I. Choose the correct verb in each of the following sentences below.

1. Each of us (needs, need) more application and concentration.

2. Everyone of them (is, are) to blame for the accident.
3. The audience in today’s conference (is, are) big.
4. Here (comes, come) some tardy students.
5. A big number of books (does, do) not always make a library.
6. Not one of their friends (has, have) come to their rescue.
7. My scissors (is, are) not sharp.
8. Her mother, together with her two brothers, (is, are) arriving today from Davao.
9. Rice and fish (constitute, constitutes) a typical Filipino farmer meal.
10. Sixteen and a half feet (makes, make) a red.
11. Three feet (is, are) equal to one yard.
12. Here and there a man like the astronauts and the scientists (dares, dare) to venture to the unknown.
13. Occasionally a group of children and teenagers, (disturbs, disturb) our fiesta.
14. The class decided to see how one of these present-day cars (is, are) assembled.
15. Memory of summer escapades and summer friends soon (fades, fade) in the first exciting days of college
freshman year.
16. A series of project (was, were) planned by the students.
17. Mother is one of those women who (doesn’t, don’t) support Women’s Library.
18. He who (perseveres, persevere) will succeed.
19. To these four questions (was, were) added a fifth.
20. Majority of the people (is, are) happy about the situation.
21. A series of experiments (was, were) conducted.
22. Ten pounds of flour (is, are) sufficient.
23. Ten bags of flour (is, are) in the garage.
24. Five percent of the proceeds (was, were) forfeited.
25. Fifteen (is, are) one-fifth of seventy-five.
26. Brains, not brawn, (counts, count) more.
27. Not brawn, but brains, (counts, count) more.
28. The wear and tear of life (was, were) too much for her.
29. There (was, were) a man, a woman, and a child in the room waiting to be served.
30. Neither of the boys (was, were) responsible for what happened.
31. One of the prisoners who (is, are) required needs to be scrutinized.
32. The ethics of dining (is, are) a neglected art.
33. What (is, are) the vital statistics of each candidate.
34. Aunt Nena (look, looks) at these old photographs.
35. I (remembers, remember) that visit now!
36. Lily (puts, put) her hand in the bee hive.
37. You (cut, cuts) your foot on a piece of broken glass.
38. Ben (falls, fell) from the mango tree yesterday.
39. Uncle Martin (took, takes) your pictures last summer.
40. Delia and I (are, were) absent from the meeting yesterday.
41. Some of the votes (seem, seems) to have been miscounted.
42. The tornadoes that tear through this county every spring (is, are) more than just a nuisance.
43. There (have, has) to be some people left in that town after yesterday’s flood.
44. A high percentage of the population (is, are) voting for the new school.
45. Some of the grain (appears, appear) to be contaminated.
46. A high percentage of the people (was, were) voting for the new school.
47. He seems to forget that there (is, are) things to be done before he can graduate.
48. Either the physicians in this hospital or the chief administrator (is, are) going to have to make a decision.
49. (Is, Are) my boss or my sisters in the union going to win this grievance?
50. Kobe Bryant, together with his teammates, (presents, present) a formidable opponent on the basketball
court.
SUBJECT – VERB AGREEMENT (lecture)
The verb change form not only in tense but also in person and number. The person and number of a verb
determined by the person and number of its subject.
A verb is singular in form when it end in-s or –es, for example walks , rings, plays, calls, describes , catches,
does, chooses, loses.
The root or base form of the verb is referred to as its plural form . It is used with all kinds of subject s except the
third person, singular which call for the s-form.

Rules of Subject Verb Agreement in Standard English

1. Subjects and verbs must agree in number. This is the cornerstone rule that forms the background of the
concept.
Example”
a. He asks many questions about his work.
b. We ask for help every day.
c. The dog growls when he is angry.
d. The dogs growl when they are angry.

2. Each , everyone, everybody, everyone, someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, nobody, no one, either, and
neither are singular. They take singular verbs.
Example:
a. Every loyal Filipino must do his share.
b. Nobody except juniors is admitted to the course.
c. Either of these two cars is a good bargain.
d. Neither my sweater nor your jacket is in the car.
e. Each, as far as I have been able to judge, has something to offer.

3. Don’t get confused by the words that come between the subject and verb; they do not affect agreement.
The dog, who is chewing on my jeans, is usually very good.
4. Prepositional phrases between the subject and verb usually do not affect agreement.
Example:
The colors of the rainbow are beautiful.
5. A. Singular subject s joined by or or nor require a singular verb.
Example: a. Neither my niece nor my nephew expects to go to Davao.
b. Either Mary or Jane is behind all this.

B. Plural subjects joined by or or nor require a plural verb.

Example: Neither the foreman nor the workers are here.

C. If two subjects connected by either or or neither nor differ in person or number the verb agrees with the
nearer subject.
Example:
a. Either the workers or the owner is responsible. responsible.
b. Either the owner or the workers are responsible.
c. Neither the midwife nor the twins are ready.

6. When sentences start with “there” or “here,” the subject will always be placed after the verb, so care needs to
be taken to identify it correctly.
Example: There is a problem with the balance sheet.
Here are the papers you requested.

7. Subjects don’t always come before verbs in questions. Make sure you accurately identify the subject before
deciding on the proper verb form to use.
Examples: Does Lefty usually eat grass?
Where are the pieces of this puzzle.

8. Compound subjects joined by “and” normally require plural verbs.

Examples:
a. His coat and cap are lying on the bed.
b. A horse and a carabao are in the pasture.
c. The cow and the pig are jumping over the moon.
9. The verb is singular if the two subjects separated by and refer to the same person or thing.
Examples: Red beans and rice is my mom’s favorite dish.
Bread and butter is my breakfast.

10. Indefinite pronouns such as “every”, “no”, “everybody”, etc. typically take singular verbs.
Examples: Everybody wants to be loved.
No smoking or drinking is allowed.
Every man and woman is required to check in.

11. The only time when the object of the preposition factors into the decision of plural or singular verb forms is
when noun and pronoun subjects like some, half, none, more, all, etc. are followed by a prepositional phrase. In
these sentences, theobject of the preposition determines the form of the verb.
Examples: All of the chicken is gone.
All of the chickens are gone.

12. The pronoun “you” even if it refers to one person require a plural verb.
Examples:
a. Mary, you were there last night.
b. Peter, are you going?

13. The singular verb form is usually used for units of measurement.
Example: Four quarts of oil was required to get the car running.

14. Nouns plural in form but singular in meaning take singular verbs , for example, politics, economics, physics,
mathematics.
Examples:
a. Ethics deal with problem of moral duty.
b. Physics is my favorite subject.

15. In “ there is “ and” there are” sentences, make the verb agree with the subject that follows it.
Examples:
a. There is too much noise in this room.
b. There were several good reasons for my decision.

14. When a relative pronoun is used as the subject of clause, the form of the verb is determined by the
antecedent of the pronoun, because the pronoun has the same person and number that the antecedent has.
Examples:
a. I have met the woman who is on the program (woman…is)
b. I have met the women who are on the program (women…are)
c. She is one of those girls who are never on time (girls…were)

16. * Pronouns (few, many, several, both, all, some) always take the plural form.
Example:Few were left alive after the flood.

17. If two infinitives are separated by and they take the plural form of the verb.
Example: To walk and to chew gum require great skill.

18. When gerunds are used as the subject of a sentence they take the singular verb form of the verb, but when
they are linked by and they take the plural form.
Example: Standing in the water was a bad idea.Swimming in the ocean and playing drums are my hobbies.

19. A collective noun is considered singular when the group is regarded as a unit; it is plural when the emphasis
is upon the individuals of the group. A plural noun of amount , distance etc., takes a singular verb when the
subject is used as a unit of measurement .
sample mass noun: committee ,jury ,band
Example:
a. The class is orderly.
b. The class are divided on their plan to go to Baguio.
c. Twenty pesos is too much to pay for a hand kerchief.
d. Thirty kilometers is a good day’s ride.
e. The herd is stampeding.

20. Titles of books, movies, novels, etc. are treated as singular and take a singular verb.
The Burbs is a movie starring Tom Hanks.

21. Final Rule – Remember, only the subject affects the verb!

QUIZ
Copy and paste this online quiz to word processor and email your work to this address
[email protected]. Your output shall be the basis of your work for the week.
Decide and underline which of the verbs within the parentheses is to the parentheses is the correct one.
1. The committee (has, have) finished their report.
2. Thirty pesos (is, are) too much to pay for a bag.
3. Not one of my physics problems (was, were) answered correctly.
4. Our dog, with her five puppies (sleeps, sleep) to the terrace.
5. You, who (is, are) outstanding teachers should represent us.
6. Only one of my nieces (was, were) late.
7. Your schedule of classes (are, is) posted on the bulletin board.
8. He says that nobody (is, are) to be admitted until three.
9. Either of your two suggestions (is, are) practical.
10. There (is, are) several more applicants to be interviewed.
11. Either of these two television sets (is, are) a good bargain.
12. The committee (has, have) finished its project.
13. There (seems, seem) to be some objections to the class members.
14. Neither my truck nor my tractors (is, are) running well.
15. A list of candidates for graduation (have, has) been distributed.
16. Not one of the incidental fees (were, was) collected during the registration.
17. Behind the kitchen (is, are) a bicycle and two plows.
18. Be sure there (is, are) no erasures of the thesis.
19. The marketing manager or his assistant (is, are) always on duty.
20. Neither my sister nor my brother (except, excepts)to go Switzerland.
TENSE OF THE ENGLISH VERBS
In grammar, tense is a distinctive form of verb, which indicates the time of its action or assertion. The
traditional labels of the tenses of the verbs are principally words denoting time such as past, present, future.
Thus, it is assumed that the function of tense is to show time.
There are six tenses: three simple tenses, and three compound as perfect tenses. The three simple tenses are:
present, past, and future. In addition to the six tenses, there are progressive forms of the verb. All of these tense
forms suggest time constraints or boundaries.
In English, most sentences require a verb which necessarily occurs in a tense form to indicate time. This
indication of time may also be supplied by an adverb. In addition, an adverb may modify the time suggested by
the tense of the verb.
THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
As suggested by its label, the present tense denotes present time. In sentences, it has four functions: to refer to a
habitual action, to express general truth, to indicate a permanent condition, and to state a present fact, simple
futurity or habitual presents.
Examples:
1. My father reads newspapers every morning. (habitual action)
2. To err is human. (general truth)
Oil floats on water. (In this particular example the present tense is used to make a statement that is generally
true without reference to time.)
3. The sun rises from the east. ( permanent condition)
4. The Philippines has a lot of foreign debts. ( present fact)
THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
The simple past tense is used to denote an action which is definitely completed in the past.
Example: The courier delivered the letter yesterday.
THE SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE
The simple future tense denotes an action which will happen or will occur at some future time.
Example: The country will recover from the present economic crisis.
THE PROGRESSIVE FORM OF THE VERB
The progressive form of the verb expresses action that at a given time or event is in progress or continuing.
Usually, in a progressive construction of the actual activity is emphasized by the progressive form of the verb.
Examples:
The members of the committee are studying all the research proposals.
It was raining when the games started.
At the time we will be there, they will still be preparing the hall for the conference.
SOME REMINDERS IN THE USE OF THE VERBS
*AGREEMENT OF VERB AND ITS SUBJECT
1. The verb with the compound subject joined by “and” is plural.
2. When the two words of a compound subject refer to the same person or thing or otherwise form a unit, the
verb is usually singular.
3. When the singular subject is joined to a related noun by a preposition or expression such as with, together
with, as well as, in addition to, the verb is singular.
4. The Collective nouns are singular in form but refer to a group of objects, persons or acts, such as army, jury,
committee, public, team, etc. When the group is meant as a unit, the verb is singular, when the individuals are
meant, the verb is plural.
5. A number of terms of amount and measure have collective agreement, with the singular the more common.
6. In a sentence, a singular subject always requires a singular verb despite long intervening phrases or clauses
containing plural nouns.
7. Relative clauses introduced by who or that or which have verbs agreeing with the pronoun’s antecedent.
QUIZ
The following quiz involves the application of the use of simple tenses and the pointers on agreement.
Choose the correct form of the verb in the parentheses in each of the following sentences. Copy and paste this
online quiz in Word Processor and e-mail to this address [email protected]. This will serve as your
quiz and attendance for the week’s session.

NAME: _____________________ DATE:_________________

COURSE/YEAR: ______________ ASTI BRANCH:__________

1. The children ________ (watch, watches, watched, are watching) the fishing boats scattered all over the lake
on moonlight nights.
2. After spending two weeks in the islands, the tourists _______ (go, went, going ) home carrying in their minds
a beautiful picture which _____ (be, are, is ) both inspiring and ennobling.
3. During our visit to Tagaytay we ____ (go, went, goes ) to a point where we ____ (have, had, has) a good
view of Taal Volcano which ____ (be, is, are) several feet below sea level.
4. During sunsets the lake _____ (appear, appears, will appear, appeared) peaceful.
5. As I _____ (lie, lay, lying, lied) awake in the dark last night, I ______ (realize, realizing, will realize,
realized) how necessary light (be, is, are) _____.
6. Many visitors ______ (go, goes, went) up to Baguio in summer.
7. The city government _______ (collect, collects, will collect, collected) higher taxes stating next month.
8. Laguna Bay _______ (abound, abounds, abounded) in fish.
9. We _____ (meet, met, will meet) again and when that time ______ (come, comes, will come) I _____ (hope,
hopes, will hope) to see you more charming, less impetuous, and more of a lady than you _______ (be, is, are)
now.
10. Before you ______ ( leave, will leave, left) tell us what you ______ (do, did, done) with yourself in the
United States.
11. Silas Marner is the story of a weaver who ______ (lose, lost, loss) his faith in man and God.
12. James Watt _______ (discover, discovers, discovered) that steam ______ (have, has, had) power.
13. When my great grandmother _______ (is, are, was) in elementary school her teacher in English ____ (be, is,
was, were) an American, but now there ¬¬______ (were, are, is, was) few American teachers in the school
system.
14. We ______ (are, is, was, were) told that London fog _____ (last, lasts, lasted) hours and hours.
15. In our Biology class yesterday, our teacher______ (show, shows, showed) us how much nitrogen there
_____ (is, are, were, was) in air.
16. Our experiment yesterday ______ (proved, prove, proves) that oxygen ______ (support, supports,
supported) combustion.
17. Last week a marketing agent _____ (come, comes, came) to persuade my sister to buy a portable sewing
machine.
18. The lecturer in our science class last week _______ (gives, gave, give) two proofs that air ______ (occupy,
occupies, occupied) space.
19. The other day we _____ ( conduct, conducted, conducts) and experiment to prove that air (exert, exerts,
exerted) pressure.
20. Each one of us (need, needs) more application and concentration.
21. The Indonesian softball team (was, were) beaten by the Philippine team by a score of seven to four.
22. One of his tonsils ( was, were) removed.
23. Not one of the party (was, were) injured in the explosion.
24. The audience (is, are) leaving one at a time now.
25. The audience in today’s conference (is, are) big.
VERBS
A verb is often defined as a word which shows action or state of being. The verb is the heart of a sentence –
every sentence must have a verb. Recognizing the verb is often the most important step in understanding the
meaning of a sentence. In the sentence The dog bit the man, bit is the verb and the word which shows the action
of the sentence. In the sentence The man is sitting on a chair, even though the action doesn’t show much
activity, sitting is the verb of the sentence. In the sentence She is a smart girl, there is no action but a state of
being expressed by the verb is. The word be is different from other verbs in many ways but can still be thought
of as a verb.
Unlike most of the other parts of speech, verbs change their form. Sometimes endings are added (learn –
learned) and sometimes the word itself becomes different (teach-taught). The different forms of verbs show
different meanings related to such things as tense (past, present, future), person (first person, second person,
third person), number (singular, plural) and voice(active, passive). Verbs are also often accompanied by verb-
like words called modals (may, could, should, etc.) and auxiliaries(do, have, will, etc.) to give them different
meanings.
One of the most important things about verbs is their relationship to time. Verbs tell if something has already
happened, if it will happen later, or if it is happening now. For things happening now, we use the present tense
of a verb; for something that has already happened, we use the past tense; and for something that will happen
later, we use the future tense. Some examples of verbs in each tense are in the chart below:
Present
look move talk
Past
looked moved talked
Future
will look will move will talk
Verbs like those in the chart above that form the past tense by adding -d or -ed are called regular verbs. Some of
the most common verbs are not regular and the different forms of the verb must be learned. Some examples of
such irregular verbs are in the chart below:

Present
see
hear
speak
Past
saw
heard
spoke
Future
will see
will hear
will speak
The charts above show the simple tenses of the verbs. There are also progressive or continuous forms which
show that the action takes place over a period of time, and perfect forms which show completion of the action.
These forms will be discussed more in other lessons, but a few examples are given in the chart below:
Present Continuous – Present Perfect
is looking – has looked
is speaking – has spoken
is talking – has talked

Simple present tense verbs have a special form for the third person singular. Singular means “one” and plural
means “more than one.” Person is used here to show who or what does the action and can have the following
forms:
1st person or the self (I, we)
2nd person or the person spoken to (you)
3rd person or a person not present (he, she, it, they)
The third person singular forms are represented by the pronouns he, she, it. The chart below shows how the
third person singular verb form changes:
Singular -Plural
1st Person (I) see -1st Person (we) -see
hear -hear
come -come
2nd Person (you) see 2nd Person (you) -see
hear -hear
come -come
3rd Person (he, she, it) 3rd Person (they)
sees -see
hears -hear
comes -come
A verb must “agree” with its subject. Subject-verb agreement generally means that the third person singular
verb form must be used with a third person subject in the simple present tense. The word be – the most irregular
and also most common verb in English – has different forms for each person and even for the simple past tense.
The forms of the word be are given in the chart below:
Number – Person – Present – Past – Future
Singular- 1st (I) – am – was – will be
– 2nd (you) – are – were – will be
– 3rd (he, she, it)- is – was – will be
Plural – 1st (we) – are – were – will be
– 2nd (you) – are – were – will be
– 3rd (they) – are – were – will be

Usually a subject comes before a verb and an object may come after it. The subject is what does the action of
the verb and the object is what receives the action. In the sentence Bob ate a humburger, Bob is the subject or
the one who did the eating and the hamburger is the object or what got eaten. A verb which has an object is
called a transitive verb and some examples are throw, buy, hit, love. A verb which has no object is called an
intransitive verb and some examples are go, come, walk, listen.
As you can see in the charts above, verbs are often made up of more than one word. The future forms, for
example, use the word will and the perfect forms use the word have. These words are called helping or auxiliary
verbs. The word be can serve as an auxiliary and will and shall are also auxiliary forms. The chart below shows
two other verbs which can also be used as auxiliaries:
Number Person Present Past
Singular 1st (I) have had
do did
2nd (you) have had
do did
3rd (he, she, it)
has had
does did
Plural 1st (we) have had
do did
2nd (you) have had
do did
3rd (they) have had
do did
QUIZ:
NAME:_________________________________ YR/COURSE:______________ DATE:_______
Encircle your answer on the following questions:
1. Which is not a past form of the verb?
was hear had looked spoke
2) Which is not a present form of a verb?
are speak saw has talk

3) Which is not a plural form of a verb?

are were am have do

4) Which is not a 3rd person singular form of a verb?

goes has was are does

5) Which is not a modal?

must is should can may

6) Which is a regular verb?

looked saw was spoke heard

7) Which is not a simple tense of a verb?

will move heard has spoken will talk see

8) Which is not used as an auxiliary of a verb?

was have did will sees

9) Which verb can be both singular and plural?

sees has do am is

10) Which verb can be both singular and plural?

was does have comes hears

Encircle the action verb in the following sentences.

1) I gracefully jumped over the old rotten log.
2) Bea ran as fast as she could to the store.
3) Bill and Jim carried the heaviest load of bricks.
4) The fire started in the basement in a pile of rags.
5) The world revolves around the sun in 364 days.
6) I walk to the store and get milk each morning.
7) Look at those fireworks!
8) The newborn baby cried for most of the evening.
9) I ran after the ice cream truck.
10) Roger stood up to recite the Pledge of Alligence.

Encircle the word that is NOT an action verb.

1) ran, and, jump, sing

2) hum, walk, in, lock
3) row, of, steer, shoot
4) carry, stand, frown, can
5) out, came, change, smile
6) laughed, cried, being, brushed
7) combed, am, rode, ate
8) slept, fell, listened, be
9) was, moaned, screamed, gasped
10) plays, wanted, were, leap
In short bond paper, to be put together in a folder:
1. Give the complete list of the US Presidents according to their succession together with brief biography.
2. Give the complete list of all the US States, indicate their:
a. geography/ location
b. population
c. nickname
d. symbols
e. landmarks
f. popular icons (personalities)
g. etc. (other pertinent things about the State)
* Note: Coverage of your semi-final exam will include post modernism, contemporary period, and some facts
from the US States and Presidents. (Study well.)

SIMPLE TENSES
A. PRESENT TENSE
The PRESENT TENSE indicates that an action is present, now, relative to the speaker or writer. Generally, it is
used to describe actions that are factual or habitual — things that occur in the present but that are not
necessarily happening right now: “It rains a lot in Tagkawayan” is a kind of timeless statement. Compare that to
the present progressive — “It is raining in Tagkawayan” — which means that something is, in fact, going on
right now.
* The present tense is used to describe events that are scheduled (by nature or by people): “High tide is at 3:15
p.m. The Philippine All-Star Basketball game starts at 6:15 p.m.”
* The present tense can be used to suggest the past with what is sometimes called the fictional (or historic)
present: “We were watching the back door when, all of a sudden, in walks Dierdre.”
* With verbs of communicating, the present tense can also suggest a past action: “Shiela tellsme that she took
her brother to the dentist.”
* Most oddly, the present tense can convey a sense of the future, especially with verbs such as arrive, come, and
leave that suggest a kind of plan or schedule: “The train from Bicol arrivesthis afternoon at two o’clock.”
Singular – Plural
I walk – we walk
you walk – you walk
he/she/it walks – they walk

Singular Plural
I am – we are
you are – you are
he/she/it is – they are

Examples:
I walk to work every day.
The Talk ‘N Text team sometimes practices in this gymnasium.
Dr. Santos operates according to her own schedule.
Coach Freddie Roach recruits from countries outside the U.S.A.
Ivee tells me she has committed to Alex.
We work really hard to make this a success, and then look what happens.
Every time that kid finishes a sandcastle, the waves come in and wash it away.
The shipment arrives tomorrow at 2 p.m.
B. PAST TENSE
The PAST TENSE indicates that an action is in the past relative to the speaker or writer.
* when the time period has finished: “We went to Manila last Christmas.”
* when the time period is definite: “We visited Grandmother last week.”
* with for, when the action is finished: “I worked with the PNP for two months.”
Regular verbs use the verb’s base form (scream, work) plus the -ed ending (screamed, worked). Irregular verbs
alter their form in some other way (slept, drank, drove).
Singular – Plural
I walked – we walked
you walked – you walked
he/she/it walked- they walked
Singular Plural
I slept – we slept
you slept – you slept
he/she/it slept – they slept
Singular Plural
I was – we were
you were – you were
he/she/it was – they were

Examples:
When I was a girl, I walked five miles to school every day.
Carmelita slept through the entire class.
We worked really hard to make this a success, but then Jack ruined it with his carelessness.
Every time I finished a sandcastle, the waves came in and washed it away.
Tarzan dove into the swamp and swam toward the alligator.
C. FUTURE TENSE

The FUTURE TENSE indicates that an action is in the future relative to the speaker or writer. There are no
inflected forms for the future in English (nothing like those -ed or -s endings in the other tenses). Instead, the
future tense employs the helping verbs will or shall with the base form of the verb:
– She will leave soon.
– We shall overcome.
* The future is also formed with the use of a form of “go” plus the infinitive of the verb:
– He is going to faint.
* English can even use the present to suggest the future tense:
– I am leaving later today.”
*Note that the auxiliary will can be combined with “be” and a progressive form of the main verb to create a
sense of the future that does not harbor any hint of insistence (which is possible with the auxiliary alone). For
instance, if stress is placed on the word will in “When will you arrive?”, the sentence can sound impatient,
insistent. In “When will you be arriving?” there is less of that emotional overtone.
The construction form of to be + infinitive is used to convey a sense of planning for the future, command, or
contingency.
– There is to be an investigation into the mayor’s business affairs.
– You are to be back on the base by midnight.
– If he is to pass this exam, he’ll have to study harder.
* To create a sense of imminent fulfillment, the word about can be combined with the infinitive.
– He is about to die.
* Other adverbs can be used in similar constructions with various effects:
– He is liable to get in trouble.
– She is certain to do well in college.

Singular – Plural
I will walk – we will walk
you will walk – you will walk
he/she/it will walk – they will walk
Singular Plural
I will sleep – we will sleep
you will sleep – you will sleep
he/she/it will sleep – they will sleep
Singular Plural
I will be – we will be
you will be – you will be
he/she/it will be – they will be

Examples:
We will be victorious!
We shall overcome.
We are going to win this race.
The bus arrives at three this afternoon.
The boss is announcing his retirement at today’s meeting.

QUIZ:
Copy the sentences below to Microsoft Word Processor. Underline the correct verb tense for each sentence and
send your output to this email address ( [email protected]) Your output should be emailed to this day
only (09-29-11).
1. I (goed, gone, went) to the mall after class.
2. What (do, were, did) you eat for lunch yesterday?
3. I (studying, studied, study) English for two years.
4. (Are, Did, Do) you see Jack’s cat yesterday.
5. Sorry, I (wasn’t, didn’t, am not) hear you at the door.
6. We (was, did, were) not happy after the sad ending.
7. (Was, Were, Are) Kate and Alice at the meeting last month?
8. Zaq did not (work, worked, working) last weekend.
9. (Does, Did, Are) Joseph visit his girlfriend last night?
10. My brother (seen, saw, sees) a snake an hour ago.
11. We (do be, do are, are) Asian.
12. You (looks, are, be) so happy today!
13. Jessie (is, does, are) not go to my school.
14. (Is, Are, Am) I correct?
15. My parents (lives, live, are live) in a two-storey house.
16. Sorry, Zyke (am, is, be) not here at the moment.
17. It (are,is,am) a beautiful day today!
18. He (do, does, is) not want to come to parties.
19. (Is, Am, Are) we too late to catch the bus?
20. Do you (like, likes, is like) chocolate fudge?
*Fill in the spaces with the correct form of the verb in parentheses in simple future tense. Example: : I am
feeling homesick. I (go) will go home to visit my family.
Example: Steve, (wash) will you wash the car on Saturday?
21. I guess I (ride) _______ _______ the bus to save gas.
22. The cookies are all gone. (buy) _______ you _______ some, please?
23. Listen, team: we (win) _______ _______ the trophy this year!
24. Everyone is hungry. I (get) _______ _______ some doughnuts for breakfast.
25. Peter, (fix) _______ you _______ the porch tomorrow?
26. Becky, (go) _______ you _______ to Alaska with us this summer?
27. The house is dirty. I (clean) _______ ________ it on Monday.
28. Okay then, our group (meet) _______ ________ on Thursday.
29. Helga (hike) _______ you _______ with us on Friday?
30. If necessary, we (carry) _______ ________ the supplies in our car Saturday.

POSTMODERNISM
1946-1980s

Content:
people observe life as the media presents it, rather than experiencing life directly
popular culture saturates people’s lives
absurdity and coincidence

Genre/Style:
mixing of fantasy with nonfiction; blurs lines of reality for reader
no heroes
concern with individual in isolation
detached, unemotional
usually humorless
narratives
metafiction
present tense
magic realism
Effect:
erodes distinctions between classes of people
insists that values are not permanent but only “local” or “historical”

Historical Context:
post-World War II prosperity
media culture interprets values

Writers:
Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird
Saul Bellow – The Adventures of Augie March and Herzog
J.D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye ; Nine Stories
Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar
Norman Mailer – The Naked and the Dead (1948)
Joseph Heller – Catch-22 (1961)
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
Walker Percy – The Moviegoer (1962)

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
(continuation of Postmodernism)
1980s-Present

Content:
identity politics
people learning to cope with problems through communication
people’s sense of identity is shaped by cultural and gender attitudes
emergence of ethnic writers and women writers

Style:
narratives: both fiction and nonfiction
anti-heroes
concern with connections between people
emotion-provoking
humorous irony
storytelling emphasized
autobiographical essays

Effect: too soon to tell

Historical Context:
people beginning a new century and a new millennium
media culture interprets values

Writers:
John Updike – Terrorist (2006)
Zadie Smith – White Teeth (2000)
Philip Roth – The Plot Against America (2005); Everyman (2006)
Toni Morrison – Beloved (1987)
David Mitchell – Ghostwritten (1999);Cloud Atlas (2004); number9dream (2001)
Ian McEwan – First Love, Last Rites (1976); Atonement (2002); Saturday (2005)
Jonathan Franzen – The Corrections (2001); The Discomfort Zone (2006)
Isabel Allende – House of Spirits (1982)
Don DeLillo – White Noise (1985)
Michael Chabon – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay(2000)
Denis Johnson – Tree of Smoke (2007)

Notes:
1. Toponym is a name derived from a place.
2. Portmanteau words are formed by blending two or more words, partially. High-tech from high/ technology; emcee
from masters/of/ceremonies; smog from smoke/ fog. Lab is different from the choices because it is an example of
apocopated word.
3. Acronym is adopting initial letters of related words, and reading as a single word.
4. Allonym words are names adopted from any source as in the examples.
5. Anagram is a coined word through transposition of letters. Plaridel is derived from del Pilar.
6. Apocopated words are shortenings without end punctuation.They are also called special abbreviations,
journalistic words, colloquialism, and clipped words.
7. Antonomasia is a name taken from a fictional character as from a novel or from a legend. Mercury, in Roman
mythology, is the messenger of the gods.
8. Memorial words are names derived from a prominent persons.
9. Kangaroo words are letters taken from long words without changing the original meaning. Cheese – cheez is an
example of of technical language or shop talk used by some groups of people. These words usually proliferate
because of advertisements. Song/festival – songfest is an example of portmanteau words. Advertisement – ads is
an example of apocopated words. Tomb from the word catacomb is the correct answer.
10. Palindromic words are words that can be read forward and backward.

Select the best answer to each question.

1. Who wrote this line? “Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise”.

a. Robert Browning
b. William Shakespeare
c. Rudyard Kipling
d. Edgar Allan Poe

2. What nationality was Robert Louis Stevenson, writer of ‘Treasure Island’?

a. English
b. Welsh
c. Irish
d. Scottish

3. Which Bronte writer authored “Jane Eyre”?

a. Charlotte
b. Emily
c. Cristina
d. Anne

4. In which century were Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales written?

a. 14th
b. 15th
c. 16th
d. 17th
5. The following taboo phrases were used by which writer? “I fart at thee”, “shit on your head’, “dirty bastard”
a. Ernest Hemingway
b. Henry James
c. Ben Johnson
d. Arnold Bronte

6. In the book’ The Lord of the Rings’, who or what is Bilbo Baggins?
a. man
b. hobbit
c. wizard
d. dwarf

7. Name the book which opens with the line ‘All children, except one grew up’?
a. The Jungle Book
b. Tom Sawyer
c. Peter Pan
d. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

8. How many lines does a sonnet have?

a. 12
b. 13
c. 14
d. 15

9. Who was the author of the famous storybook ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’?
a. H.G. Wells
b. Lewis Carroll
c. Mark Twain
d. E.B. White

10. “Cabbages and Kings” (1904) is either a novel or a collection of related short stories written by O. Henry. In it, he
coined the phrase “banana republic.” On what was his title based?
a. Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper”
b. Alice Hegan Rice’s “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch”
c. “The Shahnameh” — an 11th Century Persian epic poem
d. Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter”

11. Two versions of Robert A. Heinlein’s novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” have been published: the edited version
first published in 1961 and the original full-length (60,000 words longer) published posthumously in 1991. From what
does the title derive?
a. The play “Antony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare
b. The Old Testament Book of Exodus
c. The novel “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift
d. The book “Utopia” by Sir Thomas More

12. Southern American poet, novelist and literary critic Robert Penn Warren wrote “All the King’s Men” in 1946. The
novel won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. On what is the book’s title based?
a. A verse in the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”
b. William Shakespeare’s play “Richard III”
c. Oscar Wilde’s short story “The Young King”
d. Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Kings”

13. Which novel, eventually published in 1945, was rejected by a New York publisher stating ‘it is impossible to sell
animal stories in the USA’?
a. Animal Farm
b. Black Beauty
c. Watership Down
d. The Tale of Peter Rabbit

14. Which writer of spy fiction, and creator of Smiley, was rejected with the words ‘you are welcome to **** – he
hasn’t got any future’?
a. Ian Fleming
b. John le Carré
c. Eric Ambler
d. Len Deighton

15. ‘The Good Earth’ was rejected fourteen times, before being published and going on to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Who was the author?
a. Pearl S. Buck
b. John Steinbeck
c. Edith Wharton
d. Henry Miller

16. Irving Stone’s ‘Lust for Life’ was rejected sixteen times, with one rejection stating ‘a long, dull, novel about an
artist’. Which artist did the book feature?
a. Sigmund Freud
b. John Noble
c. Michelangelo
d. Vincent Van Gogh

17. Who is presented as the most honest and moral of Chaucer’s pilgrims?
a. The Knight
b. The Parson
c. The Reeve
d. The Wife of Bath

18. Out of the following four pilgrims, which is the most corrupt?
a. The Sergeant /Man of Law
b. The Wife of Bath
c. The Reeve
d. The Pardoner

19. He translated “The Fall of Princes” from the French.

a. William Langland
b. Sir Thomas Malory
c. Geoffrey of Monmouth
d. John Lydgate
20. What work contains these lines: “There hurls in at the hall-door an unknown rider . . . Half a giant on earth I hold
him to be.”
a. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
b. Morte D’arthur
c. Piers Plowman
d. Canterbury Tales

ANSWER KEY and EXPLANATION

1. B – William Shakespeare

2. D – Scottish – Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-
known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

3. A – Charlotte – Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily’s Wuthering Heights, Anne’s The
Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were later to be accepted as masterpieces of literature. Christina Georgina
Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children’s poems. She is best known
for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak
Midwinter.

4. A – 14th – The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the
end of the 14th century.

5. C – Ben Johnson –

6. B – hobbit – Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The
Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy writings.

7. C – Peter Pan – Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (1860–1937). A
mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood
adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with mermaids,
Indians, fairies, pirates, and (from time to time) meeting ordinary children from the world outside.

8. C – 14 – The term “sonnet” derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning “little
song” or “little sound”. By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict
rhyme scheme and specific structure.

9. B – Lewis Carroll – Some of H.G. Wells’ works are “The Time Machine”, “The Island of Doctor Moreau”, “The
Invisible Man”, “The War of the Worlds”. He is also known as the Father of Science Fiction. Mark Twain is most
popular in his “Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. E.B. White is well known of her novel
“Charlotte’s Web”.

10. D – Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter”

11. B – The Old Testament Book of Exodus – Moses fled Egypt and married Zipporah. “And she bare him a son,
and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.” Exodus 2:22 Authorized
(King James) Version.

12. A – A verse in the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” – Robert Penn Warren is the only person to have won
Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry. A commemorative postage stamp was issued in the United States in 2005
to honor the 100th anniversary of his birth. Stage plays, television versions, several movies and even a grand opera
have been based on Warren’s novel.

13. A – ‘Animal Farm’ was written by George Orwell, and is a satire on revolution and the corruption of power. One
of the best known lines from it is ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’. The rejection
notice implies that the publisher did not actually read the book or totally misunderstood it if he did. ‘Watership Down’
was written by Richard Adams and published in 1972. Anna Sewell wrote ‘Black Beauty’, which appeared in 1877
and Beatrix Potter was the author of ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ from 1902.

14. B – John le Carré – This was a rejection notice for ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’, which found another
publisher in 1963. Le Carré had worked for both MI5 and MI6, the British intelligence services, and left to become an
author full time following the success of this novel. Among Len Deighton’s novels are ‘The Ipcress File’ and Eric
Ambler wrote ‘The Mask of Dimitrios’. Fleming, of course, is the creator of probably the most famous spy of all in
James Bond.

15. A – Pearl S. Buck – One rejection notice read ‘I regret that the American public is not interested in anything on
China’. The novel was published in 1931 and won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. Pearl S Buck wrote
numerous other novels, including ‘East Wind, West Wind’, short stories, biographies and non-fiction works and won
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938.

16. D – Vincent Van Gogh – The book was published in 1934 and was so successful that it was made into a film of
the same name, starring Kirk Douglas, in 1956. Irving Stone also wrote about all the other names given as options.
Michelangelo was the subject of ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’, published in 1961 and also filmed, with Charlton
Heston, in 1965. John Noble, an American artist, was the subject of ‘The Passionate Journey’ from 1949. Sigmund
Freud, the psychoanalyst, was covered in ‘The Passions of the Mind’ in 1971.

17. B – The Parson – Despite the immorality that is apparent amongst the clergy, hope manifests itself in the form of
the Parson, who is presented as an almost Christ-like figure. Although materially poor, he is spiritually empowered,
for “riche he was” of both “hooly thoght and werk”. Yet for every trap that Chaucer’s Parson has avoided, there are
thousands that have fallen into them, and in light of this, the goodness of Chaucer’s Parson only serves to heighten
the unruliness that is present in everybody else. For in the “General Prologue” he is the only individual that
completely measures up to the strict Christian ideal, which is something even the Church itself does not.

18. D – The Pardoner – The Pardoner, is certainly presented as one of the most corrupt of all Chaucer’s pilgrims
(along with the Summoner), making both “the person and the peple his apes”. His deception and “feyned flaterye”
convinces simple folks to purchase his phoney relics. He cheats and manipulates all that believe in the sanctity of
the Church and the morality of those that represent it, so much so, that Chaucer himself can find nothing good to
say about him. For thought “He was in chirche a noble ecclesiaste”, this is merely an act, for he would “preche, and
wel affile his tonge” for the sole purpose of of winning silver from the crowd.

19. D – He also translated “The Siege of Thebes.” “The Fall of Princes” is based on another work by Boccaccio.
Lydgate is little known today, but in his own time he was nearly as renowned as Chaucer.

20. A – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – The author of this Arthurian tale is unknown, but he is thought to have
also written the poems “Patience”, “Pearl”, and “Purity.”

Select the best answer to the question.

1. GNASH is related to TEETH as LISTEN is related to ____________.

a. hear
b. ears
c. resolve
d. dissuade

2. BREAD is related to BUTTER as POTATOES is related to ____________.

a. gravy
b. steak
c. margarine
d. lamb

3. PORCINE is related to PIG as BOVINE is related to ____________.

a. boy
b. cow
c. sheep
d. iodine

4. TAILOR is related to NEEDLE as MECHANIC is related to ____________.

a. engineer
b. screwdriver
c. tool chest
d. brush

5. DISTANCE is related to MILE as LIQUID is related to ____________.

a. milk
b. quart
c. water
d. meter

6. AUTOMOBILE is related to HIGHWAY as LOCOMOTIVE is related to ____________.

a. station
b. train
c. track
d. engine

7. SUGGEST is related to REQUIRED as REQUEST is related to ____________.

a. ask
b. demand
c. suspect
d. allow

8. PROBLEM is related to SOLUTION as POISON is related to ____________.

a. hemlock
b. nitrate
c. arsenic
d. antidote

9. SAW is related to CUT as YARDSTICK is related to ____________.

a. foot
b. inch
c. measure
d. tool
10. AMBIGUOUS is related to CLARITY as TEMPORARY is related to ____________.
a. transient
b. permanence
c. clear
d. fragile

11. BOOK is related to CHAPTER as SONG is related to ____________.

a. stanza
b. sing
c. music
d. instrument

12. DELICACY is related to GOURMET as INSECT is related to ____________.

a. bee
b. pollen
c. frog
d. hive

13. AGILE is related to NIMBLE as FAST is related to ____________.

a. swift
b. slow
c. perpetual
d. racy

14. CHEMIST is related to LABORATORY as ARTIST is related to ____________.

a. canvas
b. museum
c. easel
d. studio

15. MOVIES is related to PROJECTOR as RECORDS is related to ____________.

a. speakers
b. tape recorder
c. phonograph
d. radio

16. STOOPED is related to POSTURE as SLURRED is related to ____________.

a. diction
b. stance
c. music
d. action

17. RETRACT is related to STATEMENT as VOID is related to ____________.

a. escape
b. avoidance
c. contract
d. empty

18. FELONY is related to MISDEMEANOR as KILL is related to ____________.

a. maim
b. bury
c. murder
d. guilty

19. BEGGAR is related to POOR as FOX is related to ____________.

a. skunk
b. slow
c. large
d. sly

20. SCALPEL is related to KNIFE as NURSE is related to ____________.

a. doctor
b. assistant
c. hospital
d. operation

_____________________________________________________________________________

ANSWER KEY and EXPLANATION

1. B – The first word is the action of the second word.
2. A – The second is usually put on the first word.
3. B – The first word means “pertaining to” the second word.
4. B – The second word is a tool of the first word.
5. B – The second word is a measure of the first word.
6. C – The first word travels on the second word.
7. B – The second word is an imperative (“must”) of the first word.
8. D – The second word overcomes the first word.
9. C – The first word is the tool to do the second word.
10. B – The first word is the opposite of the second word.
11. A – The second word is a part of the first word.
12. C – The first word is eaten by the second word.
13. A – The first word is a synonym of the second word.
14. D – The second word is where the first word works.
15. C – The second word plays the first word.
16. A – The first word is a n impairment of the second word.
17. C – The first word nullifies the second word.
18. A – The first word is a more serious degree of the second word.
19. D – The second word is a characteristic of the first word.
20. B – The first word is a medical term for the second word.

Choose the best answer for each item.

1. More than one friendly whale has nudged a boat with such _________ that passengers have been knocked
overboard.
a. enthusiasm
b. animosity
c. lethargy
d. serenity

2. Readers were so bored with the verbose and redundant style of the Victorian novelists that they welcomed the
change to the _________ style of Hemingway.
a. prolix
b. consistent
c. florid
d. terse

3. Fossils may be set in stone, but their interpretation is not; a new find may necessitate the __________ of a
traditional theory.
a. assertion
b. revision
c. formulation
d. validation

4. The linguistic _____________ of the refugee children is reflected in their readiness to adopt the language of their
homeland.
a. conservatism
b. inadequacy
c. adaptability
d. philosophy

5. Lucille is too much ___________ in her writings: she writes a page when a sentence should suffice.
a. pleasant
b. lucid
c. verbose
d. efficient

6. It is remarkable that a man so in the public eye, so highly praised and imitated, can retain his _______________.
a. idiosyncrasies
b. dogmas
c. humility
d. magniloquence

7. Breaking with established artistic and social conventions, Picasso was _________ genius whose heterodox works
infuriated the traditionalists of his day.
a. a venerated
b. a trite
c. an iconoclastic
d. an uncontroversial

8. A tapeworm is an example of a __________ organism, one that lives within or on another creature, deriving some
or all of its nutriment from its host.
a. a protozoan
b. a parasitic
c. an exemplary
d. an autonomous

9. The mob lost confidence of him because he never ___________ the grandiose promises he had made.
a. tired of
b. renegade on
c. delivered on
d. retreated from
10. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson,received little honor in her lifetime but her poetic legacy has gained considerable fame
_______________.
a. anonymously
b. posthumously
c. prematurely
d. previously

11. Unlike the highly ________ Romantic poets of the previous century, Rudyard Kipling and his fellow Victorian
poets were _______ and interested in moralizing.
a. emotional . . . didactic
b. sensitive . . . strange
c. dramatic . . . warped
d. rhapsodic . . . lyrical

12. Ana is an interesting ________, an infinitely shy person who, in apparent contradiction, possesses an
enormously intuitive ________ for understanding people.
a. phenomenon . . . disinclination
b. caricature . . . talent
c. paradox . . . gift
d. aberration . . . disdain

13. Truculent in defending their rights of sovereignty under the Articles of the Confederation, the newly formed
states __________ constantly.
a. apologized
b. squabbled
c. digressed
d. acquiesced

14. No real life hero of ancient or modern days can surpass James Bond with his nonchalant _______ of death and
the _________ with which he bears torture.
a. veneration . . . guile
b. concept . . . terror
c. disregard . . . fortitude
d. impatience . . . fickleness

15. Surrounded by sycophants who invariably ________ in her singing, Zsa Zsa wearied of the constant adulation
and longed for honest criticism.
a. assailed
b. thwarted
c. reciprocated
d. extolled

16. Despite the growing ______________ of the Party list Representatives in the Philippine Congress, many
political experts fell that the NGOs are still ______________ in the government.
a. decrease . . . inappropriate
b. prominence . . . underrepresented
c. skill . . . alienated
d. number . . . misdirected
17. Although Tagalogs often use the terms Bisaya and Cebuano ____________, people coming from the Southern
part of the Philippines are profoundly aware of the ___________ the two.
a. unerringly . . . significance of
b. confidently . . . origins of
c. deprecatingly . . . controversies about
d. interchangeably . . . dissimilarities between
18. There is nothing __________ or provisional about Bronte’s early critical pronouncements; she deals
___________ with what then radical new developments in poetry.
a. tentative . . . confidently
b. dogmatic . . . arbitrary
c. imprecise . . . inconclusively
d. shallow . . . superficially

19. This well-documented history is of importance because it carefully __________ the __________
accomplishments of the Filipino artists who are all too little known to the public at large.
a. recognizes . . . negligible
b. scrutinizes . . . illusory
c. substantiates . . . considerable
d. distorts . . . noteworthy

20. An experienced politician who knew better than to launch a campaign in troubled political waters, he intended to
wait for a more ________ occasion before he announced his plans.
a. provocative
b. unseemly
c. questionable
d. propitious

____________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________

ANSWER KEY
1. A – enthusiasm
2. D – terse
3. B – revision
4. C – adaptability
5. C – verbose
6. C – humility
7. C – an iconoclastic
8. B – a parasitic
9. C – delivered on
10. B – posthumously
11. A – emotional . . . didactic
12. C – paradox . . . gift
13. B – squabbled
14. C – disregard . . . fortitude
15. D – extolled
16. B – prominence . . . underrepresented
17. D – interchangeably . . . dissimilarities between
18. A – tentative . . . confidently
19. C – substantiates . . . considerable
20. D – propitious
Hey guys! Check out if you can answer the following questions for literary works and authors. Correction
key and explanation are available at the end of the quiz. Enjoy!
1. Identify the author of this literary work: MEN WITHOUT WOMEN
a. Ernest Hemingway
b. Benjamin Disraeli
c. Louis-Ferdinand Celine
d. E.M. Forster

2. PILGRIMS PROGRESS was written by:

a. John Bunyan
b. Jack London
c. Henry Fielding
d. Stendhal

3. DON QUIXOTE
a. Gustave Flaubert
b. Joseph Condrad
c. Miguel de Cervantes
d. D.H. Lawrence

4. Which of the following works by DANIEL DEFOE features a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical
island near Venezuela, encountering Native Americans, captives, and mutineers before being rescued?
a. Memoirs of a Cavalier
b. Robinson Crusoe
c. Moll Flanders
d. Captain Singleton

5. VANITY FAIR is a novel satirizing society in early 19th-century Britain. Who wrote this classic?
a. Daniel Defoe
b. Wikie Collins
c. Herman Melville
d. William Makepeace Thackeray

6. JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT

a. Wikie Collins
b. Herman Melville
c. Louis-Ferdinand Celine
d. Franz Kafka

7. AS I LAY DYING
a. William Faulkner
b. Jerome K. Jerome
c. Erskine Childers
d. George Grosmith

8. THE TRIAL is a novel which tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority,
with the nature of his crime never revealed either to him or the reader. Who is the writer of this novel?
a. Henry James
b. Franz Kafka
c. Thomas Hardy
d. Fyodor Dostoevsky

9. THE GREAT GATSBY

a. Ford Madox Fod
b. F. Scott Fitzgerald
c. D.H. Lawrence
d. Joseph Condrad

10. A PASSAGE TO INDIA is about the racial tensions and prejudices between indigenous Indians and the British
colonists who rule India. Who wrote this novel?
a. Virginia Woolf
b. Oscar Wilde
c. Jack London
d. E. M. Forster

11. MRS. DALLOWAY is a novel that details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway in post-World War I England. Who
is its author?
a. Virginia Woolf
b. Charlotte Bronte
c. Mary Shelley
d. Emily Bronte

12. ULYSSES chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904.The
title alludes to Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s Odyssey. Name the author of Ulysses.
a. Anthony Trollope
b. Kenneth Grahame
c. Laurence Strene
d. James Joyce

13. THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS features the adventures of Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip.
Who wrote this novel?
a. Honore De Balzac
b. Samuel Richardson
c. John Buchan
d. Thomas Love Peacock

14. THE GOOD SOLDIER’s original title was The Saddest Story, but after the onset of World War I, the publishers
asked its author for a new title. What is the name of its author?
a. Gustave Flaubert
b. Henry Fielding
c. Ford Madox Ford
d. Samuel Richardson

15. THE RAINBOW is a novel with a frank treatment of sexual desire and the power it plays within relationships as a
natural and even spiritual force of life. Who is its author?
a. D. H. Lawrence
b. Jonathan Swift
c. Alexandre Dumas
d. Daniel Defoe
16. IN THE SEARCH OF LOST TIME
a. Laurence Sterne
b. Marcel Proust
c. Jack London
d. Thomas Hardy

17. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS is a classic of children’s literature which was adapted partly on stage as Toad of
Toad Hall in 1929. Name its author.
a. Kenneth Grahame
b. E.M. Foster
c. Thomas Hardy
d. Erskine Childers

18. NOSTROMO features Señor Gould, a native Costaguanero of English descent who owns the silver-mining
concession in Sulaco. Name the author of this novel.
a. Joseph Condrad
b. Samuel Richardson
c. George Elliot
d. Thomas Hardy

19. THE CALL OF THE WILD is known for its dog protagonist. It is sometimes classified as a juvenile novel, suitable
for children, but it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence. Who wrote this novel?
a. Oscar Wilde
b. Jack London
c. Henry James
d. Kenneth Grahame

20. THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS is an early example of the espionage novel, with a strong underlying theme of
militarism. It has been made into a film and TV film. Who wrote this novel?
a. Erskine Childers
b. William Faulkner
c. Jerome K. Jerome
d. Honore De Balzac

21. JUDE THE OBSCURE, include themes such as class, scholarship, religion, marriage, and the modernisation of
thought and society. Name its author.
a. Samuel Richardson
b. Franz Kafka
c. Thomas Hardy
d. Joseph Condrad

22. THE DIARY OF A NOBODY has spawned the word “Pooterish” to describe a tendency to take oneself
excessively seriously.Who is the author of this novel?
a. John Buchan
b. George Grossmith
c. Anthony Trollope
d. Samuel Richardson
23. THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY is about a young man who sold his soul to the devil to ensure his portrait
would age rather than himself. Which of the following is its author?
a. Herman Melville
b. Oscar Wilde
c. Jonathan Swift
d. Wikie Collins

24. THREE MEN IN A BOAT was initially intended to be a serious travel guide with accounts of local history along
the route. Who wrote this novel?
a. Benjamin Disraeli
b. Jerome K. Jerome
c. Laurence Stern
d. Marcel Proust

25. DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange
occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the misanthropic Edward Hyde. Who is its author?
a. James Joyce
b. Jack London
c. Robert Louis Stevenson
d. Stendhal

26. Which of the following is a work of SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS?

a. Animal Farm
b. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
c. The Scarlet Letter
d. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

27. Which is a HENRY JAMES masterpiece?

a. Vanity Fair
b. The Portrait of Dorian Gray
c. The Portrait of a Lady
d. David Copperfield

28. Which novel features JOSEPHINE “JO” MARCH?

a. Wuthering Heights
b. Little Women
c. Sense and Sensibility
d. Scarlet Letter

29. Which is an HONORE DE BALZAC novel?

a. The Black Sheep
b. The Charterhouse of Parma
c. The Count of Monte Cristo
d. Dangerous Laisons

30. Which of the following gothic authors wrote the THE INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE?
a. Anne Rice
b. Mary Shelley
c. Bram Stoker
d. Gaston Leroux

KEY TO CORRECTION AND EXPLANATION

1. A- Men Without Women (1927) is a collection of short stories written by American author Ernest Hemingway. The
volume consists of fourteen stories, ten of which had been previously published in magazines. The story subjects
include bullfighting, infidelity, divorce and death. “The Killers”, “Hills Like White Elephants” and “In Another Country”
are considered to be among Hemingway’s best work.

2. A- The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a Christian allegory written by John
Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English
literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.
Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory of a Christian’s journey (here represented by a character called ‘Christian’) from the
“City of Destruction” to the “Celestial City”. Along the way he visits such locations as the Slough of Despond, Vanity
Fair, the Doubting Castle, and the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

3. C – Don Quixote, fully titled The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, is a novel written by Spanish
author Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes created a fictional origin for the story by inventing a Moorish chronicler for
Don Quixote named Cide Hamete Benengeli. Published in two volumes a decade apart (in 1605 and 1615), Don
Quixote is the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age in the Spanish literary canon.

4. B – ROBINSON CRUSOE was published in 1917, the story was likely influenced by the real-life Alexander
Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived four years on the Pacific island called “Más a Tierra” (in 1966 its name was
changed to Robinson Crusoe Island), Chile.
CAPTAIN SINGLETON (1720), is a bipartite adventure story whose first half covers a traversal of Africa, and whose
second half taps into the contemporary fascination with piracy. It has been commended for its sensitive depiction of
the close relationship between the eponymous hero and his religious mentor, the Quaker, William Walters, one
which appears homoerotic to many modern readers.
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER (1720) is a work of historical fiction by Daniel Defoe, set during the Thirty Years’ War
and the English Civil Wars.
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (commonly known as simply “MOLL FLANDERS”) is a
novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722.

5. D – Vanity fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim’s progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which
is meant to represent man’s sinful attachment to worldly things. It was written by William Makepeace Thackeray and
was first published in 1847.

6. C – Journey to the End of Night (Voyage au bout de la nuit, 1932) is the first novel of Louis-Ferdinand Céline.
This semi-autobiographical work describes antihero Ferdinand Bardamu. His surname, Bardamu, is derived from
the French words Barda—the “pack” carried by World War I soldiers—and mu, the past participle of the verb
mouvoir, meaning to move. Bardamu is involved with World War I, colonial Africa, and post-World War I America
(where he works for the Ford Motor Company), returning in the second half of the work to France, where he
becomes a medical doctor and establishes a practice in a poor Paris suburb, the fictional La Garenne-Rancy.

7. A – As I Lay Dying is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. The novel was written in six weeks while
Faulkner was working at a power plant, published in 1930, and described by Faulkner as a “tour-de-force.” It is
Faulkner’s fifth novel and consistently ranked among the best novels of 20th century literature. The title derives from
Book XI of Homer’s The Odyssey, wherein Agamemnon speaks to Odysseus: “As I lay dying, the woman with the
dog’s eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades.”
The novel is known for its stream of consciousness writing technique, multiple narrators, and varying chapter
lengths; the shortest chapter in the book consists of just five words, “My mother is a fish.”

8. B – The Trial (German: Der Prozeß) is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. Like his other novels, The
Trial was never completed, although it does include a chapter which brings the story to an end. After his death in
1924, Kafka’s friend and literary executor Max Brod edited the text for publication.
9. B – The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, it is
set on Long Island’s North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922. It is a critique of the American
Dream.

10. D – A Passage to India (1924) is a novel by E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the
Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of English literature by
the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time magazine included the
novel in its “TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005”

11. A – Mrs. Dalloway (published on 14 May 1925) is a novel by Virginia Woolf. It was created from two short
stories, “Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street” and the unfinished “The Prime Minister”, the novel’s story is of Clarissa’s
preparations for a party of which she is to be hostess. With the interior perspective of the novel, the story travels
forwards and back in time and in and out of the characters’ minds to construct an image of Clarissa’s life and of the
inter-war social structure.

12. D – Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce, first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little
Review from March 1918 to December 1920, then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in
Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature, it has been called “a demonstration and summation
of the entire movement”.

13. C – The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published in 1915 by
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero
with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations.

14. C – The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion is a 1915 novel by English novelist Ford Madox Ford. It is set just
before World War I and chronicles the tragedies of the lives of two seemingly perfect couples. The novel is told
using a series of flashbacks in non-chronological order, a literary technique pioneered by Ford. It also makes use of
the device of the unreliable narrator, as the main character gradually reveals a version of events that is quite
different from what the introduction leads you to believe. The novel was loosely based on two incidents of adultery
and on Ford’s messy personal life.

15. A – The Rainbow is a 1915 novel by British author D. H. Lawrence or David Herbert Richards Lawrence. It
follows three generations of the Brangwen family, particularly focusing on the sexual dynamics of, and relations
between, the characters.

16. B – In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a semi-autobiographical novel in seven volumes
by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its extended length and the notion of
involuntary memory, the most famous example being the “episode of the madeleine”. The novel is still widely
referred to in English as Remembrance of Things Past, but the title In Search of Lost Time, a more accurate
rendering of the French, has gained in usage since D.J. Enright’s 1992 revision of the earlier translation by C.K.
Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. The complete story contains nearly 1.5 million words and is one of the
longest novels ever written.

17. A – The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children’s literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908.
Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral
version of England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie.

18. A – Nostromo is a 1904 novel by Polish-born British novelist Joseph Conrad, set in the fictitious South American
republic of “Costaguana.” It was originally published serially in two volumes of T.P.’s Weekly.
19. B – The Call of the Wild is a 1903 novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously
domesticated dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events leads to his serving as a
sled dog in the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, in which sled dogs were bought at generous
prices.

20. A – The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service is a 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. It is a novel that
“owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain”;
perhaps more significantly, it was a spy novel that “established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail,
which gave authenticity to the story.

21. C – Jude the Obscure, the last of Thomas Hardy’s novels, began as a magazine serial and was first published in
book form in 1895. The book was burned publicly by William Walsham How, Bishop of Wakefield, in that same year.
Its hero, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man who dreams of becoming a scholar. The two other main
characters are his earthy wife, Arabella, and his cousin, Sue.

22. B – The Diary of a Nobody, an English comic novel written by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon
Grossmith with illustrations by Weedon, first appeared in the magazine Punch in 1888 – 89, and was first printed in
book form in 1892. It is considered a classic work of humour and has never been out of print.
The diary is the fictitious record of fifteen months in the life of Mr. Charles Pooter, a middle aged city clerk of lower
middle-class status but significant social aspirations, living in the fictional ‘Brickfield Terrace’ in Upper Holloway
which was then a typical suburb of the impecuniously respectable kind. Other characters include his wife Carrie
(Caroline), his son Lupin, his friends Mr Cummings and Mr Gowing, and Lupin’s unsuitable fiancée, Daisy Mutlar.

23. B – The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in
Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine. Wilde later revised
this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters; the amended version was published by Ward,
Lock, and Company in April 1891. The title is sometimes rendered incorrectly as The Portrait of Dorian Gray.

24. B – Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K.
Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford.
One of the most praised things aboutthe novel is how undated it appears to modern readers — the jokes seem fresh
and witty even today.

25. C – Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish author Robert
Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. The work is known for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in
the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite
distinct from the other.

26. D – Samuel Langhorne Clemens is well known by his pen name Mark Twain. He is noted for his novel
ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1884).
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN; or, Life Among the Lowly is a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
ANIMAL FARM is a novel by Eric Blair, commonly known as George Orwell.
SCARLET LETTER is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne also known as Ashley A. Royce.

27. C – THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY is a novel by Henry James. It is one of his most popular long novels, and is
regarded by critics as one of his finest.
The Portrait of a Lady is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who “affronts her destiny” and
finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian
scheming by two American expatriates.
The Portrait of Dorian Gray is a novel by OSCAR WILDE. Vanity Fair was written by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE
THACKERY.

28. B – Josephine “Jo” March is the protagonist of Little Women and is the autobiographical depiction of the writer,
Louisa May Alcott, herself. In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte featured CATHERINE EARNSHAW as the female
protagonist. ELIZABETH BENNET hails froms Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice while HESTER PRYNNE came
alive in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter.

29. A – La Rabouilleuse (THE BLACK SHEEP), is a 1842 novel by Honoré de Balzac as part of his series La
Comédie humaine. The Black Sheep is the title of the English translation by Donald Adamson published by Penguin
Classics. It tells the story of the Bridau family, trying to regain their lost inheritance after a series of unfortunate
mishaps.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas.
THE CHARTERHOUSE PARMA is a novel published in 1839 by Stendhal.
DANGEROUS LIAISONS is play by Christopher James Hampton.

30. A – Gaston Leroux, a French novelist, wrote THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Bram Stoker is known for his
novel DRACULA while Mary Shelley wrote FRANKENSTEIN during the Year without Summer in Europe. Anne Rice
is the only non-classic writer in the options. She wrote THE INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE IN 1973.

People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in
themselves they have the first secret of success.
Norman Vincent Peale

LET Reviewer major in English (Literature)

Select the best answer to each question.

1. Who wrote this line? “Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise”.

a. Robert Browning
b. William Shakespeare
c. Rudyard Kipling
d. Edgar Allan Poe

2. What nationality was Robert Louis Stevenson, writer of ‘Treasure Island’?

a. English
b. Welsh
c. Irish
d. Scottish

3. Which Bronte writer authored “Jane Eyre”?

a. Charlotte
b. Emily
c. Cristina
d. Anne

4. In which century were Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales written?

a. 14th
b. 15th
c. 16th
d. 17th

5. The following taboo phrases were used by which writer? “I fart at thee”, “shit on your head’, “dirty bastard”
a. Ernest Hemingway
b. Henry James
c. Ben Johnson
d. Arnold Bronte

6. In the book’ The Lord of the Rings’, who or what is Bilbo Baggins?
a. man
b. hobbit
c. wizard
d. dwarf

7. Name the book which opens with the line ‘All children, except one grew up’?
a. The Jungle Book
b. Tom Sawyer
c. Peter Pan
d. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

8. How many lines does a sonnet have?

a. 12
b. 13
c. 14
d. 15

9. Who was the author of the famous storybook ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’?
a. H.G. Wells
b. Lewis Carroll
c. Mark Twain
d. E.B. White

10. “Cabbages and Kings” (1904) is either a novel or a collection of related short stories written by O. Henry. In it, he
coined the phrase “banana republic.” On what was his title based?
a. Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper”
b. Alice Hegan Rice’s “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch”
c. “The Shahnameh” — an 11th Century Persian epic poem
d. Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter”

11. Two versions of Robert A. Heinlein’s novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” have been published: the edited version first
published in 1961 and the original full-length (60,000 words longer) published posthumously in 1991. From what does the
title derive?
a. The play “Antony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare
b. The Old Testament Book of Exodus
c. The novel “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift
d. The book “Utopia” by Sir Thomas More

12. Southern American poet, novelist and literary critic Robert Penn Warren wrote “All the King’s Men” in 1946. The novel
won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. On what is the book’s title based?
a. A verse in the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”
b. William Shakespeare’s play “Richard III”
c. Oscar Wilde’s short story “The Young King”
d. Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Kings”

13. Which novel, eventually published in 1945, was rejected by a New York publisher stating ‘it is impossible to sell animal
stories in the USA’?
a. Animal Farm
b. Black Beauty
c. Watership Down
d. The Tale of Peter Rabbit

14. Which writer of spy fiction, and creator of Smiley, was rejected with the words ‘you are welcome to **** – he hasn’t got
any future’?
a. Ian Fleming
b. John le Carré
c. Eric Ambler
d. Len Deighton

15. ‘The Good Earth’ was rejected fourteen times, before being published and going on to win the Pulitzer Prize. Who was
the author?
a. Pearl S. Buck
b. John Steinbeck
c. Edith Wharton
d. Henry Miller
16. Irving Stone’s ‘Lust for Life’ was rejected sixteen times, with one rejection stating ‘a long, dull, novel about an artist’.
Which artist did the book feature?
a. Sigmund Freud
b. John Noble
c. Michelangelo
d. Vincent Van Gogh

17. Who is presented as the most honest and moral of Chaucer’s pilgrims?
a. The Knight
b. The Parson
c. The Reeve
d. The Wife of Bath

18. Out of the following four pilgrims, which is the most corrupt?
a. The Sergeant /Man of Law
b. The Wife of Bath
c. The Reeve
d. The Pardoner

19. He translated “The Fall of Princes” from the French.

a. William Langland
b. Sir Thomas Malory
c. Geoffrey of Monmouth
d. John Lydgate

20. What work contains these lines: “There hurls in at the hall-door an unknown rider . . . Half a giant on earth I hold him
to be.”
a. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
b. Morte D’arthur
c. Piers Plowman
d. Canterbury Tales

1. B – William Shakespeare

2. D – Scottish – Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known
books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

3. A – Charlotte – Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily’s Wuthering Heights, Anne’s The
Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were later to be accepted as masterpieces of literature. Christina Georgina
Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children’s poems. She is best known for her
long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.

4. A – 14th – The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of
the 14th century.

5. C – Ben Johnson –

6. B – hobbit – Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The Lord
of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy writings.

7. C – Peter Pan – Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (1860–1937). A
mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring
on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with mermaids, Indians, fairies,
pirates, and (from time to time) meeting ordinary children from the world outside.

8. C – 14 – The term “sonnet” derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning “little song”
or “little sound”. By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme
scheme and specific structure.

9. B – Lewis Carroll – Some of H.G. Wells’ works are “The Time Machine”, “The Island of Doctor Moreau”, “The Invisible
Man”, “The War of the Worlds”. He is also known as the Father of Science Fiction. Mark Twain is most popular in his “Tom
Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. E.B. White is well known of her novel “Charlotte’s Web”.

10. D – Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter”

11. B – The Old Testament Book of Exodus – Moses fled Egypt and married Zipporah. “And she bare him a son, and he
called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.” Exodus 2:22 Authorized (King James)
Version.

12. A – A verse in the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” – Robert Penn Warren is the only person to have won Pulitzer
Prizes for both fiction and poetry. A commemorative postage stamp was issued in the United States in 2005 to honor
the100th anniversary of his birth. Stage plays, television versions, several movies and even a grand opera have been
based on Warren’s novel.

13. A – ‘Animal Farm’ was written by George Orwell, and is a satire on revolution and the corruption of power. One of the
best known lines from it is ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’. The rejection notice
implies that the publisher did not actually read the book or totally misunderstood it if he did. ‘Watership Down’ was written
by Richard Adams and published in 1972. Anna Sewell wrote ‘Black Beauty’, which appeared in 1877 and Beatrix Potter
was the author of ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ from 1902.

14. B – John le Carré – This was a rejection notice for ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’, which found another
publisher in 1963. Le Carré had worked for both MI5 and MI6, the British intelligence services, and left to become an
author full time following the success of this novel. Among Len Deighton’s novels are ‘The Ipcress File’ and
Eric Amblerwrote ‘The Mask of Dimitrios’. Fleming, of course, is the creator of probably the most famous spy of all in
James Bond.

15. A – Pearl S. Buck – One rejection notice read ‘I regret that the American public is not interested in anything on China’.
The novel was published in 1931 and won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. Pearl S Buck wrote numerous other
novels, including ‘East Wind, West Wind’, short stories, biographies and non-fiction works and won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1938.

16. D – Vincent Van Gogh – The book was published in 1934 and was so successful that it was made into a film of the
same name, starring Kirk Douglas, in 1956. Irving Stone also wrote about all the other names given as options.
Michelangelo was the subject of ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’, published in 1961 and also filmed, with Charlton Heston, in
1965. John Noble, an American artist, was the subject of ‘The Passionate Journey’ from 1949. Sigmund Freud, the
psychoanalyst, was covered in ‘The Passions of the Mind’ in 1971.

17. B – The Parson – Despite the immorality that is apparent amongst the clergy, hope manifests itself in the form of the
Parson, who is presented as an almost Christ-like figure. Although materially poor, he is spiritually empowered, for “riche
he was” of both “hooly thoght and werk”. Yet for every trap that Chaucer’s Parson has avoided, there are thousands that
have fallen into them, and in light of this, the goodness of Chaucer’s Parson only serves to heighten the unruliness that is
present in everybody else. For in the “General Prologue” he is the only individual that completely measures up to the strict
Christian ideal, which is something even the Church itself does not.

18. D – The Pardoner – The Pardoner, is certainly presented as one of the most corrupt of all Chaucer’s pilgrims (along
with the Summoner), making both “the person and the peple his apes”. His deception and “feyned flaterye” convinces
simple folks to purchase his phoney relics. He cheats and manipulates all that believe in the sanctity of the Church and
the morality of those that represent it, so much so, that Chaucer himself can find nothing good to say about him. For
thought “He was in chirche a noble ecclesiaste”, this is merely an act, for he would “preche, and wel affile his tonge” for
the sole purpose of of winning silver from the crowd.

19. D – He also translated “The Siege of Thebes.” “The Fall of Princes” is based on another work by Boccaccio. Lydgate
is little known today, but in his own time he was nearly as renowned as Chaucer.

20. A – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – The author of this Arthurian tale is unknown, but he is thought to have also
written the poems “Patience”, “Pearl”, and “Purity.