about general ideas that apply to the
passage as a whole. Such questions may ask you to identify the main idea of
the passage, the authors purpose for writing the passage, or the authors point
of view.
The authors purpose is the reason why the author wrote the passage.
The authors point of view is the authors attitude toward the subject of
the passage.
Each paragraph in a passage will also have a main idea, usually expressed in
that paragraphs topic sentence. The topic sentence expresses the main idea
of that paragraph alone, although the topic sentence of the first paragraph in a
passage often expresses the main idea of the entire passage. The main ideas
of each paragraph serve as supporting ideas for the main idea of the passage
as a whole.
Read the paragraphs below. As you read, think about what the main idea, the
authors purpose, and the authors point of view might be. See if you can find
the topic sentence for each paragraph.
From spring until late fall, my neighbor Hank is engaged in a
tireless battle of wits with his lawn. He pokes at it, he pulls things
out of it, he drops several tons of fertilizer on it, and he waters it
every day, whether or not it needs watering.
In the end, for all of Hanks work, he is never really satisfied
with the results. He stands on his driveway, scanning his lawn
and shaking his head in disgust. He may have discovered a tiny
weed or maybe some strange root-devouring pests. I jokingly
suggest that he simply pour cement on his lawn and paint it green.
Hank is not amused.
Tip
When answering these
questions, take the whole
passage into account, not
just part of it.
Discuss...
What is the main idea of this passage?
What is the authors purpose in writing this passage?
What clues in the passage hint at the authors point of view?
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
11
Apply It
irections
DRead
this letter. Then answer questions 1 through 5.
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling
my present activities unwise and untimely. Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work
and ideas. ... But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are
sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and
reasonable terms. ...
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to
say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I
am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis
that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that
demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the citys
white power structure left the Negro community no alternative.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign
that was well-timed in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of
segregation. For years now I have heard the word Wait! It rings in the ear of every Negro with
piercing familiarity. This Wait has almost always meant Never. We must come to see, with one
of our distinguished jurists, that justice too long delayed is justice denied.
12
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine
whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through all
these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this
community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its
ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the
courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham
than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of
these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently
refused to engage in good-faith negotiation. ...
F
G
H
J
5
2
F
G
H
C
D
A
B
C
D
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
13
Lesson
Some questions on the ELA Test ask you to draw conclusions from facts
stated in the passage or to make inferences about information that is not
stated directly but is implied. To answer these questions, you must interpret
information from a passage.
Remember that when you draw conclusions or make inferences, you are
not stating your opinion. You must base your final decision on information in
the passage.
Here is how to approach these questions.
Review the sections in the passage that may contain clues to the
correct answer.
Reread any sections that may hint at or provide evidence of the answer
to the question.
Look at the question and read ALL the answer choices. Eliminate the
answers that you know are wrong. Then choose the best answer from the
remaining choices.
Context clues are words in the text that help you figure out the
meaning of words you dont know. Here is how to use context
clues to answer inference questions.
Even if you think you know what the word means, go back
and check the context clues to be sure you are right.
Tip
Questions that ask you
to draw conclusions
and make inferences
require you to interpret
information in the
passage.
Discuss
Discuss whether you can understand the passage even if you do not know
all of the words.
14
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Sometimes this type of question will ask you to figure out the meaning of a
vocabulary word in the passage. When answering these questions, you should
use clues from the passage to help you make inferences about the meaning of
the word. These clues are called context clues.
Apply It
irections
DRead
this excerpt from an article about womens gymnastics training. Then answer
the questions that follow.
from Gymnasts
By the time Alyssa Beckerman arrived for a U.S. national team training camp at Bela Karolyis
Texas ranch, three months before the 2000 Olympic Games, she wasnt sure what hurt worse. The
year-old break in her wrist that hadnt been allowed to heal? Or her stomach burning from nerves
and a daily diet of anti-inflammatory drugs?
The 19-year-old U.S. champion broke her wrists a year earlier, but she continued to compete
and train 40 hours a weekpressured, she said, by an often-screaming coach who accused her of
faking the injury and driven by her own desire to win Olympic gold.
Thats what youve been dreaming about since you were a little girl, she said.
By the time she retired from international gymnastic later that year, Beckerman had broken
nine bones and undergone two surgeries.
The Orange County Register interviewed nearly half of the roughly 300 women who competed
on the U.S. junior or senior national teams from 1982 to 2004. More than 93 percent of the
women interviewed suffered broken bones or had injuries that required surgery.
Current and former U.S. national team membersalmost all girls in their early and mid-teens
describe a way of life that repeatedly puts the girls in danger. They train year-round as much as
twelve hours a day, often living thousands of miles from home and away from other teens.
Like Beckerman, they do so often with broken bones or torn muscles and almost always
without regular, if any, medical care. At the same time, they must deal with pressures and
expectations similar to those for highly paid pro athletes.
The register also found:
The rate of injuries has almost doubled since 1966, as women train longer and try more daring
and dramatic maneuvers.
Nine out of every ten gymnasts interviewed said that they had continued to train on injuries
that resulted in broken bones or surgery or that they had begun training again without getting a
doctors OK.
The sports obsession with weight and diet, especially within the U.S. national team program,
often has led to eating disorders. U.S. gymnasts competing in the 2001 World Championships said
they were provided so little food that family members smuggled snacks into the team hotel by
stuffing them inside teddy bears.
Three out of four gymnasts interviewed continue to experience health problems related to gymnastics.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
15
H
J
16
tactics
movements
plans
methods
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Lesson
Analyzing Literature
Some questions on the ELA Test ask about literary elements. Literary
elements are those aspects of a passage that relate directly to the way the
ideas and events are presented.
Literary elements include the following:
mood: The mood of a passage is its general feeling, or tone. The mood
may be happy, sad, mysterious, or suspenseful.
setting: The setting is the location in which the passage takes place.
The way a passage reads is also the result of the authors literary technique,
which may include the use of figurative language. Authors use figurative
language to make their writing more descriptive and more memorable.
Examples of figurative language include the following:
metaphor: Like a simile, a metaphor compares two things, but it does not
use the word like or as.
Tip
Remember the
following important
literary elements and
techniques:
mood, setting, and
point of view
simile and metaphor
Discuss
What is the mood, setting, and point of view of this passage?
What does figurative language add to the passage?
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
17
Apply It
irections
DRead
the story below and make notes as you go along. Then answer the questions
that follow.
18
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Salvador inside that wrinkled shirt, inside the throat that must clear itself and apologize each
time it speaks, inside that forty-pound body of boy with its geography of scars, its history of hurt,
limbs stuffed with feathers and rags, in what part of the eyes, in what part of the heart, in that
cage of the chest where something throbs with both fists and knows only what Salvador knows,
inside that body too small to contain the hundred balloons of happiness, the single guitar of grief,
is a boy like any other disappearing out the door, beside the schoolyard gate, where he has told his
brothers they must wait. Collects the hands of Cecilio and Arturito, scuttles off dodging the many
schoolyard colors, the elbows and wrists crisscrossing, the several shoes running. Grows small and
smaller to the eye, dissolves into the bright horizon, flutters in the air before disappearing like a
memory of kites.
fearful
hopeful
mysterious
sympathetic
G
H
J
C
From which point of view is this story
told? R2c
A
B
C
D
first-person narrator
first-person omniscient narrator
second-person
third-person
personifying an object
imagery used for comparison
flashback to a time in the past
foreshadowing a future event
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
19
Lesson
The ELA Test requires you to listen to a selection that your teacher reads to
you. The selection could be one long passage, or it might be two shorter
passages that are related.
Your teacher will read the passage to you twice. The first time your teacher
reads the passage, you may want to only listen carefully, although you can take
notes, too. When your teacher reads the passage a second time, you should
take notes. You will then answer questions based on the listening passage.
It is important for you to take notes, since the passage will NOT appear in your
test booklet. Your notes will help you answer questions based on the passage.
Here are some pointers for taking good notes.
Your notes should only be words or short phrases. Do not write complete
sentences.
Your notes should remind you of characters, events, and important details
from the passage.
Make notes about main ideas as well as details that support those main
ideas.
You cannot revisit a listening passage. You will have to answer questions
from the information in your notes. So it is important to
make detailed notes.
You do not have to write your notes neatly. You are the
only person who will read them.
Your teacher will now read you a poem. As you listen, write
notes in the space provided on the next page.
20
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Tip
Your notes will not
be scored!
Apply It
irections
DListen
as your teacher reads you the poem Choices by Nikki Giovanni. Your teacher
will read the poem twice. Listen carefully to the ideas expressed in each verse. Make notes
about the poems main ideas and details in the space provided below. A few notes have
already been made to get you started. Poem appears on pages 8687.
NOTES
Verse 1
If I cant do, then
Not same thing
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
21
What are the four actions that the poets choices describe ? On each of the lines below, write
one action the poet talks about. R2b
Doing
Wanting
CHOICES
Going
Feeling
Does the poet think that making these choices will make her completely happy? Use details
from the poem to support your point of view. R2b
The poet doesnt think that making these choices will make her completely happy. She thinks these
choices might possibly make her feel better. She says that making these kinds of choices is difficult
and often painful, which is why humans often feel sadness and cry.
Copyright Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
22
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Lesson
Completing Charts
Some questions on the ELA Test ask you to complete a chart using the
information from a passage. All the information you need will be in the passage.
Sometimes charts will be filled out based on notes you took after listening to a
passage. At other times, you will be able to go back to the written passage to
find information you need to complete a chart.
On charts, you will only have to write phrases. Your answers do not have to be
written in complete sentences. However, they will have to be thorough. Include
all relevant information from the passage.
Look at the completed chart below. It is based on a passage about the Motts, a
family that moved to the United States from Yugoslavia.
Problem
didnt speak English
homesick
Tip
Carefully read the
instructions and the
headings of the chart
carefully before you start
working.
Discuss
How is a chart like the summary of a passage?
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
23
Apply It
irections
DRead
the speech below. Write notes on page 26 as you go along. Then read the questions
that follow the passage. Use the answers to the questions to complete the chart.
24
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
My friends, I am rejoiced that you are glad, but I dont know how you will feel when I get
through. I come from another fieldthe country of the slave. They have got their liberty
so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. I want it root and branch
destroyed. Then we will all be free indeed. I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done in my
body just as much as a man, I have a right to have just as much as a man. There is a great stir
about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored
men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over
the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while
things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again.
White women are a great deal smarter, and know more than colored women, while colored
women do not know scarcely anything. They go out washing, which is about as high as a colored
woman gets, and their men go about idle, strutting up and down; and when the women come
home, they ask for their money and take it all, and then scold because there is no food. I want you
to consider on that, chiln. I call you chiln; you are somebodys chiln, and I am old enough to be
mother of all that is here. I want women to have their rights. In the courts women have no right,
no voice; nobody speaks for them. I wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers.
If it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there.
Apply It (continued)
I am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. I have been forty years a slave
and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. I suppose I
am kept here because something remains for me to do; I suppose I am yet to help to break the
chain. I have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. I used to
work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice
as much pay; so with the German women. They work in the field and do as much work, but do
not get the pay. We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. I suppose I am about the only
colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. I want to keep the
thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. What we want is a little money. You men know that you
get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. When we get our rights we shall
not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and
may be you will ask us for money. But help us now until we get it. It is a good consolation to know
that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. You have
been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slaveholder, that you own us. I know that it is
hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. It will feel all the
better when it closes up again. I have been in Washington about three years, seeing about these
colored people. Now colored men have the right to vote. There ought to be equal rights now more
than ever, since colored people have got their freedom. I am going to talk several times while I am
here; so now I will do a little singing. I have not heard any singing since I came here.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
25
Apply It
irections
DUse
this page to take notes on the passage. You will use these notes to answer the
questions on the next page.
Notes
26
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
What is the main theme of Sojourner Truths speech? Use details from your notes to support
your answer. R1k
Slavery has been only partly destroyed. There is a lot of talk about the rights of colored men but no
one cares about the rights of colored women. Colored women are not free if they do not have the
same rights as colored men. Without rights, the men will be their masters.
What does Sojourner Truth mean when she says, I suppose I am yet to help to break the chain?
R1b
Sojourner Truth is saying that even though she is more than eighty years old, there is still work for
her to do to make all people free.
Use the notes you took while reading the passage to complete the following chart. R1k
rights in court
a voice in court
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
27
Lesson
Writing Paragraph-Length
Responses
The ELA Test includes several questions that require you to write your answer
in paragraph form. The test scorers will check to make sure your answer
includes certain basic features.
Here are some ideas to keep in mind when you write answers in paragraph form.
Read the question carefully. Make sure your paragraph answers the question.
Begin the paragraph with a topic sentence that expresses your point of view.
Use details from the passage that support your point of view. Craft your answer
so that it makes sense to the reader, not just to yourself. If your answer is too
general, or you do not adequately support your opinion, your paragraph will
receive a lower score.
Discuss, as a class, the following answer about a passage.
What lesson might the tale Snow White and Rose Red be
trying to teach readers? Use details from the story to support
your answer.
The tale Snow White and Rose Red could have a variety of
different lessons that it is trying to express. One possible lesson
could be that acts of kindness are often rewarded. Another could
be that some things and people are different than they first
appear. The children thought the bear would hurt them, but he
was gentle and friendly and became friends with them.
Discuss
Does the answer directly address the question?
Are there any ways that this answer could be improved?
If so, how?
28
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Tip
Your answer to shortresponse questions
should include relevant
details from the
passage, not just your
own opinions.
Apply It
irections
DRead
the two poems below, and then answer the questions on the following page.
A Man Said to
the Universe
by Stephen Crane
Sir, I exist!
A sense of obligation.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
29
What idea is expressed in both poems? Use details from the poems to support your answer.
R2b
Both poems express the idea that people are small and unimportant in the world. In Stephen Cranes
poem, the universe tells a man that it is not responsible for him. Robert Frost compares a patch of
dirty snow to a piece of newspaper. The news printed in the paper has been ignored. The people in the
newspaper stories have been forgotten.
Do the poets use the same literary devices in their poems? Use information you know and
details from the poems to support your answer. R2d
No, the poets do not use the same literary devices in their poems. Stephen Crane uses
personification. He makes the universe speak, like the man it talks to. Robert Frost, on the other
hand, uses metaphor. He compares the old snow to a piece of newspaper covered with print. The
30
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
specks of grime on the snow look like the tiny words printed on the paper.
Lesson
Some questions on the ELA Test will ask you to write an extended response to
two different passages. You will be asked to read the paired texts, then write an
essay in response to them.
Often you will be asked to compare and contrast the two passages. To
compare the passages, you should focus on their similarities. To contrast
them, you should focus on their differences.
Read the two paragraphs below. They are from two different essays about
the desert.
Tip
Discuss
In what ways are the two authors attitudes similar?
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
31
Apply It
irections
DFollowing
are two passages. One is a poem, Heritage, by Gwendolyn B. Bennett. The
other is an excerpt from the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist. Read
the passages carefully. Then answer the questions that follow.
Heritage
by Gwendolyn B. Bennett
I want to see the slim palm-trees,
Pulling at the clouds
With little pointed fingers . . .
32
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Apply It
from Narrative
I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot
county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic
record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know
of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus
ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom
come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want
of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood.
The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same
privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such
inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit. The
nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I
come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old.
My mother was named Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey, both
colored, and quite dark. My mother was of a darker complexion than either my grandmother or
grandfather.
My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my
parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness
of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me. My mother and I
were separated when I was but an infant before I knew her as my mother. It is a common
custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a
very early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from
it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care
of an old woman, too old for field labor. For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it
be to hinder the development of the childs affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy
the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result.
I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each
of these times was very short in duration, and at night. She was hired by a Mr. Stewart, who lived
about twelve miles from my home. She made her journeys to see me in the night, traveling the
whole distance on foot, after the performance of her days work. She was a field hand, and a
whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise, unless a slave has special permission
from his or her master to the contrary a permission which they seldom get, and one that gives to
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
33
Apply It (continued)
him that gives it the proud name of being a kind master. I do not recollect of ever seeing my
mother by the light of day. She was with me in the night. She would lie down with me, and get me
to sleep, but long before I waked she was gone. Very little communication ever took place between
us. Death soon ended what little we could have while she lived, and with it her hardships and
suffering. She died when I was about seven years old, on one of my masters farms, near Lees Mill.
I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial. She was gone long before
I knew anything about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence,
her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I
should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.
Called thus suddenly away, she left me without the slightest intimation of who my father was.
The whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but
little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that
slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all
cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their
own lusts, and make gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by
this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double
relation of master and father. . . .
34
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
What words or phrases in Heritage show that the author is writing about Africa? List these
words or phrases and tell how they relate to Africa. R2b
The phrase palm-trees relates to Africa since there are palm trees there. The phrase Sphinxstill
face refers to the Sphinx, a large statue in northern Africa beside the Great Pyramids. The word
Nile refers to the Nile River, the long river that flows through Africa.
Frederick Douglass wrote that he received the news of his mothers death with much the same
emotion I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger. Based on this sentence, what
conclusion can you draw about his relationship with his mother? R1l
Douglass had a weak, almost nonexistent, relationship with his mother because they were
separated when he was only one year old and he only saw her a handful of times in his life. The
sentence suggests that she was a stranger to him and that he had no real feelings toward her.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
35
Write an essay in which you describe how the African people in Heritage live and how
the people of African descent in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Written By
Himself live. Explain how their way of living is different. Use details from both the poem
W2b
and the passage to support your answer.
In your answer be sure to include
a description of how the people live as described in both the poem and the passage
an explanation of how their ways of living are different
details from both the poem and the passage to support your answer
Check your writing for correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
The people of African descent described in Frederick Douglasss Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass Written By Himself live differently than the African people described in
Gwendolyn B. Bennetts poem Heritage. The main difference between the two ways of life
described in these passages is that the people Bennett describes are free, whereas the people
Bennett describes Africans who are living in freedom. Her poem mentions a group of
Africans chanting around a fire. It also mentions young Negro girls running around at sunset.
These are the behaviors of free people living as they want to live.
Frederick Douglass describes people of African descent forced to live in slavery. The
slave owners had a variety of methods to keep their slaves ignorant and obedient. One method
was to not let them know their birthdays. Douglass describes how not knowing his own birthday
made him unhappy, and that he was not allowed to ask his master about it. Douglass also
36
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
37
Lesson
Planning an Essay
The ELA Test requires you to write two essays. You will be given space on a
planning page to plan your essay. Keep in mind that the planning notes are
only for your use. They will not be graded.
Your essays should always include three basic parts:
Introduction: This section introduces the reader to the main idea of the
essay. The introduction should be one paragraph long.
Body: The main idea or theme is developed in the body of the essay.
Supporting ideas and specific details explain the theme. Devote one
paragraph to each idea that you use to support your main idea.
Conclusion: The conclusion draws together the ideas stated in the body
of the essay and summarizes the main idea. Like the introduction, the
conclusion should be only one paragraph long.
A good plan is the key to a good essay. Planning helps you organize your
essay, keeps you focused on the main idea, and saves you time in the long run.
As you plan your essay, ask yourself the following questions:
What is the main idea of my essay?
Discuss
Tip
The first line of your
essay should grab the
readers attention and
lead the reader to your
main idea.
38
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Apply It
irections
DThe
writer Isaac Bashevis Singer (19041991) won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1978.
A character in one of his stories says, What a strange power there is in clothing. What
do you think this statement means? Do you agree or disagree with it?
Write an essay in which you tell whether you think this statement is true or false. In your
answer, be sure to
explain what Singer meant when he said, What a strange power there is in clothing.
use specific details from your own experience to support your answer.
show three ways that clothing can have power (if you think the statement is true).
or, give three examples that prove clothing does not have power (if you think the
statement is false).
When you brainstorm, jot down all your ideas. Dont think about whether the ideas are good
or bad. Just write them all down. You can always toss out ideas that you dont like later.
If you were brainstorming about the example question, here are some ideas you might list:
agree:
- affects how others see us
- helps protect our bodies
Now do your own brainstorming about this topic. Write your ideas in the space below.
agree:
- affects how we feel about ourselves
- allows us to play a part or role
- can look rich or poor
- make us look smart or mysterious or dangerous
disagree:
- clothes dont matter
- personality matters more
- clothes cant hide who you are
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
39
Apply It (continued)
Step 2: Organizing
When you organize, you decide on the basic structure of your essay. Determine the main idea
of your essay and then decide on two or three supporting ideas. Each supporting idea will be
discussed in one of your body paragraphs.
Here is a plan that has been started for the example question:
Main Idea
Singer meant that clothes are a very important tool for humans. I agree with Singer that
clothing has great power.
Supporting Ideas
- people can understand our personalities from our clothes
- clothes let us play roles
- clothes keep our bodies safe
Now add two more supporting details to the plan above. Write the ideas on the lines provided.
Step 3: Outlining
When you outline, write a detailed plan for your essay. Your outline should include a list of the
ideas you plan to write about in each paragraph.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Here is an outline that has been started for the example question:
I. Introduction
Main idea: I agree with Singer that clothing has great power.
II. Body
A. people can understand others from their clothes
1. can tell that others are rich
2. can tell that others are poor
3. people can see that others are lazy
Write your essay in the space below. Do not forget to write neatly and review your work for correct
spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
When Isaac Bashevis Singer said, What a strange power there is in clothing, he meant that
clothes are a very important tool for humans. I agree with his statement. People can understand
other people from the clothes they see others wearing. Clothes give people the ability to assume
certain roles or personalities. Clothes also protect peoples bodies in a variety of ways.
Clothes help people understand what other people are like. Clothes can reveal if people are
rich or poor. For example, if a person wears very expensive clothing, you can tell that the person
is probably rich. If you see someone wearing old, tattered clothing you can assume that they are
probably poor. Dirty clothes may show that a person is lazy. All of these examples show that
clothes give people the ability to help understand other people. That is a very powerful tool.
Clothes are powerful because they allow people to assume certain roles or personalities. This
can help people fit into or stand out from groups. A person who wants to stand out and look
different can use clothing to do so. He or she can wear odd, strange, or brightcolored clothing. In
the same way, a person can use clothing to fit into a group. For example, if a group of kids at
school wears a special kind of jeans, another person could buy those jeans and perhaps fit into
that group. People can use clothes to look artistic, intelligent, or sophisticated. There is really no
end to the number of roles people can play through the use of clothing.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
41
Clothes are also a powerful tool for humans because they protect the human body so well.
Without proper clothing, humans would be harmed by heat, cold, snow, insects, and many other
things. Clothing allows people to go outside, travel, and stay healthy. Without clothing, life would
be very difficult for humans. Clothes, then, are a very powerful tool for humans.
In conclusion, I agree with Isaac Bashevis Singers statement, What a strange power there is
in clothing. Clothes are clearly an important tool for humans. Clothes allow people to understand
other people. Clothes help people assume certain roles or personalities. Clothes also provide
protection for the human body.
42
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Lesson
Maintaining Focus
10
each paragraph in the body of your essay supports the main idea of
the essay
Eliminate unrelated details. As you plan your essay, ask yourself the
following questions:
Read the paragraph below, paying close attention to how the writer keeps
it focused.
Of all the animals in the world, rats make the best pets. Rats are
intelligent animals that can learn how to run through mazes. Unlike
dogs, which need to be walked every day, rats are easy to care for. All
they need is a cage, water, food, and some love and attention. Rats
are clean and, unlike cats, they dont shed their hair. Rats are smart,
easy to keep, and neat; they are perfect pets.
Tip
In a well-focused essay,
only relevant details are
included.
Discuss
What are the supporting details in the paragraph above?
How does each sentence support the topic sentence?
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
43
Apply It
irections
DRead
the following student essay about the artist and naturalist John James Audubon
and his trip to Labrador, Canada. As you read, pay close attention to how well focused the
essay is. Then answer the questions on the following page.
John James Audubon lived from 1785 to 1851. He was born in Haiti then moved to France when
he was a boy. He became interested in birds while he lived in France. When he was 18 years old, he
was sent to America to become a businessman. He ran a mine and opened a store, but all his
businesses failed. He studied and drew birds he saw all over North America. Then he published a
book called The Birds of America in 1839.
Audubon went on a trip to Labrador in 1833. Labrador became part of Canada in 1949. It is
located in northeastern Canada between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has
many lakes and rivers but not many farms because the soil is so thin. Mining for iron ore and
fishing are important industries in Labrador. The coast of Labrador is rocky and birds called
gannets go there to build nests and raise their chicks. Audubon was interested in a particular place
called the Great Gannet Rock.
Audubon watched the gannets fly and catch food. He saw that they are powerful birds that fly
low in the air. They fly near the surface of the water so they can catch fish.
Gannets dive into the ocean head first to grab the fish they saw while flying. Audubon said he saw
them stay under water for as long as a whole minute. Sometimes they float on the ocean while they eat.
Gannets are the largest seabirds in the northern Atlantic Ocean. They are mainly white with
yellow heads and black tips on their wing features. They also have webbed feet. They eat fish and
squid. Gannets build nests out of seaweed and mud and live in large colonies on the cliffs by the
ocean. They lay one egg. Gannets cannot move well on land. Audubon wrote in his diary, On the
ground the movements of the Gannet are exceedingly awkward, and it marches with hampered
steps, assisting itself with the wings, or keeping them partially open to prevent its falling.
In order to study birds, Audubon traveled to see them where they lived. He drew pictures of
them and now his drawings of birds and animals are very valuable. He also killed birds so he
could study them up close. Audubon was a great naturalist and artist.
44
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Which paragraph includes details that do not focus on the subject of the essay? Explain why
these details are not relevant to the essay. R1g
Paragraph 2 includes some details that are not relevant to the essay. For example, the reader
does not need to know so much about Labrador. The sentences about when Labrador became part
of Canada and the information about Labradors soil and its industries should both be taken out of
the essay.
Evaluate the placement of paragraph 5 in the essay. How might moving paragraph 5 improve
the essay? To where should the paragraph be moved? LC W6
Paragraph 5 should follow paragraph 2. Paragraph 2 mentions gannets, while paragraph 5 provides
general information about those birds. It is logical to provide basic information about gannets
before going into detail about how they catch fish, which is described in paragraphs 3 and 4.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
45
Lesson
Editing
11
The first version of your essay is a rough draft. You will need to edit your rough
draft to make sure it is focused on the subject and answers the question.
You will also need to edit for mechanicsthe use of grammar, punctuation, and
spelling. An essay is scored on both content and mechanics. To earn a high score,
you need good mechanics as well as good content.
Below are some sentences that contain one or more mechanical errors. Find
the errors in each sentence and rewrite the sentence correctly on the line
below it.
Tip
3
My dad went to the store were he bought cereal sugar and milk.
My dad went to the store, where he bought cereal, sugar, and milk.
Yesterday Jude went to the park and bumps into his teacher.
Yesterday, Jude went to the park and bumped into his teacher.
Discuss
Which of the sentences above contained grammar errors?
Which of them contained punctuation errors?
Which of them contained spelling errors?
46
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Apply It
irections
DThis
is the first draft of an essay written by a student. It is a response to the question,
What has been your most exciting day, and why? Read this draft carefully and circle
any errors that you find. Then answer the questions that follow.
(7) My best friend Jake and I climbed into the backseat of his dads car. (8) I was wearing my
black Tazmaniacs tee-shirt. (9) There were a couple of holes in it but the front had their piktures
printed on it in silver. (10) Jake brought along the most recent CD, hoping to get an autograph.
(11) We couldnt wait to get there.
(12) Jake and I walked into the enormus arena. (13) It was absolutely a mob scene people
everywhere. (14) Our seats were up high and we could see everything (15) Down below was a
stage filled with instrumentshorns, two drum sets, four guitars, and a keyboard. (16) The
microphones squealed and a voice said, Testing, testing, testing. (17) The concert had been sold
out for weeks. (18) I didnt see an empty seat anywhere.
(19) All of a sudden, every light in the arena went out. (20) Jake yelled, Go Tazmaniacs! just
as beams of bright orange light began to streak across the stage. (21) The Tazmaniacs came
running out of a screen of fog or smoke, and in seconds the beat of their hit song, What Do You
Know? filled the place. (22) Everyone stood up, including us. (23) This definitly was the most
exciting day of my life.
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
47
There are four misspelled words in the essay. Write the sentences or phrases containing these
misspelled words and spell the words correctly on the lines below. Underline the words you
corrected. LC W1
(3) Since reading about the tour in a magazine . . . (9) . . . the front had their pictures printed on it
in silver. (12) Jake and I walked into the enormous arena. (23) This definitely was the most
exciting day of my life.
There are two run-on sentences in the essay. Rewrite the sentences correctly on the lines below.
LC W4
(4) I could hardly sleep last night. My stomach felt like a thousand bumblebees were having a
dance party in it. OR (4) I could hardly sleep last night because my stomach felt like a thousand
bumblebees were having a dance party in it. (13) It was absolutely a mob scene. People were
everywhere. OR (13) It was absolutely a mob scene and people were everywhere.
There are four examples of incorrect punctuation in the essay. Rewrite the sentences or phrases
correctly on the lines below. LC W4
(1) Why are you so excited? my mother asked. (3) Since I had been reading about the tour in a
magazine, I had been raking leaves, baby-sitting, washing cars, and doing whatever I could to earn
money for a ticket. (7) My best friend Jake and I climbed into the backseat of his dads car.
(14) Our seats were up high and we could see everything.
Find an example in the essay of incorrect capitalization. Rewrite the phrase or sentence
correctly on the line below. LC W4
(6) I was going to see the Tazmaniacs, the best rock band of all time, at Center City Arena.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
GiXZk`Z\K\jk
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Book 1
Reading
DInirections
this part of the test, you will do some reading and answer questions about what you
have read.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
51
DInirections
this excerpt from Edgar Allen Poes short story A Descent into the Maelstrm,
two men have climbed Helseggen, a tall mountain in the Norwegian district of Lofoden.
Read the excerpt, then answer questions 17.
subsided = settled
In a few minutes more, there came over the scene another radical
alteration. The general surface grew somewhat more smooth, and
the whirlpools, one by one, disappeared, while prodigious streaks of
foam became apparent where none had been seen before. These
streaks, at length, spreading out to a great distance, and entering
into combination, took unto themselves the gyratory motion of the
subsided vortices, and seemed to form the germ of another more
vast. Suddenlyvery suddenlythis assumed a distinct and
definite existence, in a circle of more than a mile in diameter. The
edge of the whirl was represented by a broad belt of gleaming spray;
but no particle of this slipped into the mouth of the terrific funnel,
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
We had now been about ten minutes upon the top of Helseggen,
to which we had ascended from the interior of Lofoden, so that we
had caught no glimpse of the sea until it had burst upon us from the
summit. As the old man spoke, I became aware of a loud and
gradually increasing sound, like the moaning of a vast herd of
buffaloes upon an American prairie; and at the same moment I
perceived that what seamen term the chopping character of the
ocean beneath us, was rapidly changing into a current which set to
the eastward. Even while I gazed, this current acquired a monstrous
velocity. Each moment added to its speedto its headlong
impetuosity. In five minutes the whole sea, as far as Vurrgh, was
lashed into ungovernable fury; but it was between Moskoe and the
coast that the main uproar held its sway. Here the vast bed of the
waters, seamed and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels,
burst suddenly into phrensied convulsionheaving, boiling,
hissinggyrating in gigantic and innumerable vortices, and all
whirling and plunging on to the eastward with a rapidity which
water never elsewhere assumes, except in precipitous descents.
whose interior, as far as the eye could fathom it, was a smooth, shining,
and jet-black wall of water, inclined to the horizon at an angle of some
forty-five degrees, speeding dizzily round and round with a swaying
and sweltering motion, and sending forth to the winds an appalling
voice, half shriek, half roar, such as not even the mighty cataract of
Niagara ever lifts up in its agony to Heaven.
The mountain trembled to its very base, and the rock rocked. I threw myself upon my face, and
clung to the scant herbage in an excess of nervous agitation.
This, said I at length, to the old manthis can be nothing else than the great whirlpool of
the Maelstrm.
So it is sometimes termed, said he. We Norwegians call it the Moskoe-strm, from the island
of Moskoe in the midway.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
53
The authors use of the first-person point of view allows the reader to R2c
A
B
C
D
Which of these statements best summarizes the main idea of the second paragraph? LC R12
F The many whirlpools turned into foam, and then disappeared.
G The giant vortex turned into several smaller whirlpools and disappeared.
H The many whirlpools subsided and then turned into streaks of foam.
J
The smaller whirlpools turned into foam, and then became a massive whirlpool.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
F
G
H
J
triumphant
confusion
frightening
playful
Where did the great whirlpool of the Maelstrm take place? R2b
A
B
C
D
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
55
irections
DRead
this passage from a letter from writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlett
Letter, to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Then answer questions 813.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
desire
intention
certainty
knowledge
thought
proof
fear
doubt
simile
metaphor
exaggeration
personification
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
57
irections
DThe
following speech was presented to a jury in court by George Vest, a lawyer. Vests
client was suing a man who had shot his dog. Read the speech, then answer questions
1419.
prone = likely
malice = meanness
treacherous = dangerous
The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish
world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves
ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A mans dog stands by him in
prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the
cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if
only he may be near his masters side. He will kiss the hand that has no
food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter
with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper
master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains.
When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant
in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful
dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight
against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its
embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their
way, there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad,
but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY: The best friend a man has in the world
may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that
he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are
nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and
our good name may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man
has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most.
A mans reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered
action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor
when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice
when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.
17
A
B
C
D
grateful
somewhat
unavailable
steady
an emotional appeal
B
C
D
an ethical debate
a logical approach
a symbolic plea
F
G
H
J
intelligence
loyalty
courage
strength
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
59
irections
DRead
this poem. Then answer questions 2026.
Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour,
Many were the blithe birds that warbled them oer:
Oh! I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.
I long for Jeanie with the daydawn smile,
10
20
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Go On
R2e
gladness
hope
longing
joy
21 Which of these lines from the poem best shows that Jeanie is gone?
A
B
C
D
R2b
shining
carried
birthed
rising
R2b
I am watching
I am imagining
I am hoping for
I am waiting for
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
61
24
singing happily
calling to the birds
pouring water into an urn
telling secrets to a friend
26
STOP
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
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Book 2
Listening and Writing
DInirections
this part of the test, you will listen to a passage about a dog show. Then you will
answer some questions to see how well you understood what was read.
You will listen to the speech twice. As you listen carefully, you may take notes on the
speech anytime you wish during the readings. You may use these notes to answer the
questions that follow. Use the space on Pages 66 and 67 for your notes.
Article appears on Page 88.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
65
Notes
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66
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Notes
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
67
27 What are four different qualities on which the dogs are judged? On each of the lines below,
write one quality described in Showing Off.
R1b
appearance
size
Qualities
coat
color
28 What do you think was the authors purpose in writing Showing Off ? Circle your choice.
Explain your choice using details from the article. R3a
to inform
to entertain
to persuade
The author most likely wrote Showing Off to inform the reader about the dog show. The passage
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
explains what happens at the dog show and gives many details about the event. It does not
R1b
First the dogs are categorized by breed. Then the dogs of the same breed are categorized by sex.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
69
Planning Page
You may PLAN your writing for question 30 here if you wish, but do NOT write
your final answer on this page. Your writing on the Planning Page will NOT
count toward your final score. Write your final answer on Pages 71 and 72.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
30
Write an essay in which you describe some of the actions a dog owner would need to take
in order for his or her dog to win Best in Show. Use details from the passage to support
your answer. W1g
In your answer, be sure to
describe some of the things the dog owner would need to do to prepare the dog to
become a champion
tell why these actions are important or necessary
use details from the passage to support your answer
Check your writing for correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Only the very best dogs can become the champions at a dog show. In order for a dog to win
Best in Show, the dogs owner would need to take a variety of actions. The owner would have to make
sure that his or her dog has proper exercise and a healthy diet. Also, the owner would have to train the
dog well and also properly care for the dogs body.
To win Best in Show, a dog would need a lot of exercise. Exercise is important because it
keeps the dog in good shape. With proper exercise, the dog will be lean and muscular. Exercise will
make the dogs body fit and attractive. Exercise will also improve the dogs overall health. A fit dog will
score well when judged on its appearance by the judges.
Another key action the owner would need to take is to provide the dog with a healthy diet. A
solid diet will help the dog grow and age in a healthy way. Proper nutrition will help the dog have a
shiny coat and clear eyes, which are two qualities on which the dog will be judged.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
71
A champion dog would also need to be trained well. The dog will be judged on its behavior, so
if the dog is well-behaved, it has a greater chance of scoring high and winning the show. At the same
time, a poorly-behaved, untrained dog will certainly be given low scores. To train the dog, the owner
would need to teach the dog to respond to basic commands, such as sit and come. The owner would
also need to teach the dog to walk elegantly, since the dog will be judged on how it walks.
Finally, for a dog to become a champion the owner would need to properly care for its body.
This means that the dogs teeth and gums must be healthy, its nails must be trimmed, and its fur must
be clean and trim. Clean and healthy teeth, gums, and fur are all qualities on which the dog will be
judged at the show.
As you can see, raising a championship dog is a lot of work. To win Best in Show, the dog
proper care.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
owner must make sure to provide the dog with exercise, a healthy diet, a solid training regiment, and
GiXZk`Z\K\jk
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Book 3
Reading and Writing
DInirections
this part of the test, you are going to read a poem called Barbara Frietchie and part of
a story called The Tragedy of the Alamo. You will answer questions and write about what
you have read. You may look back at the poem and the story as often as you like.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
75
The following poem is set during the American Civil War, when the Confederate states
attempted to break away from the Union.
Barbara Frietchie
by John Greenleaf Whittier
Up from the meadows rich with corn,
Clear in the cool September morn,
spires = pointed towers
on churches
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
20
staff = flagpole
slouched hat =
wide-brimmed hat
shivered = broke
into pieces
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
77
45
50
60
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
31 The poem Barbara Frietchie is rich in imagery. Fill in the following chart with details from
the poem. In the first column, write a two-line stanza from the poem. In the second column,
explain what the stanza means. Be sure to include details from the poem to support your
answer. An example answer has been completed for you. R2e
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
79
The following selection describes one of the most famous battles in American history.
The leader of the Mexican army was General Santa Ana. The leader of the Texas forces
was Colonel William B. Travis.
About two hours before sunset on the 3d of March, 1836, the bombardment suddenly ceased,
and the enemy withdrew an unusual distance. . . . Colonel Travis paraded all his effective men in a
single file, and taking his position in front of the centre, he stood for some moments apparently
speechless from emotion; then, nerving himself for the occasion, he addressed them substantially
as follows:
My brave companions: stern necessity compels me to employ the few moments afforded by this
probably brief cessation of conflict, in making known to you the most interesting, yet the most
solemn, melancholy, and unwelcome fact that humanity can realize. . . . Our fate is sealed. Within
a very few days, perhaps a very few hours, we must all be in eternity! I have deceived you long by
the promise of help; but I crave your pardon, hoping that after hearing my explanation you will
not only regard my conduct as pardonable, but heartily sympathize with me in my extreme
necessity. . . . I have continually received the strongest assurances of help from home. Every letter
from the Council, and every one that I have seen from individuals at home, has teemed with
assurances that our people were ready, willing, and anxious to come to our relief. . . . These
assurances I received as facts. . . . In the honest and simple confidence of my heart I have
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Meantime the enemy is active. On the 25th Travis has a sharp fight to prevent him from
erecting a battery raking the gate of the Alamo. At night it is erected, with another a half-mile off
at the powder-house, on a sharp eminence at the extremity of the present main street of the town.
On the 26th there is skirmishing with the Mexican cavalry. In the coldfor a norther has
commenced to blow and the thermometer is down to thirty-ninethe Texas make a sally
successfully for wood and water, and that night they burn some old houses on the northeast that
might afford cover for the enemy. So, amid the enemys constant rain of shells and balls, which
miraculously hurt no one, the Texans strengthen their works and the siege goes on. On the 28th
Fannin starts from Goliad with three hundred troops and four pieces of artillery, but for lack of
teams and provisions quickly returns, and the little garrison is left to its fate. On the morning of
the 1st of March there is doubtless a wild shout of welcome in the Alamo; Capt. John W. Smith
has managed to convey thirty-two men into the fort. These join the heroes, and the attack and
defence go on. On the 3d a single man, Moses Rose, escapes from the fort. His account of that day
must entitle it to consecration as one of the most pathetic days of time.
transmitted to you these promises of help and my confident hope of success. But the promised
help has not come, and our hopes are not to be realized. I have evidently confided too much in the
promises of our friends; but let us not be in haste to censure them. . . . Our friends were evidently
not informed of our perilous condition in time to save us. Doubtless they would have been here by
this time had they expected any considerable force of the enemy. . . . My calls on Colonel Fannin
remain unanswered, and my messengers have not returned. The probabilities are that his whole
command has fallen into the hands of the enemy, or been cut to pieces, and that our couriers have
been cut off. [So does the brave, simple soul refuse to feel any bitterness in the hour of death.] . . .
Rose, too, was deeply affected, but differently from his companions. He stood till every man
but himself had crossed the line. . . . He sank upon the ground, covered his face, and yielded to his
own reflections. . . . A bright idea came to his relief; he spoke the Mexican dialect very fluently,
and could he once get safely out of the fort, he might easily pass for a Mexican and effect an
escape. . . . He directed a searching glance at the cot of Colonel Bowie. . . . Colonel David Crockett
was leaning over the cot, conversing with its occupant in an undertone. After a few seconds Bowie
looked at Rose and said, You seem not to be willing to die with us, Rose. No, said Rose; I am
not prepared to die, and shall not do so if I can avoid it. Then Crockett also looked at him, and
said, You may as well conclude to die with us, old man, for escape is impossible. Rose made no
reply, but looked at the top of the wall. I have often done worse than to climb that wall, thought
he. Suiting the action to the thought, he sprang up, seized his wallet of unwashed clothes, and
ascended the wall. Standing on its top, he looked down within to take a last view of his dying
friends. They were all now in motion, but what they were doing he heeded not; overpowered by
his feelings, he looked away and saw them no more. . . . He threw down his wallet and leaped after
it. . . . He took the road which led down the river around a bend to the ford, and through the town
by the church. He waded the river at the ford and passed through the town. He saw no person . . .
but the doors were all closed, and San Antonio appeared as a deserted city.
After passing through the town he turned down the river. A stillness as of death prevailed
When he had gone about a quarter of a mile below the town, his ears were saluted by the thunder
of the bombardment, which was then renewed. That thunder continued to remind him that his
friends were true to their cause, by a continual roar with but slight intervals until a little before
sunrise on the morning of the 6th, when it ceased and he heard it no more.
The Texans are overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers and exhaustion of continued watching
and fighting. The Mexicans swarm into the fort. The Texans club their guns; one by one they fall
fighting-now Travis yonder by the western wall, now Crockett here in the angle of the church-wall,
now Bowie butchered and mutilated in his sick-cot, breathe quick and pass away; and presently
every Texan lies dead, while there in horrid heaps are stretched five hundred and twenty-one dead
Mexicans and as many more wounded! Of the human beings that were in the fort five remain
alive: Mrs. Dickinson and her child, Colonel Traviss Negro- servant, and two Mexican women. The
conquerors endeavor to get some more revenge out of the dead, and close the scene with raking
together the bodies of the Texans, amid insults, and burning them. . . .
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
81
32 How did Colonel William B. Travis respond to General Santa Anas surrender demand? Use
details from The Tragedy of the Alamo to support your answer. R2b
Colonel Travis replied with a cannon-shot. He then sent a messenger with a call to his countrymen
for reinforcements. He also said that though his call may be neglected, he was determined to fight
as long as possible and die like a soldier who does not forget what is due to his own honor and
that of his country.
33
Why did Moses Rose believe he had a good chance to escape from the area around the Alamo
that the Mexican army had surrounded? R1b
Rose spoke the Mexican dialect, so he thought that once he got out of the Alamo area he could
pass for a Mexican and blend in.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Planning Page
You may PLAN your writing for question 34 here if you wish, but do NOT write
your final answer on this page. Your writing on this Planning Page will NOT
count toward your final score. Write your final answer on Pages 84 and 85.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
83
34
Write an essay in which you describe how Barbara Frietchie in Barbara Frietchie and
Colonel Travis in The Tragedy of the Alamo are similar. Explain how their actions and
attitudes are similar. Use details from both the poem and the passage to support your
answer. W1g
In your answer, be sure to
a description of the attitudes and actions of each person
an explanation of how their actions and and attitudes are similar
details from both the poem and the passage to support your answer
Check your writing for correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Check your writing for correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Barbara Frietchie, as described in the poem Barbara Frietchie, and Colonel Travis, from
The Tragedy of the Alamo, are similar in their actions and attitudes. Both of them cared very
deeply about their country. And both of them took dangerous, heroic actions.
Both Barbara Frietchie and Colonel Travis were patriotic people. They loved their
War. Her love of her country was displayed when she said, spare your countrys flag. Colonel
Travis loved his country, too. This attitude was shown when he said he would rather die like a
soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country. He so loved his
country that he was willing to die for it, as when he said, victory or death!
Barbara Frietchie and Colonel Travis are also similar in their actions. Both of them took
dangerous actions in support of their country. Barbara Frietchie hung an American flag out the
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
country. Barbara Frietchie was a proud American who stood up for her country during the Civil
window when the Confederate troops marched into town. The troops shot at the flag and could
have easily shot Barbara. Colonel Travis took his own heroic actions for his country. Rather than
attempt to flee the Alamo, he stayed there and fought the Mexican army until the very end.
So Barbara Frietchie from the poem Barbara Frietchie and Colonel Travis from The
Tragedy of the Alamo are similar in that they both had patriotic attitudes and both took
STOP
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
85
This listening selection is to be used in administering Lesson 5 of the Grade 8 English Language
Arts Test preparation workbook. The entire selection is to be read aloud twice to the students.
Choices
by Nikki Giovanni
if i cant do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i dont want
to do
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
if i cant have
since i cant go
where i need
to go then i must go
where the signs point
though always understanding
parallel movement
isnt lateral
New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
87
This listening selection is to be used in administering Book 2 of the Grade 8 English Language
Arts Practice Test. The entire selection is to be read twice to the students.
Showing Off
Its 8:00 A.M. on Saturday at the State Fair Coliseum in West Allis, Wisconsin. At this time
on a Saturday in the middle of winter, the building is usually quiet. Today, however, the coliseum
is bustling with activity. Judges, spectators, and hundreds of yapping dogs, with their owners in
tow, have come to participate in the annual dog show.
Show dogs and their owners generally begin filing into the coliseum several hours before the
actual competition begins. The owners set up their grooming tables and begin the arduous task of
preparing their dogs for the show.
Certain breeds require more preparation time than others; however, all dog owners will
generally spend well over an hour preparing their dogs for show. The dogs coats must appear slick
and shiny, their eyes clear and bright, and their nails neatly trimmed. Even their teeth must be
clean, as judges will look at each dogs teeth, gums, and tongue.
Before the judging begins, the dogs are divided into categories. First, the dogs are divided by
breed. Next, the dogs of the same breed are divided by sex. Then, the judging begins.
There are many judging rounds in a dog show. In the first round, the judges choose the best
male and best female dog from each class in the breed. In the second round, the judges choose one
male and one female from the breed to compete against former show champions of their breed.
The process of elimination continues until the shows best seven dogs compete in the final round.
Although each of the final contestants is an exceptional member of its breed, only one will receive
the contests highest honorBest in Show.
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New York Grade 8 English Language Arts Test Preparation and Practice
Although there are several types of contests at a dog show, the center of all the activity is
typically the conformation competition. In this competition, dogs are judged on the basis of the
breed standard, a list of qualities that a dog must possess to be considered an ideal representation
of its breed. These qualities include general appearance, size, body proportion, coat, color,
behavior, and walk.
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