Deck 6: Narration

Question 1

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. For each plan, select the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Physical education instructor James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891.
____ Thinking of how these ancient games required balls that went through holes, he rounded up two peach baskets and a soccer ball.
____ In December 1891, the director of the YMCA School where Naismith worked asked him to come up with a game that would occupy a class of rowdy students.
____ Then, he divided his class of eighteen into two teams of nine players each, taught them to throw the soccer ball into the peach basket.
____ Naismith, needing a game that could be played indoors in a relatively small space, remembered a description of Ollamalitzli and Ulama, Aztec and Mayan ball games he had read about in a magazine.
____ He nailed the peach baskets to the lower railing of the gym balcony.

A) 3, 4, 5, 1, 4
B) 1, 3, 4, 5, 2
C) 3, 1, 5, 2, 4

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) Walt Disney might be the only filmmaker who claimed to owe his success to a rodent
(2) At first, Disney was an animator who produced a cartoon series called "Oswald the Rabbit." (3) Then he decided to launch out on his own.
(4) Realizing that he needed a new animated character, he remembered a friendly mouse from a studio he had once worked in
(5) He decided to name his new character after this old friend, whom he fondly called Mortimer Mouse
(6) Later, he changed the name to Mickey
(7) After only a few cartoons appeared, Mickey Mouse fever swept the nation
(8) Soon, he became an international figure
(9) The French called him "Michel Souris," while the Italians dubbed him "Topolo." (10) During World War II, "Mickey Mouse" became a secret password in the Allied Command
(11)Disney created many other lovable characters, but none achieved the popularity of that cute little mouse with the white gloves. Which of the following sentences does NOT contain a transitional expression that indicates time?

A) Sentence 5
B) Sentence 6
C) Sentence 8
D) Sentence 10

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) The solution to an important AIDS puzzle came from an unlikely source, video gamers
(2) For fifteen years, researchers at the University of Washington have been trying to understand the structure of the AIDS virus, knowing that this discovery would lead to better treatments, maybe even a cure.
(3) In 2010, Seth Cooper, a computer scientist at the same university, created a video game called Foldit, the purpose of which was to encourage gamers to work on real scientific problems.
(4) Hearing about Foldit, the frustrated scientists decided to ask gamers for help
(5) In three short weeks, the gamers came up with such good models that the scientists found their answer
(6) The scientists are thrilled, and the gamers loved using their skills for such a worthwhile project. Select the number of the topic sentence that tells the point of the story.

A) Sentence 1
B) Sentence 2
C) Sentence 3

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) One of the most terrible encounters between sharks and humans in modern times occurred during World War II
(2) On July 30, 1945, the Navy ship USS Indianapolis was in the Philippine Sea when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
(3) About 300 crewmembers were killed in the explosion.
(4) Twelve minutes later, the Indianapolis sunk, tossing the 900 remaining sailors into the ocean
(5) Due to a misunderstanding, their ship was not reported missing
(6) Floating in the sea without lifeboats, the survivors began to be hounded by hundreds of sharks
(7) For four days, they had no protection against the predators
(8) Finally, on August 2, the men were spotted by the pilot of a patrol plane, who radioed for help
(9) Two days later, rescuers were able to find only 319 men alive. Select the number of the topic sentence that tells the point of the story.

A) Sentence 1
B) Sentence 2
C) Sentence 6

Question 5

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Through talent and fortunate timing, Vera Wang has become one of the world's top designers of women's clothing.
____ Today, upscale retailers such as Neiman Marcus sell her elegant but modern wedding and evening dresses, and Kohl's department stores carry her less expensive line of daily wear.
____ In 1971, after college, Wang became a fashion editor at Vogue , a job she held for fifteen years.
____ Soon afterward, Hollywood stars like Halle Berry, Uma Thurman, and Meg Ryan began wearing Vera Wang gowns, and Wang's reputation soared.
____ In 1990, Wang made her dream a reality, opening a high-style bridal and evening gown business.
____ The world took note when Wang designed elegant costumes for skater Nancy Kerrigan during the much-watched 1994 Winter Olympics.

A) 5, 1, 3, 2, 4
B) 2, 3, 4, 1, 5
C) 4, 3, 5, 2, 1

Question 6

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Some say that the Greek myth of Icarus teaches the importance of moderation and self-control.
____ As he strapped on their wings, Daedalus warned his boy not to fly too near the sun, or the heat would melt the wax.
____ To escape from a prison tower in the Mediterranean Sea, the inventor Daedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus out of feathers, thread, and wax.
____ Just as his father feared, the blazing sun melted the wax, the wings fell apart, and Icarus plummeted to his death.
____ Daedalus and Icarus leapt from the tower and began flying over the sea.
____ Soaring higher and delighting in his ability to fly toward the sun, Icarus ignored his father's advice.

A) 1, 5, 4, 3, 2
B) 2, 1, 5, 3, 4
C) 4, 3, 2, 5, 1

Question 7

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) An unlikely friendship formed in 2005 at the Mutsugoro Okoku Zoo near Tokyo, Japan
(2) In October of that year, a snake named Aochan refused to eat the frozen mice zookeepers gave him for his dinner.
(3) Then, the zookeepers presented a live hamster named Gohan, which means "meal." (4) Instead of eating the hamster, however, Aochan made friends with it
(5) Three months later, when newspapers began to print the story, predator and prey were still sharing a box
(6) Gohan was even taking naps on top of the snake, who eventually developed a taste for frozen rodents
(7) Even then, Aochan showed no sign of wanting to gobble up his new companion. Which of the following sentences does NOT contain a transitional expression that indicates time?

A) Sentence 2
B) Sentence 3
C) Sentence 4
D) Sentence 5

Question 8

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) An unlikely friendship formed in 2005 at the Mutsugoro Okoku Zoo near Tokyo, Japan
(2) In October of that year, a snake named Aochan refused to eat the frozen mice zookeepers gave him for his dinner.
(3) Then, the zookeepers presented a live hamster named Gohan, which means "meal." (4) Instead of eating the hamster, however, Aochan made friends with it
(5) Three months later, when newspapers began to print the story, predator and prey were still sharing a box
(6) Gohan was even taking naps on top of the snake, who eventually developed a taste for frozen rodents
(7) Even then, Aochan showed no sign of wanting to gobble up his new companion. Select the number of the topic sentence that tells the point of the story.

A) Sentence 1
B) Sentence 2
C) Sentence 3

Question 9

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) Walt Disney might be the only filmmaker who claimed to owe his success to a rodent
(2) At first, Disney was an animator who produced a cartoon series called "Oswald the Rabbit." (3) Then he decided to launch out on his own.
(4) Realizing that he needed a new animated character, he remembered a friendly mouse from a studio he had once worked in
(5) He decided to name his new character after this old friend, whom he fondly called Mortimer Mouse
(6) Later, he changed the name to Mickey
(7) After only a few cartoons appeared, Mickey Mouse fever swept the nation
(8) Soon, he became an international figure
(9) The French called him "Michel Souris," while the Italians dubbed him "Topolo." (10) During World War II, "Mickey Mouse" became a secret password in the Allied Command
(11)Disney created many other lovable characters, but none achieved the popularity of that cute little mouse with the white gloves. Select the number of the topic sentence that tells the point of the story.

A) Sentence 1
B) Sentence 2
C) Sentence 3

Question 10

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) Last September, I watched my ten-year-old grandson act like an adult in an emergency
(2) While cleaning the living room carpet, I tripped and fell over the vacuum cleaner hose.
(3) At first, I was dazed.
(4) Soon, I realized that my left arm hurt terribly
(5) I called to my grandson Joel, who was the only other person at home
(6) When Joel saw me on the floor, his face went pale
(7) Then he calmly took charge of the situation
(8) He went to the phone and dialed for emergency help
(9) I heard him give our address, exact details of what had happened, and a description of the position I was lying in
(10)I could tell that he was carefully listening to the instructions he was given
(11)Returning to the living room, Joel covered me with a wool blanket and told me that an ambulance was on its way
(12)He sat by my side in the ambulance and stayed with me while the doctor treated me
(13)My sprained arm bothered me for only three weeks, but I will always feel proud of what my grandson did on that day. Select the number of the topic sentence that tells the point of the story in the paragraph above.

A) Sentence 1
B) Sentence 2
C) Sentence 3

Question 11

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. For each plan, select the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Google is the only multibillion-dollar company in the world whose name is a spelling mistake.
____ In 1997, two computer science students were working on creating a new search engine and needed to find a name for their invention.
____ They were stuck with their misspelling, but it didn't prevent their new company from becoming one of the fastest-growing in the history of the world.
____ Thinking that the word for that huge number was spelled google , the two cofounders looked up the name on the Internet, found it wasn't taken, and registered their new brand as google.com.
____ A fellow student suggested that the name used for the huge number 10¹⁰⁰ would be a good one for a program capable of searching millions of web pages.
____ After registering their brand, they found out that they had misspelled the word, and the word they really needed ¾ googol ¾ already belonged to someone else.

A) 1, 5, 3, 2, 4
B) 2, 4, 3, 5, 1
C) 5, 1, 3, 4, 2

Question 12

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) One of the most terrible encounters between sharks and humans in modern times occurred during World War II
(2) On July 30, 1945, the Navy ship USS Indianapolis was in the Philippine Sea when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
(3) About 300 crewmembers were killed in the explosion.
(4) Twelve minutes later, the Indianapolis sunk, tossing the 900 remaining sailors into the ocean
(5) Due to a misunderstanding, their ship was not reported missing
(6) Floating in the sea without lifeboats, the survivors began to be hounded by hundreds of sharks
(7) For four days, they had no protection against the predators
(8) Finally, on August 2, the men were spotted by the pilot of a patrol plane, who radioed for help
(9) Two days later, rescuers were able to find only 319 men alive. How many transitional expressions in the paragraph above indicate time?

A) one
B) three
C) six

Question 13

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Aesop's fable about a dog and his reflection teaches a lesson about greed.
____ In the reflection, he thought he saw another dog with another piece of meat in his mouth, so he decided to get that one, too.
____ Now the dog had nothing at all to eat.
____ A dog was happily carrying a piece of meat in his mouth and came to a bridge he had to cross.
____ While crossing the bridge, he saw his reflection in the water of a running brook.
____ When he snapped at the reflection, the meat dropped from his mouth into the water and sank.

A) 2, 1, 5, 4, 3
B) 3, 5, 1, 2, 4
C) 4, 2, 3, 1, 5

Question 14

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) Last September, I watched my ten-year-old grandson act like an adult in an emergency
(2) While cleaning the living room carpet, I tripped and fell over the vacuum cleaner hose.
(3) At first, I was dazed.
(4) Soon, I realized that my left arm hurt terribly
(5) I called to my grandson Joel, who was the only other person at home
(6) When Joel saw me on the floor, his face went pale
(7) Then he calmly took charge of the situation
(8) He went to the phone and dialed for emergency help
(9) I heard him give our address, exact details of what had happened, and a description of the position I was lying in
(10)I could tell that he was carefully listening to the instructions he was given
(11)Returning to the living room, Joel covered me with a wool blanket and told me that an ambulance was on its way
(12)He sat by my side in the ambulance and stayed with me while the doctor treated me
(13)My sprained arm bothered me for only three weeks, but I will always feel proud of what my grandson did on that day. Which of the following sentences does NOT contain a transitional expression that indicates time?

A) Sentence 4
B) Sentence 5
C) Sentence 6
D) Sentence 7

Question 15

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. The debut of our singing group at the college talent show last Saturday was a total disaster.
____ Halfway through our act, our lead singer's microphone went dead for three minutes.
____ Calvin arrived so hoarse that he could hardly sing at all.
____ The announcer introduced us as the "Huge Notes" instead of the "High Tones."
____ All the lights in the theater flashed on and off throughout our last song.
____ Starting our first song a half-beat too late, Dina threw the rhythm off for the rest of us.

A) 1, 3, 4, 2, 5
B) 2, 5, 4, 3, 1
C) 4, 1, 2, 5, 3

Question 16

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. In a lifetime of many successes, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams pioneered open-heart surgery the day he operated on James Cornish.
____ According to eyewitnesses, Williams first made a six-inch incision and removed Cornish's fifth rib.
____ Cornish's frightened friends brought him to Provident Hospital, the first interracial hospital in the United States.
____ Then he repaired a torn artery and stitched up the punctured sac surrounding the heart.
____ On July 9, 1893, James Cornish received a deep knife gash near his heart during a fight.
____ Dr. Williams examined Cornish and immediately decided to operate.
____ Fifty-one days later, Cornish left the hospital, recovered and deeply grateful to Dr. Williams for his life.

A) 5, 3, 4, 1, 6, 2
B) 4, 2, 5, 1, 3, 6
C) 6, 1, 2, 4, 3, 5

Question 17

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. The Civil War battle between two iron-covered ships, on March 9, 1862, changed sea warfare forever.
____ Two hours into the battle, the Monitor ran out of ammunition and moved into shallow water to reload.
____ After four hours, the Merrimack , her hull leaking and her smokestack broken, escaped from the scene of battle.
____ When the Monitor returned with guns loaded, the Merrimack lured her into deep water and then suddenly swung around and rammed her, leaving barely a dent.
____ At the end of the conflict, neither ironclad ship had really won, but the wooden fighting ship was a thing of the past.
____ At first, the two ships ¾ the North's Monitor and the South's Merrimack ¾ just circled each other like prehistoric monsters, firing at close range but causing no damage.

A) 2, 4, 3, 5, 1
B) 5, 2, 3, 1, 4
C) 3, 5, 4, 2, 1

Question 18

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) The solution to an important AIDS puzzle came from an unlikely source, video gamers
(2) For fifteen years, researchers at the University of Washington have been trying to understand the structure of the AIDS virus, knowing that this discovery would lead to better treatments, maybe even a cure.
(3) In 2010, Seth Cooper, a computer scientist at the same university, created a video game called Foldit, the purpose of which was to encourage gamers to work on real scientific problems.
(4) Hearing about Foldit, the frustrated scientists decided to ask gamers for help
(5) In three short weeks, the gamers came up with such good models that the scientists found their answer
(6) The scientists are thrilled, and the gamers loved using their skills for such a worthwhile project. Which of the following sentences does NOT contain a transitional expression that indicates time?

A) Sentence 2
B) Sentence 3
C) Sentence 4
D) Sentence 5

Question 19

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Football fans still call the "Immaculate Reception" one of the most famous and exciting plays in the history of the sport.
____ The ball bounced off Tatum and tumbled backward, end over end, toward Steelers running back Franco Harris, who scooped it up just before it hit the ground.
____ Needing to move the ball 60 yards to score again and win the game, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw began the play by throwing the football to his fullback John Fuqua.
____ Harris ran the ball the rest of the way, down the field, to score the Steelers' game-winning touchdown with only 5 seconds remaining on the clock.
____ As the ball reached Fuqua, he collided with Raiders player Jack Tatum.
____ In the fourth quarter of a 1972 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders, with only 22 seconds left to play, the Raiders were winning 7-6, but the Steelers had the ball.

A) 4, 2, 5, 3, 1
B) 1, 2, 5, 4, 3
C) 3, 4, 2, 1, 5

Question 20

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. Select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. In 1897, Lena Jordan performed the first triple somersault on the flying trapeze, but for years she did not get credit.
____ For the next sixty-six years, all the record books listed Clarke as the record holder, not Jordan.
____ When a second person, a man named Ernest Clarke, managed a triple somersault in 1909, he received national attention.
____ Only recently did the Guinness Book of World Records give Jordan sole credit for the first triple somersault in circus history.
____ In 1975, the Guinness Book of World Records finally listed Lena Jordan's achievement, but only in addition to Clarke's.

A) 4, 1, 3, 2
B) 3, 4, 2, 1
C) 2, 1, 4, 3

Question 21

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. Events in each plan are not in correct chronological order. For each plan, select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Since its establishment over 150 years ago, Steinway & Sons has become known for making some of the world's most innovative and highest quality pianos.
____ Today, the Steinway company still dominates the piano industry, crafting about 5,000 pianos a year for appreciative musicians all over the world.
____ Instrument maker Henry Steinway established his business in Germany but then moved to America in 1850, bringing with him his vision of building a piano better and stronger than any made before.
____ In 1854, Henry and his sons embarked upon a forty-year period of revolutionizing and perfecting the modern piano, patenting 114 innovations in the process.
____ Henry Steinway Jr. was awarded in 1859 the patent for the overstrung scale, a significant development that helped the grand piano rise to the demands of leading composers such as Chopin and Liszt.

A) 2, 1, 3, 4
B) 1, 4, 4, 2
C) 4, 1, 2, 3

Question 22

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. The events in the plan(s) are not in the correct chronological order. For each plan, select the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. The tragic end of Shakespeare's famous characters Romeo and Juliet is the result of a series of accidents, bad timing, and bad luck.
____ Therefore, Romeo believes her dead, so when he visits her tomb, he swallows poison and dies just moments before Juliet awakes.
____ Exiled for his crime, Romeo is forced to leave town.
____ To begin, unaware that they are members of two feuding families, Romeo and Juliet meet, fall immediately in love, and marry in secret.
____ Unfortunately, Romeo never receives the message that explains Juliet's trick.
____ Wanting to run away and live with her exiled husband, Juliet decides to fake her own death, by taking a potion that puts her into a deathlike coma.
____ Right after he marries Juliet, Romeo kills Juliet's cousin in a fight.
____ Upon awakening and seeing Romeo's lifeless body beside her, Juliet kills herself with his dagger.

A) 1, 4, 6, 5, 3, 7, 2
B) 6, 3, 1, 5, 4, 2, 7
C) 7, 2, 6, 3, 5, 4, 1

Question 23

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. Events in each plan are not in correct chronological order. For each plan, select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. Alexander Fleming's discovery of the first antibiotic was accidental.
____ By 1939, researchers had figured out how to get penicillin to kill bacteria inside the body, a discovery that would help many wounded soldiers in World War II.
____ In 1928, Fleming, who kept a messy laboratory, left a Petri dish contaminated with bacteria in his sink.
____ Studying the mold, he noticed that bacteria would not grow near it.
____ Although Fleming stopped studying penicillin after 1931, researchers at Oxford University continued his work.
____ The next day, he discovered that airborne spores had invaded the dish and grown a blue-green fungus, or mold.
____ He named the bacteria-inhibiting substance penicillin after the Penicillium notatum fungus that produced it.

A) 6, 1, 3, 5, 2, 4
B) 2, 1, 4, 3, 4, 6
C) 5, 6, 3, 1, 2, 4

Question 24

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) Horace Bristol might be the only photographer to owe his fame to his child's book report
(2) Before he became an architect, Bristol had been a documentary journalist.
(3) One day his teenage son was writing a report on The Grapes of Wrath , John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma farm family forced off their drought-stricken land during the 1930s.
(4) He asked his father if he'd ever read the book
(5) Not only had he read it, Bristol replied, he had dreamed up the idea for it, recruited Steinbeck to write it, and photographed thousands of real farm families forced to leave their homes
(6) After revealing his past to his son, Bristol the photographer came out of hiding
(7) Hoping to sell a few of his photographs, he was soon astounded by the prices they commanded
(8) Encouraged, he took up his camera once again
(9) Since then, the photographs of Horace Bristol have become famous
(10)His images of despair during the Depression, heroism in the Pacific during World War II, and postwar poverty and hope in rural Korea are among the greatest photographs of the twentieth century. In the paragraph above, transitional expressions that indicate time include all of the following except :

A) before
B) one day
C) since then
D) not only

Question 25

Instructions: Read the paragraph below and answer the question(s) that follow.
(1) Horace Bristol might be the only photographer to owe his fame to his child's book report
(2) Before he became an architect, Bristol had been a documentary journalist.
(3) One day his teenage son was writing a report on The Grapes of Wrath , John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma farm family forced off their drought-stricken land during the 1930s.
(4) He asked his father if he'd ever read the book
(5) Not only had he read it, Bristol replied, he had dreamed up the idea for it, recruited Steinbeck to write it, and photographed thousands of real farm families forced to leave their homes
(6) After revealing his past to his son, Bristol the photographer came out of hiding
(7) Hoping to sell a few of his photographs, he was soon astounded by the prices they commanded
(8) Encouraged, he took up his camera once again
(9) Since then, the photographs of Horace Bristol have become famous
(10)His images of despair during the Depression, heroism in the Pacific during World War II, and postwar poverty and hope in rural Korea are among the greatest photographs of the twentieth century. Select the number of the topic sentence that tells the point of the story.

A) Sentence 1
B) Sentence 2
C) Sentence 10

Question 26

Instructions: Each question below is a plan for a narrative paragraph. Events in each plan are not in correct chronological order. For each plan, select the letter of the answer that numbers the events in the proper time sequence. In late 2004, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean sent a destructive tsunami, or huge waves, racing toward many countries.
____ That Indonesian quake displaced a massive volume of water, pushing it outward in all directions.
____ On December 26, 2004, at 2:59 p.m., a powerful earthquake shook the Indian Ocean floor off the coast of Sumatra, an Indonesian island.
____ High tides surged onshore as late as sixteen hours after the earthquake occurred in South Africa and other countries thousands of miles away.
____ At 4:45 p.m., waves began pounding the coasts of Sri Lanka, Thailand, and India.
____ At 3:15 p.m., gigantic waves slammed into the northern coast of Sumatra.

A) 2, 1, 5, 4, 3
B) 1, 3, 2, 4, 5
C) 5, 4, 2, 3, 1