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ELA 30-1 Diploma study materials
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ELA 30-1 Diploma practice questions

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Question 1Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The old mill had stood at the bend of the river for a century, its wheel long since seized with rust. When the town voted to tear it down, few objected: the building was unsafe, the lot was valuable, and the council promised a park. Yet on the morning the demolition crew arrived, a dozen residents were already at the gate with folding chairs and thermoses, and they stayed until the crane withdrew. Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

  1. The council deliberately misled residents about the mill's condition.
  2. Residents valued the mill more than the council had assumed. Correct answer.
  3. The park project was abandoned because of its cost.
  4. The demolition crew could not operate the crane safely.

Explanation

A main idea must account for the whole passage, including its final turn, not just the early details about safety and cost. The vote and the council's promises set up an expectation that the silent vigil at the gate overturns. That contrast points to an unspoken attachment the town had not counted on.

Question 2Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The instructions arrived in a pamphlet of forty pages, printed in three colours and two languages, and they managed to explain everything except how to open the box. I read them twice, then set them aside and used a knife. Which word best describes the tone of the passage?

  1. dryly amused Correct answer.
  2. cautious and formal
  3. bitter and resentful
  4. urgent and alarmed

Explanation

Tone is conveyed through diction and through the gap between expectation and outcome. The flat, orderly account of an absurdly over-produced pamphlet, capped by the practical detail about the knife, produces wry amusement rather than anger or fear.

Question 3Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The city at dawn was a held breath: streetlights still on, shutters still down, not a bus in sight. The comparison in this sentence is an example of which figure of speech?

  1. hyperbole
  2. metaphor Correct answer.
  3. personification
  4. simile

Explanation

A metaphor states that one thing is another, without using 'like' or 'as'. The city is asserted to be 'a held breath', a direct identification that carries the sense of suspension into the description of the street.

Question 4Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Her praise was so unstinting that it began to feel less like a compliment than a policy. In this sentence, 'unstinting' most nearly means:

  1. carefully measured
  2. loudly repeated
  3. given without limit Correct answer.
  4. offered reluctantly

Explanation

Context clues in the sentence show that the praise is so abundant it stops sounding personal. The word describes giving that is not held back or restricted, which fits the complaint that follows.

Question 5Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

You will notice, on entering the house, that the hallway runs the full length of the building. My grandfather designed it that way, and he never once explained why. Which point of view does the narrator use?

  1. second person
  2. first person Correct answer.
  3. third-person omniscient
  4. third-person limited

Explanation

Point of view is determined by the pronouns the narrator uses to refer to the self. Here the narrator speaks of 'my grandfather' and reports personal knowledge, making the speaker a participant in the family being described, even though the reader is addressed directly as 'you'.

Question 6Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Which sentence uses personification?

  1. The kettle had been a wedding present from her aunt.
  2. The kettle complained until someone lifted it. Correct answer.
  3. The kettle boiled at six, as it always did.
  4. The kettle was as loud as a train pulling into a station.

Explanation

Personification gives a human quality or action to something non-human. A kettle cannot complain, so the verb attributes a human behaviour to an object and creates the figure.

Question 7Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Which of the following statements expresses an opinion rather than a fact?

  1. The library closes at eight on weekday evenings.
  2. The building was constructed in 1911.
  3. The reading room has tall windows and green lamps.
  4. The reading room is the pleasantest place in town. Correct answer.

Explanation

Facts can be verified by observation or records, while opinions depend on a judgement or feeling that cannot be confirmed in the same way. The word 'pleasantest' ranks a place by personal response, which marks the statement as evaluative.

Question 8Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The bridge was cheaper to build than the tunnel. It was also faster to complete. Moreover, it required no ventilation system. The tunnel, by contrast, needed three. The word 'Moreover' signals which relationship between ideas?

  1. a cause-and-effect link
  2. a concession to an opposing view
  3. a reversal of the previous claim
  4. an additional supporting point Correct answer.

Explanation

Transition words signal how one sentence relates to the one before it. 'Moreover' introduces a further reason pointing in the same direction as the earlier ones, adding weight to the same case.

Question 9Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Mr. Okafor read the letter twice, folded it along its original creases, and put it in the drawer with the others. 'Good news?' his daughter asked. 'It's from the bank,' he said, and went back to his paper. What is implied about the letter?

  1. The bank has written to him only once.
  2. Its contents are unwelcome or worrying. Correct answer.
  3. He has not opened the letter yet.
  4. His daughter already knows its contents.

Explanation

An inference is a conclusion supported by details the writer supplies without stating directly. The careful refolding, the drawer already full of such letters, and the evasive answer all point to a message he would rather not discuss, and his return to the paper closes off the subject.

Question 10Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The seminar on concision ran to ninety minutes of introduction, three handouts, and a forty-slide deck. The humour in this sentence depends on which kind of irony?

  1. the speaker contradicts an earlier statement
  2. the narrator exaggerates for comic effect
  3. the reader knows more than the speaker does
  4. the event's form contradicts its stated value Correct answer.

Explanation

Situational irony occurs when an outcome sharply conflicts with what the circumstances would lead you to expect. A session devoted to brevity that is itself bloated puts the event's method at odds with its own subject.

Question 11Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

She kept the broken watch in her coat pocket long after the repair shop had closed for good. At parties she would touch it through the lining, as if checking the time. What does the watch most likely symbolize?

  1. her impatience with social gatherings
  2. her distrust of modern machinery
  3. her habit of losing valuable objects
  4. her grief for something past repair Correct answer.

Explanation

A symbol is a concrete object that carries a larger meaning through the pattern of details attached to it. The watch is broken, unrepairable, and touched repeatedly in public, which links it to a loss the character keeps returning to rather than to the object's practical function.

Question 12Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Snow had been falling since noon, muffling the street. The lamp at the corner burned a small, steady hole in the dark, and somewhere a door closed softly, once. Which words best describe the mood of the passage?

  1. tense and threatening
  2. hushed and solitary Correct answer.
  3. chaotic and noisy
  4. cheerful and festive

Explanation

Mood is the feeling created in the reader by setting and descriptive detail. Soft verbs such as 'muffling' and 'closed softly', the single lamp, and the absence of other people all create quiet isolation rather than danger or celebration.

Question 13Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Before you sign the lease, photograph every wall. Note the date on which you send the photographs to the landlord. Keep the receipt. What is the writer's main purpose?

  1. to entertain readers with a story about renting
  2. to describe the history of rental law
  3. to advise tenants how to protect themselves Correct answer.
  4. to persuade landlords to lower rents

Explanation

Purpose is revealed by the verbs and structure a writer chooses. The passage consists entirely of imperatives listing protective steps, which is the form of practical advice rather than narrative or argument.

Question 14Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

For thirty years the sisters wrote to each other every Sunday. When the letters stopped, no one in the family could say why, and no one asked. The house passed to strangers, and the garden, which they had planted together, went over to weeds. Which statement best expresses the theme of the passage?

  1. Letters are a more honest form of communication than speech.
  2. Gardens require constant attention to survive.
  3. Unspoken grievances can undo close relationships. Correct answer.
  4. Family property should be divided equally among heirs.

Explanation

A theme is a general insight about human experience that the whole passage supports. The unexplained silence, the family's refusal to ask, and the ruined shared garden together suggest that avoidance, not any stated event, ends the relationship.

Question 15Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The developer called the houses 'units'; the tenants called them 'rooms'. What effect does this word choice create?

  1. It shows the developer is more accurate than the tenants.
  2. It indicates the narrator's sympathy for the developer.
  3. It suggests the tenants are unfamiliar with the development.
  4. It contrasts a commercial view with a human one. Correct answer.

Explanation

Connotation is the associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning. 'Units' frames dwellings as inventory in a transaction, while 'rooms' frames them as spaces people inhabit, and setting the two terms side by side measures the distance between those perspectives.

Question 16Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

She checked the weather twice that morning, though the sky was clear, and tucked an umbrella into the bottom of her bag before setting out for the station. The umbrella most likely functions as:

  1. a detail establishing the season
  2. a hint that circumstances will change Correct answer.
  3. proof that the forecast was wrong
  4. a symbol of her fear of crowds

Explanation

Foreshadowing plants a detail that prepares the reader for later developments. The unnecessary checking and the deliberately hidden umbrella stand out against the clear sky, so the object signals that the calm conditions will not hold.

Question 17Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Every evening he rewrote the first paragraph, and every evening he decided it was worse than the day before. The novel had been three years in the making and had not advanced past page one. Which type of conflict does the passage present?

  1. person against another character
  2. person against themselves Correct answer.
  3. person against nature
  4. person against society

Explanation

Conflict is classified by what the character struggles against. Here there is no opponent, community, or natural force: the obstacle is his own doubt, which repeats nightly and blocks his work.

Question 18Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Who among us has not, at some point, told a small lie to spare a friend's feelings? And who would want to live in a world where we never did? What is the main effect of these rhetorical questions?

  1. They introduce statistical evidence for the claim.
  2. They signal the speaker's uncertainty about the topic.
  3. They request specific information from the reader.
  4. They draw the reader toward the speaker's view. Correct answer.

Explanation

A rhetorical question is asked for effect rather than for an answer, and it works by inviting the reader to supply the expected response. Both questions presuppose agreement, so the reader is eased into the speaker's position before any argument is made.

Question 19Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The proposal had one clear advantage: cost. The rail line could be laid along the existing roadbed, avoiding the excavation that had sunk the earlier scheme. Even its critics conceded the point. Which detail best supports the claim that the proposal would be cheaper?

  1. The line would carry passengers.
  2. Critics of the plan conceded a point.
  3. It could use the existing roadbed. Correct answer.
  4. An earlier scheme had failed.

Explanation

Supporting details work by giving a reason that makes the claim credible. Reusing an existing roadbed explains where the savings come from, since it removes the costly excavation described in the next sentence.

Question 20Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The crowd pressed forward, shouting, waving programs, calling the names of men who could not possibly hear them. Then the doors opened. Silence. What is the effect of the one-word sentence 'Silence.'?

  1. It gives background information about the setting.
  2. It repeats the idea of the previous sentence.
  3. It abruptly halts the noise and shifts focus. Correct answer.
  4. It introduces a new character to the scene.

Explanation

Sentence length and placement control pace. After a long, crowded sentence and a short transitional one, the isolated word stops the movement of the prose and turns attention to the absence of sound.

Question 21Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

In the staffroom they called him the Cassandra of the budget committee: right about the deficit every year, and never once believed. The allusion suggests that:

  1. his colleagues resent his seniority
  2. his reports are deliberately obscure
  3. his accurate warnings go unheeded Correct answer.
  4. his predictions are usually mistaken

Explanation

An allusion depends on the reader recognising a familiar figure from myth, literature, or history. Cassandra was a prophet whose true warnings were fated never to be accepted, so the nickname asserts that his forecasts are correct but dismissed.

Question 22Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The flood took the bridge, the barn, and most of the lower field. 'We've had a bit of weather,' old Mrs. Prentice said, looking at the water. The phrase 'a bit of weather' is an example of:

  1. apostrophe
  2. understatement Correct answer.
  3. hyperbole
  4. alliteration

Explanation

Understatement deliberately describes something as smaller or less serious than it is. The loss of a bridge, a barn, and a field is set against a phrase suited to a drizzle, and the gap between scale and wording produces the effect.

Question 23Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

I have an excellent memory. I remember, for instance, that the argument happened on a Tuesday, in the kitchen, over the matter of the car. My brother says it was a Thursday and that we were in the garden. He is a lawyer and likes to be precise about such things, though he has always been a poor witness. Which description best fits the narrator?

  1. hostile to his brother for professional reasons
  2. confident that the argument never occurred
  3. prone to error despite claiming a good memory Correct answer.
  4. entirely objective about the events described

Explanation

Reliability is judged by whether a narrator's claims hold together. The confident opening claim is immediately undercut by a conflicting account the narrator cannot resolve, and the aside dismissing a lawyer as a 'poor witness' draws attention to the narrator's own stake in being right.

Question 24Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Passage A: The factory closed on a Friday. By Monday the gates were chained, and by the following spring the roof had begun to go. Passage B: When the factory closed, I was sixteen. I remember the sound of the last whistle better than I remember anything else from that year. How do the two passages differ in approach?

  1. The first is sympathetic; the second is detached.
  2. The first uses dialogue; the second does not.
  3. The first is narrated in the present tense and the second in the past.
  4. The first summarizes events; the second records one memory. Correct answer.

Explanation

Comparing passages means identifying a difference in scope or technique. Passage A moves through months of consequences in a few clauses, while Passage B fixes on a single remembered sensation and a personal vantage point.

Question 25Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

He was, by every account I could gather, a generous man. The accounts, I should add, were all gathered from people who owed him money. What is the effect of the second sentence?

  1. It shifts the passage into a different mode.
  2. It undermines the praise while seeming to add to it. Correct answer.
  3. It provides a neutral summary of the evidence.
  4. It confirms the judgment offered in the first sentence.

Explanation

The two sentences are arranged so that the second revises the first without contradicting it outright. The qualifying phrase 'I should add' presents the information as a harmless aside, yet it reveals that every source has a reason to flatter him, which quietly withdraws the praise.

Question 26Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The town's library occupies a former grain warehouse. The shelves stand where the silos once stood, and on damp days the reading room still smells faintly of wheat. Children carry their picture books up the old loading stairs, past iron hooks that once held grain sacks. Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

  1. The library still bears marks of its warehouse past. Correct answer.
  2. Children enjoy the old loading stairs more than the reading room.
  3. The town should preserve more of its old industrial buildings.
  4. Grain warehouses can be converted into libraries at little cost.

Explanation

A main idea must cover the whole passage rather than one detail. Every detail here - the shelves, the smell of wheat, the hooks - shows the building's earlier life surviving inside the library. The passage describes; it does not recommend or compare costs.

Question 27Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The presentation was scheduled for nine. By nine forty the projector had refused two laptops, the guest speaker had lost her voice, and the fire alarm had gone off twice. The principal stood at the podium and announced, with real warmth, that the assembly would now proceed. Which words best describe the tone of the passage?

  1. bitter and accusatory
  2. anxious and fearful
  3. formal and ceremonial
  4. wry and good-humoured Correct answer.

Explanation

Tone is the writer's attitude toward the subject, revealed through word choice and detail. The piled-up mishaps and the principal's warm announcement present chaos with amused affection rather than blame or dread.

Question 28Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Read the sentence: 'Her laugh was a door slamming in an empty house.' Which figure of speech does the sentence use?

  1. Hyperbole
  2. Personification
  3. Metaphor Correct answer.
  4. Simile

Explanation

A metaphor states that one thing is another, without using a word of comparison such as 'like' or 'as'. Here the laugh is directly identified as a slamming door, transferring the door's harsh suddenness onto the laugh.

Question 29Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Which sentence contains a simile?

  1. The kettle whistled like a distant train. Correct answer.
  2. The kettle, old and dented, sat on the stove.
  3. The kettle had boiled a hundred times that morning.
  4. The kettle wore a coat of steam.

Explanation

A simile compares two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'. Only the first sentence builds its comparison on the word 'like', joining the kettle's sound to a train whistle.

Question 30Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

I waited by the gate until the last bus had gone, and even then I did not move. I knew my sister was watching from the upstairs window, deciding what to tell our mother. Which point of view does the passage use?

  1. third-person omniscient
  2. first person Correct answer.
  3. second person
  4. third-person limited

Explanation

Point of view is identified by the pronouns used and by whose thoughts are available. The narrator says 'I' and reports only what the narrator knows, including a guess about the sister's intentions.

Question 31Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Reviewers praised the biography as terse: it covered eighty years in two hundred pages and never repeated itself. As it is used in the sentence, the word 'terse' most nearly means

  1. brief and to the point Correct answer.
  2. rude and abrupt in manner
  3. richly detailed
  4. badly organized

Explanation

Context clues define an unfamiliar word: 'two hundred pages' for eighty years and 'never repeated itself' both point to economy of expression. The praise in 'reviewers praised' rules out a negative meaning.

Question 32Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Unplug the machine before cleaning. Wipe the outer casing with a damp cloth, then dry it fully. Never immerse the base in water; the motor housing is not sealed. The main purpose of the passage is to

  1. instruct the reader in safe cleaning Correct answer.
  2. narrate the repair of a machine
  3. describe how an electric motor works
  4. persuade the reader to buy the machine

Explanation

Purpose is signalled by verb mood and structure: a series of imperative sentences giving steps and warnings exists to direct action. There is no evaluation of the product and no story.

Question 33Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The village school closed in 1998. For a decade the building held hay. Then a group of parents repaired the roof, painted the classrooms, and reopened it as a nursery for children too young for the town school. Which sentence best summarizes the passage?

  1. A building was used to store hay for ten years.
  2. Parents in a village disagreed about how children should be taught.
  3. A disused school was repaired and given a new use. Correct answer.
  4. A village school closed in 1998.

Explanation

A summary states the central point that unifies all the details rather than repeating one of them. The passage traces a single building through closure, storage, and revival as a nursery.

Question 34Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

When the results were posted, Mira read the list twice, then walked to the far end of the corridor and stood facing the window. When her friends came running, she turned around smiling and said she had always expected it. What does Mira's behaviour most strongly suggest?

  1. She is masking disappointment with cheerfulness. Correct answer.
  2. She is unsure whether she passed.
  3. She is angry with her friends for celebrating.
  4. She had genuinely expected the result.

Explanation

Inference draws on details the writer supplies without stating their meaning. Reading the list twice, retreating to a window, and smiling only when others arrive all point to private feeling covered by a public performance.

Question 35Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The fire station's new alarm system was installed on a Tuesday. On Wednesday it failed during a drill; on Thursday it went off by itself at midnight, and the crew spent an hour searching a building that was not burning. The humour in the passage depends chiefly on

  1. situational irony Correct answer.
  2. a pun on the word 'alarm'
  3. a sudden change of setting
  4. exaggerated dialogue from the crew

Explanation

Situational irony occurs when an outcome is the reverse of what the circumstances lead us to expect. A safety system meant to prevent exactly this kind of confusion produces the confusion instead.

Question 36Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

After the funeral, Elena took the clock from her father's desk and wound it. Every Sunday she wound it again, though she had no other use for a clock that ran four minutes fast. The clock most likely functions as a symbol of

  1. her dislike of Sundays
  2. her wish to keep his routine alive Correct answer.
  3. her need to know the exact time
  4. her father's unreliable memory

Explanation

A symbol is a concrete object that carries a larger meaning within its context. Elena keeps an inaccurate, useless clock going on a weekly schedule because the act preserves a habit connected to her father.

Question 37Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The company described the dismissals as 'a right-sizing of the workforce'. The workers, in the cafeteria, called it 'the purge'. The difference between the two phrases is chiefly a difference in

  1. grammar
  2. connotation Correct answer.
  3. factual accuracy
  4. audience

Explanation

Connotation is the emotional and evaluative shading a word carries beyond its literal meaning. Both phrases name the same event, but one sounds managerial and neutral while the other sounds violent and condemning.

Question 38Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The report ran to three hundred pages of tables, appendices, and footnotes. Then, on the final line: 'The bridge is safe.' What is the main effect of the short final sentence?

  1. It slows the pace of the passage.
  2. It suggests the report was badly written.
  3. It gives the conclusion sudden weight. Correct answer.
  4. It introduces a new topic.

Explanation

Sentence length is a stylistic resource: after a long, dense sentence, a very short one lands with emphasis. The abrupt shift in length makes the plain verdict stand out from the mass of technical material.

Question 39Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Mr. Adeyemi never raised his voice. When the boys broke the window, he swept up the glass himself, asked whether anyone had been cut, and then handed them a sheet of paper with the name of a glazier on it. What does the passage mainly reveal about Mr. Adeyemi?

  1. He is calm and holds them accountable. Correct answer.
  2. He is unable to control the boys.
  3. He is indifferent to damage to school property.
  4. He is eager to punish them harshly.

Explanation

Indirect characterization shows personality through action rather than statement. Sweeping up and checking for cuts shows composure and care, while passing along the glazier's name quietly places responsibility on the boys.

Question 40Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

For years the two brothers argued about who should keep their mother's piano. Neither played. When the house was sold, they paid to have it moved into storage, where it stayed, tuned once a year, for another fifteen years. Which theme is most clearly suggested by the passage?

  1. Brothers ought to divide an inheritance equally between them.
  2. People keep tokens of a shared past at cost. Correct answer.
  3. Music has the power to heal divisions within a family.
  4. Storing a large object can become expensive over time.

Explanation

A theme is an idea about human experience that the whole passage supports, not a fact or a piece of advice. Two non-players paying for storage and yearly tuning for fifteen years shows attachment to an object because of what it represents.

Question 41Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

A campaign leaflet reads: 'Every parent in this district has already signed the petition. Do you really want your child to be the one whose family refused?' Which persuasive technique does the leaflet rely on?

  1. a comparison of statistics
  2. an appeal to expert authority
  3. an appeal to popularity and social pressure Correct answer.
  4. a personal anecdote

Explanation

This appeal rests on the claim that everyone else has already acted, so the reader risks standing out by refusing. No expert, no figures, and no story are offered - only the pressure of belonging.

Question 42Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The council's so-called consultation lasted a mere two weeks, produced a handful of replies, and was, we are told, a success. Residents who attended described the whole exercise as a formality. The phrase 'so-called' signals

  1. a neutral summary of events
  2. the writer's uncertainty about the consultation's name
  3. the writer's doubt that it was genuine Correct answer.
  4. a direct quotation from the council

Explanation

Bias is detectable in small modifiers that frame a claim before the reader judges it. 'So-called' distances the writer from the label, implying the thing does not deserve its name; the following details support that scepticism.

Question 43Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

She packed the map last, on top of the ropes and the torch, and told herself she would not need it. The guide had said the trail was obvious; he had also said, twice, that the weather could turn. The details about the map and the weather mainly serve to

  1. prepare the reader for trouble to come Correct answer.
  2. list the equipment she chose to bring
  3. show that the guide gave unhelpful advice
  4. explain the reason she left so late

Explanation

Foreshadowing plants details whose significance becomes clear later in a narrative. Her dismissal of the map and the twice-repeated warning about weather create expectancy that something will go wrong.

Question 44Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

On one side of the street, the new tower: glass, chrome, a lobby of white stone. On the other, a two-room shoe repair shop with a hand-painted sign, its owner at the window, watching. The passage's effect depends chiefly on

  1. the use of rhyme and rhythm
  2. the narrator's sympathy for the architects
  3. a detailed history of the street
  4. the sharp contrast between old and new Correct answer.

Explanation

Juxtaposition places two unlike things side by side so that the difference itself carries meaning. The parallel structure of 'on one side' and 'on the other' sets glass and stone against a hand-painted sign and a watching man.

Question 45Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The storm took the roof, the shed, and the top half of the oak. Surveying it from the doorway, Mr. Lund said, 'We may need a bucket.' Mr. Lund's remark is an example of

  1. oxymoron
  2. personification
  3. understatement Correct answer.
  4. hyperbole

Explanation

Understatement deliberately understates something serious, letting the gap between the words and the reality create the effect. Calling for a bucket after losing a roof, a shed, and half a tree minimizes the damage for grim comic effect.

Question 46Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

I have nothing against my brother. I did, I admit, tell the family that he had lost the money at cards, though I could not at the time recall who had told me so. It is remarkable how a story takes hold. He has not spoken to me since, which only shows how sensitive he has become. What does the passage suggest about the narrator?

  1. He regrets his actions and wishes to apologize.
  2. He spreads the rumour while claiming no responsibility. Correct answer.
  3. He is confused about the facts and eager to correct them.
  4. He is the victim of a family misunderstanding.

Explanation

Unreliable narrators reveal themselves through contradictions between what they claim and what they describe. The narrator passes on an unverified story, admits it, and then blames his brother's 'sensitivity' rather than his own conduct.

Question 47Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The garden was magnificent that June: roses to the wall, delphiniums the colour of evening, a lawn like green baize. The gardener had been dead since March, and no one had the heart to cut a single stem. How does the final sentence affect the passage?

  1. It confirms that the garden is still carefully maintained.
  2. It turns the beauty into an image of grief. Correct answer.
  3. It lightens the tone with humour.
  4. It shifts the reader's attention to the weather.

Explanation

A closing sentence can recast everything before it by supplying a new context. Once the reader learns of the gardener's death, the untouched abundance of the garden reads as mourning rather than simple loveliness.

Question 48Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

Anyone who cares about this city's future must support the new arena. Opponents say the money would be better spent on schools, but schools do not draw visitors from other provinces, and visitors spend money downtown. The argument assumes that

  1. downtown businesses support the arena
  2. opponents do not care about the city
  3. visitor spending outweighs the arena's cost Correct answer.
  4. schools are currently underfunded

Explanation

An unstated assumption is a premise the argument needs but never proves. The claim that visitor spending justifies the arena only works if that spending returns more than the arena costs, which the passage never establishes.

Question 49Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

The manuscript came to me like a house that had been shut up for years: shutters loose, a smell of damp in the hall, and in one room a table still laid for a meal no one had come to eat. The comparison chiefly conveys

  1. the physical damage done to the manuscript
  2. the writer's dislike of old houses
  3. a sense of neglect and unfinished business Correct answer.
  4. the speed with which it was read

Explanation

An extended comparison should be read as a whole rather than detail by detail. Loose shutters, damp, and a meal still waiting on the table together suggest something abandoned mid-course rather than merely damaged.

Question 50Reading (Part B: multiple-choice reading comprehension)

He taught for forty years, and at his retirement the staff presented him with a clock. He set it going that evening, and it has kept perfect time ever since. He has not once looked at it. What does the final sentence most likely suggest?

  1. He has forgotten where he put it.
  2. Its meaning, not its use, matters to him. Correct answer.
  3. He disliked the staff's choice of gift.
  4. He no longer needs to know the time.

Explanation

A closing detail often carries meaning beyond its literal content and must be read against the rest of the passage. He winds and keeps a perfectly good clock but never consults it, which makes sense only if its value lies in what it commemorates.