English 6–12
For Testing until 12/31/2023

Multiple-Choice Section

Test Format and Sample Questions

The English 6– to 12 Multiple-Choice Section contains approximately 60 multiple-choice items. You will have one and one-half hours to complete this section.

Each of the questions in the multiple-choice section will contain four response options. You will choose the best response out of the available options, and indicate A, B, C, or D.

The table below presents types of questions on the exam and directs you to examples of these formats among the sample items that follow.

Table of Question Formats

Type of Question	Sample Question
Direct question Choose the response option that best answers the question.	Question 1
Sentence completion Select the response option that best completes the sentence.	Question 3
Text Analysis Study a text and identify a literary feature, such as a figure of speech, style, form, or function, by choosing the best response option.	Question 20
Command Select the best response option.	Question 26
Scenario Examine a classroom situation or a student composition. Then select the response option that best answers a question, recommends a course of action, or gives the appropriate evaluation or teacher comment.	Question 27

Sample Questions

The following questions represent both the form and content of questions on the examination. These questions will acquaint you with the general format of the examination; however, these sample questions do not cover all of the competencies and skills that are tested and will only approximate the degree of examination difficulty.

---

Competency 1—Knowledge of the effective use of the English language at the postsecondary level

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The words gothic, vandal, and turret represent which of the following influences on language?

Choose an answer

1. religious
2. historic
3. technological
4. social

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

---

Competency 1—Knowledge of the effective use of the English language at the postsecondary level

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Determine the effect of the use of a semicolon in the student writing sample.

Beowulf is widely regarded as the oldest literary work in the English language. While technically true, this distinction is misleading; Beowulf was written in Old English.

Choose an answer

1. It asks the reader to make a connection back to the opening sentence.
2. It reflects a lack of understanding of sentence structure.
3. It shows sophistication and variety in writing style.
4. It demonstrates the student's desire for brevity.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

---

Competency 1—Knowledge of the effective use of the English language at the postsecondary level

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

In a literary text, a willful character was described as arbitrary. Students were confused, because their common definition and usage of arbitrary is random or inconsistent. The best resource to confirm the multiple meanings of "arbitrary" is a(an)

Choose an answer

1. etymology guide.
2. dictionary.
3. style and grammar guide.
4. thesaurus.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

---

Competency 1—Knowledge of the effective use of the English language at the postsecondary level

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

In the word intractable, the Latin root is tract, meaning pull or draw, and its suffix indicates its use as an adjective. Judging from the prefix in, what does the word mean?

Choose an answer

1. stubborn
2. pliable
3. stationary
4. amenable

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 1—Knowledge of the effective use of the English language at the postsecondary level

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

In his speech, I Have a Dream, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. refers to the Biblical passage of Isaiah 40:4–5. This reference is an example of the literary element

Choose an answer

1. allusion.
2. mood.
3. simile.
4. hyperbole.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 1—Knowledge of the effective use of the English language at the postsecondary level

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

What does the following discussion question exemplify?

In what way are Romeo and Juliet, Cry, the Beloved Country, and Newton's third law (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) connected?

Choose an answer

1. collaborative discussion
2. meaningful discourse
3. integrating curriculum
4. reflective questioning

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

---

Competency 1—Knowledge of the effective use of the English language at the postsecondary level

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

To evaluate students' knowledge of gerund phrases with an alternative assessment, the teacher should have the students

Choose an answer

1. identify the gerund phrases in an article from a self-selected magazine.
2. complete a portion of the grammar exercises in their textbooks.
3. complete a test in which they circle gerund phrases in a paragraph.
4. circle gerund phrases in the literature selection they are currently assigned.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 2—Knowledge of effective writing skills

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A student would like to write an essay about a personal event. This demonstrates which of the following types of essay?

Choose an answer

1. persuasive
2. narrative
3. informative
4. argumentative

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

---

Competency 2—Knowledge of effective writing skills

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following include examples of common logical fallacies utilized when analyzing argument?

Choose an answer

1. equivocation, ad hominem, false analogy
2. stereotypes, inference, domain-specific language
3. transitional phrases, pacing, dialogue
4. red herring, personal experience, rhetorical appeals

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 2—Knowledge of effective writing skills

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

To improve awareness of the intended audience's effect on writing, the teacher should

Choose an answer

1. ask students to jot down as many types of audiences as they can, select one type, and write a paragraph describing that audience.
2. define general audience, specialist audience, and peer audience and then have students individually compose working definitions of the three types.
3. assign students to write an article for a self-selected academic or technical journal and encourage them to adopt the particular style of the subject area.
4. ask student groups to select and read a specified number of articles from different publications and then discuss the audience each one assumes.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

---

Competency 2—Knowledge of effective writing skills

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which question should a student be focusing on during the revising stage of writing?

Choose an answer

1. Are there any errors in spelling or grammar in the composition?
2. Should the composition be published on the class website, or in the class anthology?
3. Is the topic of the composition too broad?
4. Will the relationships between the ideas in the composition be clear to a reader?

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

---

Competency 2—Knowledge of effective writing skills

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Below is the first paragraph of a student composition.

Many people do not care for snakes, but I like them. Some of the kinds of snakes are poisonous, nonpoisonous, rattleskakes, garter snakes, and water mocasins. Usually, snaks wo'nt hurt you unless they are frightened.

Which set of teacher comments would be most productive?

Choose an answer

1. Your knowledge of snakes gives you several different ways to go with your paper. Focus on the most interesting angle and develop it.
2. People have written whole books about snakes. You can't cover so large a subject in one paper. Narrow your topic.
3. Great topic. Good beginning. I'll be interested in your final paper. Keep up the good work.
4. The words rattleskakes and mocasins are spelled incorrectly, and the apostrophe in wo'nt is misplaced.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 2—Knowledge of effective writing skills

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A student would like to write a paper about recent advances in nursing. Which of the following citation styles should be used?

Choose an answer

1. MLA
2. APA
3. Chicago
4. Turabian

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

---

Competency 3—Knowledge of literacy processes across genres

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

After reading a poem with his students, a high school English teacher asks them the questions below.

• How many stanzas are there?
• How many lines are in each stanza?
• How many syllables are stressed in each line?

To which of the following poetic elements do these questions refer?

Choose an answer

1. imagery
2. diction
3. symbolism
4. form

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

---

Competency 3—Knowledge of literacy processes across genres

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

In the sentence, "Because they made a $300 profit, the young entrepreneurs were content with the outcome of their fundraiser," which strategy should students use to learn the meaning of the italicized word?

Choose an answer

1. context clues
2. decoding
3. root words
4. etymology

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 3—Knowledge of literacy processes across genres

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following instructional strategies is most effective for enhancing a student's reading comprehension of an academic text?

Choose an answer

1. asking about the student's knowledge of the topic before the student reads the text
2. suggesting that the student read the text slowly and carefully
3. suggesting that the student look up unfamiliar words from the text in the dictionary
4. asking the student content questions after the student has read the text

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 3—Knowledge of literacy processes across genres

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

When targeting words to be used in vocabulary instruction, the teacher should select words

Choose an answer

1. that support the big ideas in the text.
2. that were tested on previous state assessments.
3. that are from the district's grade level word bank.
4. that are bolded, italicized, or annotated in the textbook.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 3—Knowledge of literacy processes across genres

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

If a text contains transitional signal words such as consequently, therefore, and thus, then that text is most likely illustrating which type of structure?

Choose an answer

1. enumeration or categorizing
2. chronological sequencing
3. descriptive narrative
4. cause and effect

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

---

Competency 3—Knowledge of literacy processes across genres

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

While reading a novel, a teacher would like students to reflect on the text as they read. Which of the following is the most appropriate method?

Choose an answer

1. exit slips
2. teacher probing
3. think-pair-share
4. double entry journals

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

---

Competency 4—Knowledge of a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and informational texts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

What literary device is illustrated by the excerpt below?

The solitude, vast, terrible to the eye,
was like a mute avenger everywhere. . . .

Hugo, V. Russia 1812. In The Expiation. Lowell, R. (trans.) Kentucky Educational Television's Direct Learning Website (http://www.dl.ket.org/humanities/literature/litpacket/expiation.htm) 8/22/2007.

Choose an answer

1. simile
2. metaphor
3. alliteration
4. onomatopoeia

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 4—Knowledge of a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and informational texts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Read the excerpt and answer the question below.

On the day of my first public poetry reading . . . in Miami . . . an older woman motioned me to her table. Thinking (foolish me) that she wanted me to autograph a copy of my brand new slender volume of verse, I went over. She ordered a cup of coffee from me, assuming that I was the waitress.

From "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria," by Judith Ortiz Cofer. In The Riverside Reader (p. 50), by Joseph F. Trimmer and Maxine Hairston, 2002, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Which literary device is used in this excerpt?

Choose an answer

1. irony
2. hyperbole
3. simile
4. metaphor

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 4—Knowledge of a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and informational texts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Read the excerpt below and answer the question.

The rainy Pleiads wester,
     Orion plunges prone,
And midnight strikes and hastens,
     And I lie down alone.

Housman, A.E. (1936). The rainy Pleiads wester. In More Poems (p. 21). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

The allusions the poet makes in this excerpt are to

Choose an answer

1. ancient kings.
2. fellow writers.
3. Greek mythology.
4. stormy weather.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

---

Competency 4—Knowledge of a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and informational texts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

An instructional unit including the works of John Keats, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost, and Nikki Giovanni exemplifies

Choose an answer

1. thematic study.
2. novel study.
3. genre study.
4. interdisciplinary study.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

---

Competency 4—Knowledge of a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and informational texts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

What is the most effective technique for testing students' knowledge and application of literary terms?

Choose an answer

1. matching term and definition
2. multiple choice
3. true/false
4. matching term and example

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

---

Competency 4—Knowledge of a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and informational texts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which type of literature assessment involves small, student-led book discussion groups that the teacher evaluates on collaboration, participation, progress in reading skills, and products?

Choose an answer

1. informal reading inventory
2. literature circles
3. literature focus units
4. thematic units

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

---

Competency 4—Knowledge of a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and informational texts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Select the writer who lived in Eatonville, Florida, who became a member of the Harlem Renaissance, and whose writing reflects her study of anthropology.

Choose an answer

1. Alice Walker
2. Gwendolyn Brooks
3. Zora Neale Hurston
4. Nikki Giovanni

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

---

Competency 5—Knowledge of critical responses to media

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A 10^th-grade student has been selected to deliver a speech introducing a local author who has come to speak to an English class. In preparing the speech of introduction, which are the most appropriate guidelines for the student to follow?

Choose an answer

1. Be brief, keeping the focus of the speech on the visiting author.
2. Be entertaining, preparing the audience to respond well to the visiting author.
3. Be thorough, mentioning the names of all the visiting author's books and any prizes he or she received.
4. Be personal, highlighting the author's character and virtue.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Competency 5—Knowledge of critical responses to media

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

What resource would be most effective for a teacher to use to help students practice interpreting nonverbal cues as an aid to effective listening?

Choose an answer

1. a description from a classic novel of a character's actions upon hearing tragic news
2. an audio recording of a radio play, with sound effects
3. a scene from a well-acted movie, with the sound on the video monitor turned off
4. a textbook chapter that covers the importance of using nonverbal cues

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

---

Competency 5—Knowledge of critical responses to media

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which statement should a teacher use as an example of a writer's attempt to persuade or manipulate the audience?

Choose an answer

1. Yesterday, the special Senate subcommittee considering the nomination of Robert A. Smith to the Supreme Court failed to reach a decision.
2. This morning, Press Secretary Able Baker implied that the President's war on drugs had been an overwhelming success.
3. A school board spokesperson today confirmed that the subject of students who carry AIDS-related antibodies will be addressed at Thursday's meeting.
4. The local director for UNICEF reported this week that contributions received through United Appeal exceeded the expectation by $1 million.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

---

Competency 5—Knowledge of critical responses to media

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

During a study of political cartoons as commentary, the teacher wants to ensure that students understand the persuasive elements of cartoons. The most effective assignment would be for the students to

Choose an answer

1. keep a portfolio of cartoons from different newspapers with brief written summaries of each one's persuasive message.
2. draw persuasive cartoons about events at their school, collecting them into a portfolio.
3. use a Venn diagram to prepare a comparison of two cartoons, posting the results on a bulletin board with the cartoons.
4. work in pairs to create a four-panel cartoon for the comics section of the newspaper.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

---

Copyright © 2020 by the State of Florida, Department of State