What a phrase means beyond its words
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
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The Last Ferry (story)
[1] By six o'clock the fog had swallowed the far shore, and the harbor lights hung in the gray like coins that someone had forgotten to spend. [2] Kira stood at the rail of the ferry terminal with a duffel bag, watching the water slap the pilings in a rhythm that sounded almost like impatience. [3] The foghorn groaned twice, a long, tired complaint, and the sound rolled across the bay and came back thinner. [4] Behind Kira, the waiting room hummed with the low talk of commuters, a hive that had settled for the evening.
[5] A man in a yellow raincoat paced between the benches, checking a watch that he seemed to believe could be persuaded to move faster. [6] Kira's grandmother had promised to meet the boat, but the last ferry was already forty minutes late, and promises are fragile things in fog. [7] When the horn sounded again, a pale shape slid out of the gray, its lamps glowing like the eyes of a patient animal. [8] The ferry nudged the dock with the gentleness of someone setting down a sleeping child.
[9] Passengers streamed off in a gray current, collars up and faces closed, each one carrying a small private weather. [10] Kira searched the faces and found none that mattered, and the fog seemed to thicken in the silence. [11] Then a voice called a name that was not Kira's but sounded like home, and a small woman in a green scarf stepped out of the crowd. [12] Kira's grandmother held out both arms, and the harbor, for a moment, seemed to hold its breath.
Ari marks the phrase “a small private weather” in sentence 9. Which margin note reads it literally and then as meant?
- Literally: a tiny storm carried by each person; as meant: each passenger is carrying a small umbrella.
- Literally: a tiny storm carried by each person; as meant: each passenger has a private mood that others cannot see.
- Literally: a tiny storm carried by each person; as meant: the passengers are cheerful and carefree.
- Literally: a tiny storm carried by each person; as meant: the passengers are furious about the late ferry.
Bo writes a margin note for “a long, tired complaint” in sentence 3. Which note names the figure and what it adds?
- Personification: the foghorn complains like a tired person, which adds a lively, festive mood.
- Personification: the foghorn complains like a tired person, which adds a weary, gloomy mood.
- Simile: the foghorn is compared with a tired person using "like," which adds a weary mood.
- Personification: the foghorn complains like a tired person, which makes the harbor feel warm and welcoming.
Esme looks at the word “streamed” in sentence 9. Which note gives its dictionary meaning and what it suggests here?
- Dictionary meaning: flowed in a steady line; suggests here: a panicked crowd pushing wildly in different directions.
- Dictionary meaning: flowed in a steady line; suggests here: a crowd moving as one smooth current.
- Dictionary meaning: flowed in a steady line; suggests here: nothing beyond people leaving the ferry.
- Dictionary meaning: sent video over the internet; suggests here: passengers watching a screen.
Jun marks the phrase “promises are fragile things in fog” in sentence 6. Which margin note reads it literally and then as meant?
- Literally: promises are breakable objects hidden in fog; as meant: the grandmother has actually dropped something.
- Literally: promises are breakable objects hidden in fog; as meant: a plan to meet can easily go wrong in bad conditions.
- Literally: a pale shape moves out of the gray; as meant: the ferry will arrive on time.
- Literally: promises are breakable objects hidden in fog; as meant: a promise holds firm in any weather.
The Night Market (story)
[1] The night market opened at dusk, when the heat finally loosened its grip on the city and the streets filled with a patient, hungry crowd. [2] Zee threaded between the stalls, past a vendor who fanned a grill with a flattened box and shouted prices as though each number were a personal insult. [3] Smoke rose in lazy braids and tangled with the strings of paper lanterns, which swayed overhead like jellyfish adrift in warm water. [4] At the end of the row, a woman named Mrs. Tran sold nothing but dumplings, and she folded each one with a quick, severe precision that suggested a quarrel with the dough.
[5] Zee ordered a dozen and watched the line behind grow into a sleepy snake that coiled around the lamppost. [6] The dumplings arrived in a paper boat, steaming and swollen, each a small round argument for staying a little longer. [7] Mrs. Tran said that her grandmother's recipe had survived two moves and one flood, though she admitted that the flood had improved the filling. [8] Zee laughed, and the old woman's face cracked into something that was not quite a smile but was close to its cousin.
[9] Down the lane, a band of teenagers began to play, and a trumpet bent its brassy neck above the noise like a swan in a puddle. [10] The crowd shifted toward the sound, a slow tide pulled by an invisible moon. [11] Zee stayed beside the stall, eating the last dumpling slowly, unwilling to let the evening finish its work. [12] The lanterns glowed on, and the market, which had no clock, went on telling its own version of the time.
Kira marks the phrase “a small round argument for staying a little longer” in sentence 6. Which margin note reads it literally and then as meant?
- Literally: a small round dumpling making an argument; as meant: the dumplings begin a quarrel in the paper boat.
- Literally: a small round dumpling making an argument; as meant: each dumpling is so tempting that it persuades the diner to stay.
- Literally: a small round dumpling making an argument; as meant: each dumpling is so bland that the diner wants to leave.
- Literally: a quarrel with the dough; as meant: Mrs. Tran folds the dumplings with strict, serious precision.
Luz writes a margin note for the trumpet in sentence 9. Which note names the figure and what it adds?
- Simile: the trumpet is like a swan in a puddle, which adds the image of a dull sound lost in the crowd.
- Simile: the trumpet is like a swan in a puddle, which adds the image of a graceful sound above noise.
- Simile: the trumpet is like a swan in a puddle, which adds the feeling that the music is clumsy and ugly.
- Metaphor: the trumpet is a swan, which adds the image of a bright, graceful sound above rough noise.
Noah writes a margin note for the line in sentence 5. Which note names the figure and what it adds?
- Metaphor: the line is a sleepy snake, which adds the image of a fast, eager crowd rushing forward.
- Simile: the line is like a sleepy snake, which adds the image of a slow, winding, patient crowd.
- Metaphor: the line is a sleepy snake, which adds the image of a slow, winding, patient crowd.
- Metaphor: the line is a sleepy snake, which adds the feeling that the crowd is angry and dangerous.
The Bakery on Delancey Street (essay)
[1] Every morning at five, the bakery on Delancey Street breathes out a warm cloud of yeast and butter, and the whole block wakes up hungry. [2] I know this because my window faces the vent, and because I have never once managed to sleep through it. [3] The baker, Mr. Lindgren, is a broad, rumpled man who treats flour the way other people treat gossip: carefully, constantly and with great pleasure. [4] He arrives before the sun, flips on the ovens, and moves through the dark shop like a conductor warming up an orchestra of pans.
[5] By six, the first loaves are cooling on racks, their crusts crackling softly as if applauding themselves. [6] The neighbors drift in, one by one, with the dazed look of travelers who have followed a scent across a desert. [7] They do not so much buy bread as attend it. [8] Mr. Lindgren greets each customer by name, hands over the loaf with a tiny bow, and refuses to let anyone leave without a sample of whatever failed to look perfect.
[9] "Imperfect things need friends," he says, and nobody has ever argued the point with a full mouth. [10] I have tried to be annoyed by the early waking, but the effort collapses the moment I smell the cinnamon. [11] Tonight I will set the alarm for 4:45, not out of duty, but out of a curious, stubborn loyalty. [12] Some residents of the block are, I suspect, simply bread's willing subjects.
Pia marks the sentence “They do not so much buy bread as attend it” in sentence 7. Which margin note reads it literally and then as meant?
- Literally: the neighbors go to bread as they would to a ceremony; as meant: the neighbors buy bread quickly and forget it.
- Literally: the neighbors go to bread as they would to a ceremony; as meant: the neighbors would rather not buy bread.
- Literally: the neighbors go to bread as they would to a ceremony; as meant: visiting the bakery is a ritual.
- Literally: the neighbors go to bread as they would to a ceremony; as meant: the bakery holds a real ceremony each morning.
Ren writes a margin note for the comparison to a conductor in sentence 4. Which note names the figure and what it adds?
- Simile: Mr. Lindgren is like a conductor with an orchestra of pans, which adds skill and quiet humor.
- Simile: Mr. Lindgren is like a conductor with an orchestra of pans, which adds the sense that the shop is noisy and chaotic.
- Simile: Mr. Lindgren is like a conductor with an orchestra of pans, which adds the sense that his work is clumsy and careless.
- Metaphor: Mr. Lindgren is a conductor, which adds skill, music and quiet humor to a routine job.
Zee looks at the word “stubborn” in sentence 11. Which note gives its dictionary meaning and what it suggests here?
- Dictionary meaning: hard to remove, as in a stubborn stain; suggests here: dirt left on the writer's window.
- Dictionary meaning: refusing to change one's mind; suggests here: merely that the writer will not move away.
- Dictionary meaning: refusing to change one's mind; suggests here: an unreasonable, annoying habit.
- Dictionary meaning: refusing to change one's mind; suggests here: a determined, affectionate loyalty.
