Plays, Poems, and Prose

Out of poems, stories, and plays, which of these things are usually only found in plays?

• setting

• dialogue

• stage directions

• characters

What kind of writing is normally broken up into stanzas and verses?

• stories

• plays

• articles

• poems

In writing, prose is any written work that follows a basic grammar structure (think words and phrases arranged into sentences and paragraphs).

• True

• False

Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

"My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

What best describes what kind of writing this is and why?

• It is a play because it has different characters in it.

• It is a story because it has a beginning, middle, and end.

• It is a poem because it is split up into lines, verses, and stanzas.

• It is an article because it presents information.

Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

FIRST ACT

SCENE Morning-room in Algernon’s flat in Half-Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.

[Lane is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, Algernon enters.]

Algernon. Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

Lane. I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.

Algernon. I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—any one can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.

Lane. Yes, sir.

Algernon. And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

What sentence from the passage best shows that this is a play?

• The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished.

• [ Lane is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, Algernon enters.]

• Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

• And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

GEORGE HENDERSON (Attorney)

HENRY PETERS (Sheriff)

LEWIS HALE, A neighboring farmer

MRS PETERS

MRS HALE

SCENE: The kitchen is the now abandoned farmhouse of JOHN WRIGHT, a gloomy kitchen. At the rear, the outer door opens and the SHERIFF comes in followed by the ATTORNEY and HALE.

ATTORNEY: (rubbing his hands) This feels good. Come up to the fire, ladies.

MRS PETERS: (after taking a step forward) I'm not—cold.

Which of these best explains why this passage is a play?

• It has stage directions to tell the actors how to perform their parts.

• It has many different characters in it.

• It is written in complete sentences instead of verses.

• It does very little to describe the setting in which it takes place.

The easiest way to identify prose on the page is that prose sections appear as full blocks of text, while verse is broken into lines, which all start with capital letters.

• True

• False