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Generic Reading Comprehension - Literature (with example text)

Last updated about 6 years ago
21 questions
Note from the author:
An example of how the Generic Reading Comprehension - Literature template can be used with a text!
Want to see a generic example of this formative without the text? Check out this link or use clone code: EXTBMN.
Excerpt from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins


In one moment, every drop of blood in my body was brought to a stop by the touch of a hand laid lightly and suddenly on my shoulder from behind me.

I turned on the instant, with my fingers tightening round the handle of my stick.

There, in the middle of the broad bright high-road – there, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from the heaven – stood the figure of a solitary woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments, her face bent in grave inquiry on mine, her hand pointing to the dark cloud over London, as I faced her.

I was far too seriously startled by the suddenness with which this extraordinary apparition stood before me, in the dead of night and in that lonely place, to ask what she wanted.

The strange woman spoke first. “Is that the road to London?” she said.

I looked attentively at her, as she put that singular question to me. It was then nearly one o’clock. All I could discern distinctly by the moonlight was a colorless, youthful face, meager and sharp to look at about the cheeks and chin; large, grave, wistfully attentive eyes; nervous, uncertain lips; and light hair of a pale, brownish-yellow hue. There was nothing wild, nothing immodest in her manner: it was quiet and self-controlled, a little melancholy and a little touched by suspicion; not exactly the manner of a lady, and, at the same time, not the manner of a woman in the humblest rank of life. The voice, little as I had yet heard of it, had something curiously still and mechanical in its tones, and the utterance was remarkably rapid. She held a small bag in her hand: and her dress – bonnet, shawl, and gown all of white – was, so far as I could guess, certainly not composed of very delicate or very expensive materials. Her figure was slight, and rather above the average height – her gait and actions free from the slightest approach to extravagance. This was all that I could observe of her in the dim light and under the perplexingly strange circumstances of our meeting. What sort of a woman she was, and how she came to be out alone in the high-road, an hour after midnight, I altogether failed to guess. The one thing of which I felt certain was, that the grossest of mankind could not have misconstrued her motive in speaking, even at that suspiciously late hour and in that suspiciously lonely place.

“Did you hear me?” she said, still quietly and rapidly, and without the least fretfulness or impatience. “I asked if that was the way to London.
2

Put the events from the text into the correct sequence.

  1. The narrator feels a hand on his shoulder.
  2. The narrator is surprised by the appearance of a woman dressed in white.
  3. The woman dressed in white asks whether this is the road to London for a second time.
  4. The narrator forgets to ask what the woman dressed in white wants.
  5. The narrator observes the woman and is confused about why she is walking alone on the road.
  6. The woman dressed in white asks whether this is the road to London.
2

Which of these literary devices relating to structure are present in the text? Select all that apply.

3

Write an objective summary of the text in 4 - 7 sentences. Be sure to include:
  • The setting
  • The main characters
  • The conflict, or main problem in the story
  • How the conflict is resolved.
Use present tense.

2

What is the setting of this text? Be as specific as possible.

1

How does the setting affect the plot of this text?
(How does the setting affect what the characters can and can't do?)

1

What point of view does the author use?

2

Why do you think the author chose this point of view to tell this story?
(What would be different if the story were told in a different point of view?)

2

If possible, identify the narrator, and then describe him / her / it in 2 - 4 sentences.

1

"The narrator is reliable."

4

Pick two characters from the text. Compare and contrast them using this venn diagram:

3

Pick one character from the text and describe how they change and develop from the beginning to the end of the story.

1

What is the overall mood (atmosphere) of this text?

2

Give at least two pieces of evidence from the text to support the mood you chose in the previous question. Explain how each piece of evidence supports your choice of mood.

1

What kind of conflict is the most important conflict that the main character faces in this text?

2

Give at least one piece of evidence from the text to support the conflict you chose in the previous question. Explain how each piece of evidence supports your choice of conflict.

1

What is the tone of this text?

4

Which of these literary devices are present in the text? Select all that apply.

2

Pick one example of a literary device that you identified in the previous question.
Explain how it affects the meaning, mood, or tone of the text.

4

Put these examples of literary devices from the text into the correct category.

  • "every drop of blood in my body was brought to a stop"
  • "There, in the middle of the broad bright high-road – there, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from the heaven"
  • "I was far too seriously startled by the suddenness"
  • "even at that suspiciously late hour and in that suspiciously lonely place"
  • Repetition
  • Anaphora
  • Hyperbole
  • Alliteration
4

Identify a theme (central idea) of the text.
How does the author introduce and develop this theme in the text?

5

Pick one of these options and write an essay response:
  1. How do the events, characters, or themes in this text remind you of another text? (How are the events, characters, or themes similar / different in the other text?)
  2. How do the events, characters, or themes in this text relate to your own life, ideas, and experiences? (Have you been in a similar situation as the characters? Do you agree with the themes?)
  3. How do the events, characters, or themes in this text relate to our world? (Does the text make you wonder about the past or future? Does the text remind you of a present situation in the world?)

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