Language Arts Diagnostic Test

Which is a complete sentence?

• Because night fell.
• Jim ate the sandwich.
• On a tree-lined path.
• In our neck of the woods

Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

• In the dead of night. The van pulled up.
• Chuck would not, give Jaime the seat.
• Over coffee and toast, Kelly told me about her new job.
• Lemonade. My favorite drink.

Which sentence uses a conjunction correctly?

• I cannot play in the game until I practice more.
• I hid in the basement my brother was mad at me.
• Victor erased the answering machine message Nora would not find out.
• She scored a goal won the game.

If these four sentences were in the same paragraph, which would be the topic sentence?

• He was born in 1818.
• He was educated in the universities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
• In 1852, he abandoned poetry and drama and devoted himself to fiction.
• Ivan Turgenev was a critically acclaimed Russian author.

Identify the correct verb form to fill in the blank:
Laura and her friend ________ for their trip to Peru in an hour.

• leaves
• leave

Which of the following sentences uses correct punctuation?

• The Little League baseball fields near San Diego California are clean and well-lit.
• The Little League baseball fields near San Diego, California, are clean and well-lit.
• The Little League baseball fields near San Diego, California are clean and well-lit.
• The Little League baseball fields near San Diego, California are clean, and well-lit.

Giving human characteristics to nonhuman object or animals is an example of what type of figurative language?

• Personification

• Onomatopoeia

• Hyperbole

• Metaphor

Assonance is...

• Strong repeated pattern of sound

• Repetition of internal consonant sounds (ex. Pass me the glass, missy

• repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words (big, baby blue eyes)

• Repetition of internal vowel sounds (ex. It sounded like the cows and the hounds were around

Allusion is...

• Giving non-living objects, human-like characteristics (ex. My engine whined)

• Referring to an outside source, often for comparison (ex. Mr. Gareau is as angry as the Incredible Hulk)

• ·       Exaggeration, for effect (ex. I have a mountain of homework)

• ·       Correspondence of sound between the ends of words (ex. Sun and fun)

Alliteration is...

• words in which the final consonant sounds are alike and the words echo each other (laugh, cough)

• Repetition of internal vowel sounds (ex. It sounded like the cows and the hounds were around

• Repetition of internal consonant sounds (ex. Pass me the glass, missy) 

• repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words (big, baby blue eyes)