Challenge Thy Mind

(Pre-test in 21st Century Literautre)

Name: __________________________________________ Score: ______________

Gr.&Sec.:________________________________________ Date:_______________

I. Read and analyze the following items, then write the letter of the correct answer on the space provided.

1. Who among the following literary icons was known for his idea of art for art’s sake? He is the author of the
short story “Footnote to Youth” and of the poem, “The Bashful One”.
A. Manuel E. Arguila B. Jose Garcia Villa C. F. Sionil Jose D. Bienvenido Santos
2. Which of the following is the best definition for “local color”?
A. It refers to the technique of copying the lifestyle, customs and beliefs, practices and inclusion of
local symbols and images peculiar to a region or locale.
B. It is anchored to the idea that literature is an imitation of life.
C. Stories must be written using the native language or dialect to preserve cultural identity.
D. Stories must use foreign symbols and images.
3. It refers to the causal relationship between and among events of a story.
A. denouement B. plot C. rising action D. complication
4. The total environment for the action of a fictional work which includes a time period, the place, the
historical milieu, as well as the social, political and perhaps even spiritual realities mirrored in a story.
A. characters B. setting C. symbols D. plot
5. A device that allows the writer to present events that happened before the item of the current narration or
the current events in the fiction. Its techniques include memories, dreams, and stories of the past told by
the characters or even authorial sovereignty.
A. point-of-view B. foreshadowing C. flashback D. action sequence
6. A fictional narrative generally focusing on one climactic event and usually developing only a single
character in depth.
A. novel B. epic C. short story D. essay
7. What sound device is evident in the lines “threatening throngs” and “wicked and wan”?
A. onomatopoeia B. alliteration C. consonance D. assonance
8. The moment in a play, novel, short story or narrative poem at which the crisis comes to its point of
greatest intensity and is resolved; it is also the peak of emotional response from a reader or spectator, and
it usually represents the turning point in the action.
A. exposition B. denouement C. rising action D. climax
9. It literally means the action of untying of events built upon in the rising action of the plot; it refers to the
final outcome of the main complication in a play or story.
A. exposition B. denouement C. rising action D. climax
10. What idea about life is revealed by the last two lines of the poetic passage below?
From morning suns and evening dews
At first, thy little being came;
If nothing once, you nothing lose
For when you die you are the same
The space between is but an hour
The frail duration of a flower.
A. life is just an hour B. life is like s flower C. life is frail D. life is short
11. It depicts and talk about life and all its miseries and glories.
A. stories B. parable C. fiction D. literature
1
12. What emotion is conveyed in the lines of the poetic passage below?
Midnight, not a sound of a pavement.
Has the moon lost its memory?
She is smiling alone.
In the lamp light the withered leaves
Collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan
A. Confusion B. optimism C. loneliness D. eagerness
13. Which of the following statements describe/s point-of-view?
A. It is the vantage point from which the story unfolds through the eyes of an authoritative narrator
B. It refers to as how a story is told or narrated
C. All of the foregoing
D. None of the foregoing
14. A person, object, action, place or event that in addition to its literal or denotative meanings suggest a
more complex meaning or range of meanings.
A. theme B. point-of-view C. symbol D. setting
15. It pertains to the causal relationship between and among events of a fictional prose work.
A. exposition B. plot C. climax D. denouement
16. Who is regarded as the “Bard of Avon”?
A. Edgar Allan Poe B. Homer C. Ernest Hemmingway D. William Shakespeare
17. It is a lyric poem that laments from death of s person or the eventual death of all people.
A. elegy B. eulogy C. tragedy D. epic
18. What is being referred to in the riddle below?
Nang bata pa’y paru-paro,
Nang tumanda ay latigo.
A. banana B. turnip C. belt D. string beans
19. The following constructs describe the nature of figurative language, except
A. highly artistic means of expression
B. suggestive and attributive
C. explicit expression
D. none of the choices
20. What is the speaker’s realization based on the poetic lines below?
The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
‘tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, ‘tis true, ‘tis true.
A. The speaker realizes the value of considering other’s advice.
B. The speaker learns the disadvantages of disobeying the elders.
C. The speaker realizes the folly and pain of youthful love.
D. The speaker learns the beauty of life.
21. What statement regarding love is closest to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116?
Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
2
 Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks
But bears it out even to the edge of doom
A. Love dissipates when lovers live apart. C. Love never wanes even in old age.
B. Love adapts to changing circumstances. D. Love grows even to the edge of doom.

22. What is the prevailing tone of the following lines from Shakespeare’s Hamlet?
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason!
How infinite in faculties! In form and moving, how express and admirable!
A. empathy B. reverence C. sarcastic D. disappointment

23. Based on Sanburg’s “Chicago,” how does the soeaker describe the city?
They tell me that you are wicked and I believe them,
For I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
Luring the farm boys.
A. mysterious B. peaceful C. independent D. immoral
24. It is considered as Japan’s greatest contribution to world literature. A short poem of 3 lines of 5-7 syllables.
A. Origami B. Kabuki C. Haiku D. Ikebana
25. Read the passage below and answer the question that follows.
Africa, tell me Africa
Is this you?
This back that is bent
This bent that breaks under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip of the midday sun
Africa, David Diop
The persona exhibits the tone of being __________________.
A. angry and bitter B. envious and spiteful C. ironic and sarcastic D. cautious and fearful

II. Write NAKS if the veracity of the statement is incontestable and NYEK if the statement expresses a false
idea. Write your answers before the number.
__________26. Literature teaches the significance of life.
__________27. Local color refers to the technique in writing by which native and indigenous symbols or images
are integrated in the context of the literary text.
__________28. In poetry, the one speaking in the lines of the poem is known as the persona.
__________29. Poetry is a type of literature which can be characterized of its ordinariness of form and
structure and strong resemblance to man’s pattern of everyday speech.
__________30. An essay tells a story as its prime purpose.
__________31. Literature is both an art and a form of communication.
__________32. “Dulce” refers to excellence of literary form which relates to the idea that literature must have
aesthetic value or sense while “utile” refers to what literature can offer to its readers in effect.
__________33. Drama refers to the story being acted and presented om stage while play refers to the text in
which the story sequence appear.
__________34. The essay “What is an Educated Filipino” by Francisco Benitez is an example of a critical essay.
__________35. Jose Garcia Villa was regarded as the master of local color in Philippine Literature in English.
__________36. Literature mirrors and highlights significant human experiences.
__________37. The timelessness if thought and of idea relates to the notion that a work of literature must
reveal a theme and must reflect a condition which is applicable to the world as a whole.
__________38. A flat character is known to be dynamic and developing.
__________39. Exposition means the action of untying of events built upon in the rising action of the plot ; it
refers to the final outcome of the main complication in a play or story.
__________40. A novel is a kind of fictional prose work which has a single complication and may involve few

3
 characters.
__________41. A work of fiction is said to be drawn from the author’s imagination.
__________42. The word “essay” was derived from the term which means attempts by Michael de Montaigne.
__________43. Language is the prime medium of literature.
__________44. Powerlessness and helplessness were the predominant patriarchal image revealed in the short
story “Footnote to Youth”.
__________45. The villain is the character in a fictional work who always opposes the principal character.

III. Read and analyze the descriptions hereunder, then identify the construct being referred to in each item.
Write the letter of your answer in the space provided.

OPTIONS:
A. Satire B. en medias res C. essay D. flashback
E. frame story F. symbols G. tone color H. poetry
I. mimesis J. figurative language K. prose L.
foreshadowing

_____46. This is the technical term for the epic convention “in the middle of things,” rather than at the very
start of the story.
_____47. A device that allows the writers to present events that happened before the time of the current
narration or the current events in the fiction. Its techniques include memories, dreams, stories of the
past told by the characters or even authorial sovereignty.
_____48. A literary mode based on criticism of people and society through ridicule.
_____49. An analytic or interpretative literary composition dealing with subjects and has the purpose of
sharing opinions, insights, experience or observation.
_____50. A person, object, action, place or event that in addition to its literal or denotative meanings suggests
a more complex meaning or range of meanings.
_____51. It is considered as the majestic type of literature that can be describe of its artistic form. It is primarily
composed of lines and stanzas and the use of figurative language adds aesthetic effect to its overall
form and effect.
_____52. A narrative strategy used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come.
_____53. A general type of literature which is described of its variety of rhythm, irregularity and close
resemblance to man’s everyday pattern of speech.
_____54. A term which was coined by Aristotle which means imitation of action and of life.
_____55. It is determined through the use of rhyme, repetition and other sound devices.