English Language Arts Flashcards
7 cards from real CAASPP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 English Language Arts flashcards as text
A student reads two texts about climate change: one from a scientist and one from a politician. How should the student evaluate these sources differently?
Answer: Consider the scientist's expertise and the politician's potential biases and motivations
Evaluating sources requires considering the author's expertise, credentials, and potential motivations or biases that might influence their claims.
Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?
Answer: Having studied all night, the test seemed easy to Jake.
In this sentence, the participial phrase 'Having studied all night' appears to modify 'the test' rather than Jake, creating a dangling modifier.
In a story, the rising action refers to:
Answer: The events that build tension and lead toward the climax
Rising action consists of the series of events that develop the conflict and increase tension, leading up to the story's climax.
A student writes: 'The team played good in the championship game.' What is the grammatical error?
Answer: 'Good' should be 'well' since it modifies the verb 'played'
Adverbs modify verbs, so 'well' (an adverb) should be used instead of 'good' (an adjective) to describe how the team played.
Which statement BEST describes the difference between a theme and a main idea?
Answer: Theme is a universal message or insight about life; main idea is what a text is mostly about
Theme is a universal life lesson or insight conveyed by a literary work, while main idea refers to the primary topic or focus of a text.
An author repeatedly describes a character's home as 'cold,' 'gray,' and 'lifeless.' This use of setting is most likely intended to:
Answer: Reflect and reinforce the character's emotional state
Authors use descriptive language about setting to mirror or reinforce a character's internal emotional state, a technique called pathetic fallacy.
When citing a source in an informational essay, why is it important to use quotation marks around an author's exact words?
Answer: To distinguish borrowed words from the writer's own words and avoid plagiarism
Quotation marks signal that the words belong to the original author, giving proper credit and preventing plagiarism in academic writing.