Holper
Top 10 Errors in Writing
about Literature:
Practice Sheet
1)
What mistake has the writer made here?
In the short story "Blue Winds Dancing," Tom Whitecloud
faces the problem of not belonging in either white society or with his tribe.
Answer:_______________________________________________
2)
What mistake has the writer made here?
In the short story "The Necklace,"
Madame Loisel wrestled with the problem of
materialism.
Answer:_______________________________________________
3)
Correct the following in-text citation:
"At the foot of this hill was a
place where a log was laid across the creek." (139)
4)
Correct the following title:
for Whom The
5)
What should a title do?
Answer:_______________________________________________
6)
What is a protagonist?
Answer:_______________________________________________
7)
What is an antagonist?
Answer:_______________________________________________
8)
What is the definition of irony?
Answer:_______________________________________________
9)
What problem is happening in the following paragraph?
In the short story "What I Have
Been Doing Lately," the narrator describes how
she leaves her home in the morning, has to cross a body of water, encounters a
monkey, and eventually falls in a hole.
At one point, she runs into a figure who
resembles her mother. The mother asks
the narrator a number of questions, to which the narrator gives strange
answers. Eventually this cycle is
repeated.
Answer:_______________________________________________
10)
What is the following error called?
The narrator describes many
obstacles. "A deep hole had opened up before me" (136).
Answer:_______________________________________________
11)
What kind of narrator is the following?
"I see Asalamalakim
[a Muslim greeting] is going through motions with Maggie's hand.... It looks
like Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to
do it fancy. Or maybe he don't know how people shake hands."
Answer:_______________________________________________
12)
What should a first reference to an author include?
Answer:_______________________________________________
13)
How do you indicate the title of a book?
Answer:_______________________________________________
14)
What does QQISA stand for?
Answer:_______________________________________________
15)
What does AHEQI stand for?
Answer:_______________________________________________
16)
What is situational irony?
Answer:_______________________________________________
17)
What type of narrator is the following?
"She was young, with a fair, calm
face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes,
who gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather
indicated a suspension of intelligent thought."
Answer:_______________________________________________
18)
What is the problem in the following paragraph?
In the short story "The Lottery,"
the narrator provides a cautionary tale about what can happen to a society when
it forgets its traditions and only blindly abides by them. The narrator clearly shows how no one in the
village seems to have any inkling of why they practice the lottery. The only explanation of this tradition—and
it's a brief, dismissive reference—is when Old Man Warner mentions a saying
about how when the lottery is done is June, the corn will be heavy soon. This lack of explanation, along with how the
traditions and ceremonies of the lottery itself have been forgotten, show that
the people in the village are only blindly following in the footsteps of their
predecessors.
19)
How do you indicate the title of a short story?
Answer:_______________________________________________
20)
What is the problem with the following paragraph?
Krebs, the protagonist in Hemingway's
story "Soldier's Home," finds that his belief in traditional
institutions has been damaged by his combat experience. For instance, he would like to have a
girlfriend, but tells us that he's reluctant because he recognizes that they
live "in such a complicated world of already defined alliances." Also, he seems to have lost his interest in
work, for he just sits on the porch reading the paper rather than going out and
looking for a job. In addition, he
mistreats his sister, who just wants him to come see her baseball game. He tells her rather indifferently that he may
come—but we sense that this will probably not be the case. And finally, in his confrontational scene
with his mother, he tells her that he has lost faith in God.