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Fog · Class 10 English · First Flight Poetry: 135 MCQs with answers

All 135 multiple-choice questions from this kit, free and with no sign-up.

Full kit · everything Flashcards · 60 Quick Revision · 36

Warm-up · 10 questions

Q1. Who wrote this poem, and what is unusual about its length?

Beginner
A Robert Frost — and it is the longest in the book B Adrienne Rich — and it has five stanzas C Robin Klein — and it has seven stanzas D Carl Sandburg — and it is only six lines long
Show answer & explanation

Carl Sandburg — and it is only six lines long

Twenty-one words in all.

Q2. The textbook's very first question about this poem can be answered in a single word. What does Sandburg think the fog is like?

Beginner
A A cat B A blanket C A ghost D A river
Show answer & explanation

A cat

And the rest of the answer proves it.

Q3. The poem's second line gives the manner of the fog's arrival in four words. According to the poem, how does it arrive?

Beginner
A On a cold wind B Rolling down from the hills C With the evening tide D On little cat feet
Show answer & explanation

On little cat feet

A set textbook question.

Q4. What does the word 'it' in the third line of the poem refer to?

Beginner
A The cat B The fog C The harbour D The city
Show answer & explanation

The fog

A set textbook question.

Q5. The textbook glosses exactly one expression in this poem, and it describes a posture rather than a movement. What does it mean?

Beginner
A Standing on the front paws B Lying flat on the ground C Sitting with the knees bent D Crouching ready to spring
Show answer & explanation

Sitting with the knees bent

The poem's only glossed expression.

Q6. The poem supplies its creature with something enormous to gaze at, and does it in three words. What has the fog been given to look out over?

Beginner
A Fields and woods B Hills and valleys C Rooftops and gardens D Harbour and city
Show answer & explanation

Harbour and city

Something enormous, supplied in three words.

Q7. After the long middle of the poem, the whole departure is given in three words. How does the poem describe it?

Beginner
A It is blown away by the wind B It moves on C The sun burns it off D It sinks into the harbour
Show answer & explanation

It moves on

Three words, and no explanation.

Q8. Having distinguished the two devices from each other, apply the distinction to the six lines of this poem. Which does it use?

Beginner
A Simile B Metaphor C Both equally D Neither
Show answer & explanation

Metaphor

There is no 'like' or 'as' anywhere in it.

Q9. The last of the set questions on this poem asks about its sound rather than its meaning. Does it have a rhyme scheme?

Beginner
A Yes — it rhymes quite steadily in couplets all the way through B Yes — it rhymes abab C Only the last two lines rhyme D No — none of the line endings chime with each other
Show answer & explanation

No — none of the line endings chime with each other

Comes, feet, looking, city, haunches, on.

Q10. Does this poem have a rhyme scheme? Answer fully.

Beginner
Show answer & explanation

—

Building up · 38 questions

Q11. Explaining that phrase in your own words, how does the fog come?

Intermediate
A Suddenly and violently, in a single visible rush B Slowly and noisily C Silently, softly and without being noticed D Only after dark
Show answer & explanation

Silently, softly and without being noticed

Quotation and explanation together make a full answer.

Q12. A student answers that question by saying 'the cat'. Why is that wrong?

Intermediate
A The cat is named only once, in the poem's last line B There is no actual cat anywhere in the poem C The cat is mentioned but does nothing D Nothing is wrong with it
Show answer & explanation

There is no actual cat anywhere in the poem

Only cat behaviour, given to the fog.

Q13. Having arrived silently, the fog spends the whole middle of the poem doing one thing only. What is it?

Intermediate
A Spreads through the streets B Sits looking over harbour and city C Climbs the hills behind the town D Waits for the wind
Show answer & explanation

Sits looking over harbour and city

The middle two lines.

Q14. A student explains 'haunches' as the animal's paws. What is the correction?

Intermediate
A Haunches are the ears B Haunches are the whiskers C The word is not glossed anywhere in the textbook, so either reading can be accepted here D Haunches are the hind quarters — the poem means sitting with the knees bent
Show answer & explanation

Haunches are the hind quarters — the poem means sitting with the knees bent

Not the feet.

Q15. The fourth set question asks about a comparison every reader is certain has been made. Does the poet actually say it?

Intermediate
A Yes, the comparison is made openly in the poem's second line B Yes, in the last line C Only in the title D No — there is no 'like' and no 'as' anywhere in the poem
Show answer & explanation

No — there is no 'like' and no 'as' anywhere in the poem

A set textbook question.

Q16. Which three things tell us the fog is like a cat?

Intermediate
A The little cat feet, the silent haunches, and the moving on B The colour of it, the size of it, and the temperature of the air C The harbour, the city, and the sky D The title, the first line, and the last word
Show answer & explanation

The little cat feet, the silent haunches, and the moving on

Arrival, posture, departure.

Q17. Which sequence of verbs gives the shape of the poem?

Intermediate
A Rises, spreads, falls B Waits, watches, attacks C Comes, sits, moves on D Arrives, speaks, leaves
Show answer & explanation

Comes, sits, moves on

A complete visit in six lines.

Q18. A student writes that the fog is blown away at the end of the poem. What is wrong?

Intermediate
A The fog never leaves B Nothing drives it off — it moves on of its own accord C The poem does not mention the ending D It is the cat that leaves at the end, not the fog itself
Show answer & explanation

Nothing drives it off — it moves on of its own accord

Which is exactly what makes it cat-like.

Q19. Which statements about the poem are correct? 1. It is six lines long. 2. The word 'cat' appears once. 3. The poem describes a real cat watching the fog.

Intermediate
A 1 and 2 only B 1 and 3 only C 2 and 3 only D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer & explanation

1 and 2 only

There is no cat in the poem at all.

Q20. How should the question about whether the poet says the fog is like a cat be answered?

Intermediate
A Say yes, then quote the poem's second line and explain the comparison made in it B Say the poem is unclear C Say no, point to the absent 'like' and 'as', then give the three behaviours D Describe the harbour and the city
Show answer & explanation

Say no, point to the absent 'like' and 'as', then give the three behaviours

Three steps, in that order.

Q21. If you had to sum up in one sentence what these six lines actually do, which of these would serve best?

Intermediate
A A poet watches a cat on a windowsill during a foggy morning B A city is hidden by fog for a whole day C A cat is described in full and never mentioned as one D A harbour is described in careful detail
Show answer & explanation

A cat is described in full and never mentioned as one

Feet, haunches, moving on.

Q22. What does Sandburg think the fog is like, and how does it come?

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Q23. 'The poet never says the fog is like a cat.' Explain how the comparison is made instead, and why that method works so well.

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the verified absence of 'like' and 'as'; the single occurrence of the word 'cat'; the three behaviours of arrival, posture and departure, each explained; the argument that the reader completes the comparison; and the observation that the poem drops the word…

Q24. Rather than leaving the term to be guessed at, the textbook defines it inside the question. How does it define a metaphor?

Intermediate
A As comparing two things by transferring a feature of one to the other B As a comparison that openly uses the words 'like' or 'as' to join the two C As an exaggeration for effect D As giving human speech to an animal
Show answer & explanation

As comparing two things by transferring a feature of one to the other

Worth memorising in those words.

Q25. Two figures of speech are easily confused, and the difference between them comes down to a single word. What is that difference?

Intermediate
A A simile is always a good deal longer than a metaphor, because it needs that extra comparing word inside it B A simile is used only in prose C A simile uses 'like' or 'as' and keeps the two things separate; a metaphor drops the word and merges them D There is no difference between them
Show answer & explanation

A simile uses 'like' or 'as' and keeps the two things separate; a metaphor drops the word and merges them

The difference is one word, and it changes everything.

Q26. A student calls the poem an extended simile. How should that be corrected?

Intermediate
A A simile needs 'like' or 'as', and the poem contains neither B The poem is altogether too short for any simile to be sustained C Similes are only used about people D Nothing is wrong with the description
Show answer & explanation

A simile needs 'like' or 'as', and the poem contains neither

The commonest error in this section.

Q27. Which row does the textbook complete as a worked example?

Intermediate
A Train — snake — winds through the hills and hisses B Fire — beast — devours and licks C Home — nest — holds and shelters D Storm — tiger — pounces over the fields, growls
Show answer & explanation

Storm — tiger — pounces over the fields, growls

The first row, filled in to show the expected standard.

Q28. Judging by the shape of the worked example, which of these would count as a complete answer for the 'train' row?

Intermediate
A Train — snake B Train — snake — winds through the hills, hisses at the platform C Train — long and very fast — crosses the whole plain, arrives late D Train — like a snake
Show answer & explanation

Train — snake — winds through the hills, hisses at the platform

Noun plus verbs, and no comparing word.

Q29. Some comparisons have been used so often that nobody notices them as comparisons at all. What are they called?

Intermediate
A One about death B One that has been used only once and then quietly abandoned C One so familiar that it no longer transfers anything D One in an old poem
Show answer & explanation

One so familiar that it no longer transfers anything

The foot of a hill; the mouth of a river.

Q30. After the table has been completed, the exercise sets a piece of writing of the student's own. What does it ask for?

Intermediate
A A poem about a storm, comparing it with an animal B A paragraph describing the fog in their own home city C A letter to the poet D A summary of the poem
Show answer & explanation

A poem about a storm, comparing it with an animal

And it gives four instructions for doing it.

Q31. Which animal would suit a storm poem least well?

Intermediate
A A bull B A tiger C A mouse D An elephant
Show answer & explanation

A mouse

It can manage none of the four things required.

Q32. Which statements about the table exercise are correct? 1. The first row is completed for the student. 2. The model row contains two verbs. 3. Students are asked to fill in six more rows.

Intermediate
A 1 and 2 only B 1 and 3 only C 2 and 3 only D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer & explanation

1 and 2 only

Four words are left: train, fire, school, home.

Q33. How should a full answer to the table exercise be written?

Intermediate
A A single word for each row B A complete sentence about each word C A paragraph explaining each of the choices made D A noun and at least two verbs for every row
Show answer & explanation

A noun and at least two verbs for every row

The model row sets the standard.

Q34. Which is the best summary of what this exercise teaches?

Intermediate
A Always use the word 'like' whenever you are comparing any two things at all in a piece of your own writing B Metaphors should be as unusual as possible C Poems about weather must include an animal D Hand the feature over instead of announcing the comparison, and choose one that fits at several points
Show answer & explanation

Hand the feature over instead of announcing the comparison, and choose one that fits at several points

The rule and the example together.

Q35. What is a metaphor, and how does it differ from a simile?

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Q36. Complete the textbook's table of metaphors for train, fire, school and home, and explain in each case how the two things are alike.

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Accept any sensible metaphors; these are suggestions only. Content should include: recognition that the model row contains a noun plus two verbs; four completed rows each with a noun and at least two verbs; an explanation of the likeness in each case; and a closing statement of th…

Q37. Under examination conditions there is one quick and completely conclusive way to establish that answer. What is it?

Intermediate
A Count the syllables in each line B Read the poem aloud twice C List the words at the ends of the six lines D Compare it with another poem in the book
Show answer & explanation

List the words at the ends of the six lines

One line of proof, and it is conclusive.

Q38. Rhyme is not the only thing missing from these six lines, and the other absence matters just as much. What is it?

Intermediate
A Punctuation of any kind at all, from the first word to the last B A title C A regular metre — the lines are of different lengths D Any verbs
Show answer & explanation

A regular metre — the lines are of different lengths

Two of the six lines are only three words long.

Q39. Immediately after asking about the rhyme scheme, the textbook supplies a technical term. How does it define free verse?

Intermediate
A Poetry that is written with no rules of any kind at all B Poetry that does not have an obvious rhythm or rhyme C Poetry written in very short lines D Poetry about nature
Show answer & explanation

Poetry that does not have an obvious rhythm or rhyme

Worth learning word for word.

Q40. A poem with neither rhyme nor a regular beat still has to be organised somehow. What does that job here?

Intermediate
A The punctuation B The capital letters C The line breaks D The title
Show answer & explanation

The line breaks

Six lines, six small movements.

Q41. Students trained to look for a lesson at the end of every text will search this one in vain. Does it draw a moral?

Intermediate
A No — nothing is explained and nobody learns anything B Yes — that people should notice nature C Yes — that cities are polluted D Yes — that cats ought always to be treated with kindness
Show answer & explanation

No — nothing is explained and nobody learns anything

Not even an adjective of approval.

Q42. Which statements about this poem's form are correct? 1. It has no rhyme scheme. 2. It has no regular metre. 3. It has no line breaks of any significance.

Intermediate
A 1 and 2 only B 1 and 3 only C 2 and 3 only D 1, 2 and 3
Show answer & explanation

1 and 2 only

The breaks are the poem's main tool.

Q43. Which pairing of term and definition is correct?

Intermediate
A Free verse — poetry with no rules at all B Rhyme scheme — the number of separate lines within one stanza C Metre — the meaning of a poem D Free verse — poetry without an obvious rhythm or rhyme
Show answer & explanation

Free verse — poetry without an obvious rhythm or rhyme

The textbook's own wording.

Q44. A student claims the poem rhymes because 'feet' and 'city' both end in a similar sound. How should that be answered?

Intermediate
A They rhyme, so the student is right B Only the first and last lines rhyme C They do not rhyme, and no other pair in the poem does either D Rhyme in poetry does not actually need any matching sounds at all
Show answer & explanation

They do not rhyme, and no other pair in the poem does either

Listing the six endings settles it.

Q45. Why is it useful to learn the definition of free verse properly rather than once?

Intermediate
A Because more than one poem in this section is written in it B Because the term appears in very nearly every examination paper C Because the term is difficult to spell D Because it applies only to this poem
Show answer & explanation

Because more than one poem in this section is written in it

The term returns.

Q46. How should a full answer to the rhyme-scheme question be built?

Intermediate
A A summary of the whole poem, and then a full account of the poet's own life and all his times B No; the six endings as proof; the definition of free verse; and why it suits this poem C The metaphor first, then the rhyme D A single word
Show answer & explanation

No; the six endings as proof; the definition of free verse; and why it suits this poem

Four steps, and the last is what lifts it.

Q47. Which single sentence best captures what has been shown here about the poem's form?

Intermediate
A A history of free verse as it developed within American poetry as a whole B No rhyme, no beat and no moral — and the line breaks doing all the work C An argument that poems should always rhyme D A list of the poem's punctuation marks
Show answer & explanation

No rhyme, no beat and no moral — and the line breaks doing all the work

Three absences and one technique.

Q48. Discuss the use of line breaks in this poem, and show what each one is doing.

Intermediate
Show answer & explanation

—

Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the claim that line breaks replace rhyme in free verse; close analysis of the first break and the effect of the cat arriving at a line opening; the test of imagining the words as one sentence; the middle breaks delaying view and posture; a defence of that o…

Topper level · 87 questions

Q49. Thinking about how fog actually behaves in a city, why is the comparison with a cat so exact?

Advanced
A Fog is usually grey, like many cats B Fog only appears late at night, which is also the time when cats are most active C Nobody ever sees fog arrive — you look out and it is simply there D Fog is often found near harbours where cats live
Show answer & explanation

Nobody ever sees fog arrive — you look out and it is simply there

No knock, no noise, and suddenly it is in the room.

Q50. Only one adjective is attached to the feet in the poem's second line, and it repays attention. Why is 'little' worth pausing on?

Advanced
A It tells the reader that the animal being described is a very young kitten indeed B It shows the fog is thin C It is the only adjective in the poem D Fog is enormous, yet it arrives on the smallest part of a small animal
Show answer & explanation

Fog is enormous, yet it arrives on the smallest part of a small animal

A contrast doing real work in one word.

Q51. Given how rarely the poem names its subject, why is the question about 'it' worth asking?

Advanced
A The word 'fog' never returns after the first line, so everything afterwards is 'it' B The word 'it' appears four separate times, more often than any other word in the whole poem C The poem has two different subjects D The pronoun is in the wrong place
Show answer & explanation

The word 'fog' never returns after the first line, so everything afterwards is 'it'

And the reader half expects it to be the cat.

Q52. Taking 'sits' and 'haunches' together, what picture do they create?

Advanced
A A cat stretched out asleep by a fire, with its paws tucked underneath it B A cat hunting in long grass C A cat running from a dog D A cat on a windowsill — settled, still, gazing out at everything
Show answer & explanation

A cat on a windowsill — settled, still, gazing out at everything

Two words, and the posture is complete.

Q53. Why does that detail matter to the poem's picture?

Advanced
A It tells us which country the poem is set in B A harbour and a city are what a large animal would survey from a height C It explains where the fog first came from and which direction it will travel next D It shows that the fog is damaging the port
Show answer & explanation

A harbour and a city are what a large animal would survey from a height

Scale supplied, and then dropped.

Q54. Why is that ending the most cat-like thing in the poem?

Advanced
A It leaves at exactly the same time each day B It leaves because the rising of the morning sun has frightened it away again C It leaves because somebody chases it D Nothing drives it away — it leaves when it is ready and explains nothing
Show answer & explanation

Nothing drives it away — it leaves when it is ready and explains nothing

A cat that has finished sitting does not explain itself either.

Q55. What does Sandburg do instead of comparing the two things directly?

Advanced
A He describes a cat in the first half and fog in the second B He names the cat in a footnote C He gives the fog a cat's feet, posture and manners, and stops D He asks the reader a question
Show answer & explanation

He gives the fog a cat's feet, posture and manners, and stops

The reader assembles the cat without being told to.

Q56. Of everything a fog and a cat might have in common, one quality runs through every line of this poem. Which?

Advanced
A Colour B Coldness C Silence D Speed
Show answer & explanation

Silence

Everything else grows out of it.

Q57. Assertion (A): The poem contains no simile. Reason (R): Sandburg never uses 'like' or 'as'; he simply gives the fog a cat's behaviour and lets the reader draw the comparison.

Advanced
A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A C A is true, but R is false D A is false, but R is true
Show answer & explanation

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

The fourth set question, in another form.

Q58. Which pairing of detail and cat-like behaviour is correct?

Advanced
A Silent haunches — a cat sitting and watching B Little cat feet — a cat running away C Moves on — a cat being chased off D Harbour and city — a cat's hunting ground
Show answer & explanation

Silent haunches — a cat sitting and watching

The other three misdescribe the poem.

Q59. Which everyday sight matches the poem's middle two lines exactly?

Advanced
A A cat chasing a small bird the whole way across a walled garden B A cat curled asleep in a basket C A cat drinking from a saucer D A cat on a windowsill with its knees bent, gazing out
Show answer & explanation

A cat on a windowsill with its knees bent, gazing out

Settled, still, interested in none of it.

Q60. What is notable about the sounds described in this poem?

Advanced
A There are none — nothing in it is heard, only seen B The fog is described as roaring C Ships' horns are mentioned in the line about the harbour D The cat is described as purring
Show answer & explanation

There are none — nothing in it is heard, only seen

Silence is the link between the two things.

Q61. How many sentences does the poem contain, and what does each do?

Advanced
A Three — arrival, pause and departure B One long sentence describing the fog C Six, one for each line D Two, both about the harbour
Show answer & explanation

Three — arrival, pause and departure

A complete visit, and nothing missing from it.

Q62. What would be lost if the poet added a line explaining that fog is like a cat?

Advanced
A The poem's rhyme scheme, which depends upon the comparison being left unstated B The reader's own act of recognition, which is what makes the poem work C The description of the harbour D Nothing at all
Show answer & explanation

The reader's own act of recognition, which is what makes the poem work

Showing, not comparing.

Q63. Why does the poem never repeat the word 'fog' after the first line?

Advanced
A Because by then the fog and the cat have become the same thing B Because the poet had already run out of space in such a very short poem C Because the fog has already left D Because the word appears in the title
Show answer & explanation

Because by then the fog and the cat have become the same thing

The pronoun is doing the work of both.

Q64. Which is the strongest single observation to make about the last line?

Advanced
A The line is by some way the shortest in the poem, and deliberately so B Nothing causes the departure — the fog goes because it chooses to C The line does not rhyme D The line mentions the city
Show answer & explanation

Nothing causes the departure — the fog goes because it chooses to

The most cat-like thing in the poem.

Q65. What does the poem achieve that a longer description of fog could not?

Advanced
A It lists the causes of fog B It makes the reader see the whole visit at once, with nothing explained C It teaches the geography of a working harbour and of the city that lies beside it D It compares several kinds of weather
Show answer & explanation

It makes the reader see the whole visit at once, with nothing explained

Twenty-one words, and a complete event.

Q66. Why does the poem give its subject a visit rather than a description?

Advanced
A Because a visit is a great deal easier for a poet to describe convincingly than the weather is B Because the poet was writing about a real guest C Because a visit has a beginning, a middle and an end, so six lines can hold a whole event D Because fog is only found in cities
Show answer & explanation

Because a visit has a beginning, a middle and an end, so six lines can hold a whole event

Comes, sits, moves on.

Q67. What does 'it' in the third line refer to, and why is the question worth asking?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

—

Q68. Does the poet ever state the comparison outright? Give three things in the poem that tell us the fog is a cat.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

—

Q69. Describe the picture created by the middle two lines of the poem.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

—

Q70. Why is the last line of the poem so effective?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

—

Q71. What holds this very short poem together?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

—

Q72. 'Six lines, and nothing missing from them.' Examine how much this poem achieves in its very small space.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

—

Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the three-sentence shape as a complete visit; the arrival explained and the force of 'little'; the middle two lines with 'haunches' glossed and the picture described; the three-word departure with nothing causing it; silence as the unifying quality; and the…

Q73. Write six lines of your own about some other kind of weather, using the method of this poem, and then explain what you imitated. About 120–150 words in all.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

—

Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Accept any six lines on any weather, with any animal. Content should include: verse that gives the weather an animal's behaviour without stating a comparison; and an explanation naming at least three features imitated — the absence of 'like' or 'as', the three-movement shape, a po…

Q74. Why does the textbook place its lesson on metaphor immediately after this poem?

Advanced
A Because the poem is a good deal too difficult to understand alone B Because the poem contains several similes C Because the poem is the example and the exercise is the rule D Because the next chapter needs the term
Show answer & explanation

Because the poem is the example and the exercise is the rule

They belong together.

Q75. Students often ask whether personification is a third device standing alongside metaphor and simile. Where does it actually fit?

Advanced
A It is a kind of metaphor — one in which the transferred feature belongs to something alive B It is the exact opposite of a metaphor, since it takes a feature away rather than giving one C It is a kind of simile D It has nothing to do with either
Show answer & explanation

It is a kind of metaphor — one in which the transferred feature belongs to something alive

A subtype, not a separate device.

Q76. Looking closely at the shape of that model row, what does it contain besides the noun?

Advanced
A An adjective B A second noun C A full sentence D Two verbs
Show answer & explanation

Two verbs

Pounces over the fields, and growls.

Q77. The model row in the table could have stopped at the word 'tiger', and it does not. Why are the verbs the important part?

Advanced
A Verbs are always a great deal more important than nouns B They supply the rhyme C They make the row longer D A metaphor is judged by what it lets you say next
Show answer & explanation

A metaphor is judged by what it lets you say next

The noun alone is only a label.

Q78. Remembering that a row needs verbs as well as a noun, which of these best completes the 'fire' row?

Advanced
A Fire — hot and very bright — burns the wood, warms the room, gives off light B Fire — a wild beast — devours a house, licks the walls, will not be tamed C Fire — a candle — flickers D Fire — red and yellow
Show answer & explanation

Fire — a wild beast — devours a house, licks the walls, will not be tamed

Three verbs, all of them animal.

Q79. Which of these best completes the 'school' row?

Advanced
A School — a building — stands in a street and opens each morning B School — a book — is opened and closed C School — a beehive — hums all morning, everybody at a job D School — busy — five days a week
Show answer & explanation

School — a beehive — hums all morning, everybody at a job

Sound and business together.

Q80. Which of these best completes the 'home' row?

Advanced
A Home — a house — has rooms B Home — comfortable — people live there and keep coming back to it C Home — a nest — holds you, is returned to, is eventually left D Home — a shelter — keeps out rain
Show answer & explanation

Home — a nest — holds you, is returned to, is eventually left

Three stages, and all three belong to both things.

Q81. Two students offer different metaphors for the same word, and one of them is clearly better. What makes one stronger?

Advanced
A The length of the words used B Whether the comparison is unusual enough to surprise an ordinary reader C Whether an animal is involved D The number of separate points at which the two things genuinely match
Show answer & explanation

The number of separate points at which the two things genuinely match

One match runs out in half a line.

Q82. Counting the separate respects in which the two things genuinely match, how many correspondences do fog and cat share?

Advanced
A Two B Three C Five D Eight
Show answer & explanation

Five

Silence, softness, stillness, unnoticed arrival, unexplained departure.

Q83. Which of these is NOT one of the things fog and cat share in the poem?

Advanced
A Silence B Stillness C An unnoticed arrival D Colour
Show answer & explanation

Colour

The poem never mentions colour at all.

Q84. Why does this poem never have to strain its comparison?

Advanced
A Because the poem is short B Because fog and cats are both common C Because the poet carefully explains the whole comparison in the poem's very last line D Because the two things match at so many points that six lines cannot exhaust them
Show answer & explanation

Because the two things match at so many points that six lines cannot exhaust them

Five correspondences, six lines.

Q85. Three of these four phrases are still doing the work of a comparison, and one stopped doing it long ago. Which?

Advanced
A The fog on little cat feet B The foot of a hill C A storm that pounces over the fields D A school that hums all morning
Show answer & explanation

The foot of a hill

Nobody notices it as a comparison any more.

Q86. Why does 'time is money' add very little to a sentence?

Advanced
A It is worn out, so it has stopped transferring anything B It compares two abstract things, which never works very well C It is not really a metaphor D It is too short
Show answer & explanation

It is worn out, so it has stopped transferring anything

The opposite of Sandburg's cat.

Q87. Which four things does that question tell students to do?

Advanced
A Rhyme it, scan it, punctuate it and then give the finished poem a proper title of its own B Visualise the force, hear the sound, feel the power, notice the calm afterwards C Read, copy, memorise and recite D Name, describe, compare and conclude
Show answer & explanation

Visualise the force, hear the sound, feel the power, notice the calm afterwards

The question contains its own marking scheme.

Q88. Why should the animal be chosen last when planning that poem?

Advanced
A Because animals are hard to think of B Because the storm itself must always be described first, as a strict matter of textbook rule C Because the textbook forbids choosing early D Because the creature must be able to do all four of the things you were told to notice
Show answer & explanation

Because the creature must be able to do all four of the things you were told to notice

Arrives, roars, flattens a field, goes quiet.

Q89. A student about to write that storm poem has just studied six lines which demonstrate the method. What advice do they give?

Advanced
A Keep the whole poem to exactly six lines, just as the one you have studied was written B Use rhyme throughout C Do not say the storm is like a tiger — give it paws and let the reader do the rest D Begin and end with the same word
Show answer & explanation

Do not say the storm is like a tiger — give it paws and let the reader do the rest

Twenty-one words have just demonstrated the method.

Q90. Assertion (A): This poem contains no simile. Reason (R): Sandburg's poem is six lines long and was written in free verse.

Advanced
A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A C A is true, but R is false D A is false, but R is true
Show answer & explanation

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Both are true, but the length and the form are not what makes the poem a metaphor rather than a simile.

Q91. Which pairing of term and description is correct?

Advanced
A Personification — a metaphor using the features of a living thing B Simile — a comparison which uses no comparing word of any kind at all C Metaphor — a comparison using 'as' D Dead metaphor — one used for the first time
Show answer & explanation

Personification — a metaphor using the features of a living thing

The other three reverse their definitions.

Q92. Which everyday kind of language runs almost entirely on metaphor?

Advanced
A Legal contracts, in which every term is defined before it is ever used B Sports commentary, where teams devour opponents and defences crumble C Railway timetables D Dictionary definitions
Show answer & explanation

Sports commentary, where teams devour opponents and defences crumble

Most of it half-dead, and nobody notices.

Q93. Why do weather reports say that storms batter, lash and howl?

Advanced
A Every one of those verbs belongs to an animal or a person, and metaphor is the natural way to describe weather B Because those are the precise technical terms which professional meteorologists are trained to use when broadcasting C Because storms literally make those sounds D Because the words are shorter than the alternatives
Show answer & explanation

Every one of those verbs belongs to an animal or a person, and metaphor is the natural way to describe weather

The textbook's exercise is describing something people do every day.

Q94. What would be lost if Sandburg had written that the fog came in like a cat?

Advanced
A The description of the harbour and of the whole city lying below it on the water B The length of the poem C The merging of the two things, and the reader's own act of recognition D Nothing at all
Show answer & explanation

The merging of the two things, and the reader's own act of recognition

A simile keeps them separate; a metaphor does not.

Q95. Which is the best test of a metaphor before you commit to it?

Advanced
A Ask whether it rhymes B Ask how many things the two share, and stop if the answer is one C Ask whether anybody else has ever happened to use it before now, anywhere D Ask whether it is about an animal
Show answer & explanation

Ask how many things the two share, and stop if the answer is one

Three or four matches will carry a poem.

Q96. Why does the exercise ask for a poem rather than a paragraph about the storm?

Advanced
A Because poems are shorter B Because a poem forces the writer to choose images rather than explain them C Because a storm simply cannot be described properly in any ordinary prose at all D Because the chapter is about rhyme
Show answer & explanation

Because a poem forces the writer to choose images rather than explain them

Which is exactly what Sandburg has just demonstrated.

Q97. What single question separates a strong table row from a weak one?

Advanced
A Is this particular comparison a pretty-sounding one? B What can I say next, using this comparison? C Has anybody used this before? D Does this word rhyme with the first?
Show answer & explanation

What can I say next, using this comparison?

Hence the two verbs in the model.

Q98. Which device does this poem use, and how can you prove it?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q99. Look at the row the textbook completes for you. What does it tell you about the expected answer?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q100. What makes one metaphor better than another?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q101. How would you plan the poem about a storm that the exercise asks for?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q102. Where does personification fit among these terms?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q103. Explain what a metaphor is, using this poem as your example, and show why the device suits it better than a simile would.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: the textbook's definition; the distinction from a simile by the comparing word; the proof from this poem that no 'like' or 'as' appears; the three cat behaviours; at least two reasons why metaphor suits the poem better; and the counting of correspondences.…

Q104. Write a short poem about a storm, comparing it with an animal, and then explain the choices you made. About 120–150 words in all.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Accept any poem on a storm using any animal. Content should include: verse addressing all four of the question's instructions — force, sound, power, and the calm afterwards; and an explanation identifying where each appears. Credit strongly any answer that, following the poem stud…

Q105. A student defines free verse as poetry written without any rules whatever. Why does that definition lose marks?

Advanced
A Only rhyme and metre are given up; word choice, images and line breaks remain under control B Free verse actually has a great many more and stricter rules than ordinary rhymed verse does C Free verse must still rhyme occasionally D Nothing is wrong with the definition
Show answer & explanation

Only rhyme and metre are given up; word choice, images and line breaks remain under control

And in this poem the control is very tight.

Q106. Before deciding whether rhyme would have suited this poem, consider its ordinary effect. What does rhyme do to a reader?

Advanced
A It creates a pattern, so the ear begins waiting for the next chime B It slows the reading down C It makes the whole poem a good deal harder to understand properly at all D It removes the need for punctuation
Show answer & explanation

It creates a pattern, so the ear begins waiting for the next chime

A reader of rhymed verse is always half a line ahead.

Q107. Given what rhyme does to a reader's expectations, why would that effect be quite wrong for this particular poem?

Advanced
A The poem is too short for rhyme B Rhyme is never used about weather C The poem is about something that arrives unnoticed, and a predictable form would undo its subject D The poet did not happen to know how to rhyme properly at the time when he first came to write this one
Show answer & explanation

The poem is about something that arrives unnoticed, and a predictable form would undo its subject

A rhymed poem about silence would contradict itself.

Q108. Which sentence best turns the free-verse fact into a piece of criticism?

Advanced
A The poem is written throughout in what is called free verse B The poem has six lines C The fog announces nothing, and the verse announces nothing D The poet was American
Show answer & explanation

The fog announces nothing, and the verse announces nothing

Form agreeing with subject.

Q109. Which line break in the poem matters most?

Advanced
A The break coming immediately before the poem's very last line B The break after 'city' C The first — between 'the fog comes' and 'on little cat feet' D There are no significant breaks
Show answer & explanation

The first — between 'the fog comes' and 'on little cat feet'

The animal arrives at the opening of a line.

Q110. The animal could have appeared anywhere in the sentence, and the poem puts it at the opening of a line. Why?

Advanced
A The first line is always the most important B It makes the poem look neater C It gives the cat two lines instead of one D A surprise lands hardest at the start of a line
Show answer & explanation

A surprise lands hardest at the start of a line

The reader is held for an instant on an ordinary weather statement.

Q111. Imagine the poem's first seven words printed straight through as one perfectly ordinary sentence. What would be lost?

Advanced
A The plain meaning of the whole sentence, which would change entirely as a result B The metaphor itself C Nothing at all D The pause before the cat, so the animal would appear in the middle of a phrase
Show answer & explanation

The pause before the cat, so the animal would appear in the middle of a phrase

Same words, quite a different poem.

Q112. What do the breaks in the middle of the poem achieve?

Advanced
A They make all of the poem's lines come out at very nearly the same length as one another B They separate the two sentences C They mark the rhyme D The view arrives before the posture, in the order somebody would really notice a cat
Show answer & explanation

The view arrives before the posture, in the order somebody would really notice a cat

'It sits looking' is held back from what it is looking at.

Q113. Of the six lines in this poem, the last is separated from everything before it. Why does it stand alone?

Advanced
A So that the departure is separated from everything before it B Because it is the shortest line C Because the poem has simply run out of its subject by that point D To complete the rhyme
Show answer & explanation

So that the departure is separated from everything before it

What a full stop and a paragraph would do in prose.

Q114. Granted that nothing whatever is taught in these six lines, why is that absence not a fault?

Advanced
A Because short poems are exempt B Because the moral appears in the title C Because describing something exactly is enough, as it is in a photograph D Because morals had become quite unfashionable among the poets of that time
Show answer & explanation

Because describing something exactly is enough, as it is in a photograph

The poem makes you see fog arriving, and stops.

Q115. Suppose an examination question insists on a theme for this poem. What is the best thing a student can write?

Advanced
A Subject: the fog's visit. Method: metaphor. Achievement: exactness rather than instruction B That the poem warns against pollution C That the poem is about loneliness in cities D That the poem has no theme whatever, and then simply refuse to answer the question on principle
Show answer & explanation

Subject: the fog's visit. Method: metaphor. Achievement: exactness rather than instruction

True, and better than an invented message.

Q116. Which comparison best explains what this poem is doing?

Advanced
A A sermon B A photograph — nobody asks what its moral is C A news report of the most ordinary daily kind D A letter
Show answer & explanation

A photograph — nobody asks what its moral is

It shows a thing exactly, and stops.

Q117. Why do most song lyrics rhyme when this poem does not?

Advanced
A Songs are longer than poems B Rhyme helps a listener predict and remember, which is the opposite of what this poem wants C Rhyme is a good deal easier to sing aloud than it ever is to read on a printed page in a book D Poems in books never rhyme
Show answer & explanation

Rhyme helps a listener predict and remember, which is the opposite of what this poem wants

This poem wants nothing predicted at all.

Q118. Assertion (A): Free verse is the right form for this poem. Reason (R): The poem is built on a strict rhyme scheme which Sandburg keeps to in every line.

Advanced
A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A C A is true, but R is false D A is false, but R is true
Show answer & explanation

A is true, but R is false

The poem has no rhyme scheme at all; that is the point of it. The assertion holds, the reason is false.

Q119. Counting the words in each of the six lines separately, how many of them are only three words long?

Advanced
A One B Two C Four D None
Show answer & explanation

Two

Which is part of why no beat establishes itself.

Q120. Taking the absence of rhyme together with what the poem actually describes, what is the relationship between form and subject?

Advanced
A They agree — an unannounced visitor described in verse that announces nothing B They conflict with one another, and the poem is a good deal weaker for it as a result C The form is traditional and the subject modern D There is no relationship between them
Show answer & explanation

They agree — an unannounced visitor described in verse that announces nothing

The sentence worth having in an answer.

Q121. Which is the strongest single addition to an answer about the poem's form?

Advanced
A Stating the exact number of words the poet used in the poem B Naming the poet's country C Listing the punctuation marks D Naming the first line break and saying what it does
Show answer & explanation

Naming the first line break and saying what it does

It shows the breaks are being read, not just counted.

Q122. Across six lines, three sentences and twenty-one words, what is notable about the amount of explanation offered?

Advanced
A The poet carefully explains the whole metaphor in the poem's very last line of all B A footnote explains the comparison C The title explains the poem D There is none — nobody in it thinks or speaks, and nothing is commented on
Show answer & explanation

There is none — nobody in it thinks or speaks, and nothing is commented on

Six lines, and not one word of comment.

Q123. The middle of the poem could have given the posture before the view, and does not. Which order does it follow?

Advanced
A The posture, then the action, then the view B The action, then the view, then the posture C The view, then the posture, then the action D All three arrive in one line
Show answer & explanation

The action, then the view, then the posture

It sits looking / over harbour and city / on silent haunches.

Q124. Why is that order the right one?

Advanced
A It puts the poem's longest line right in the very middle of the whole thing B It is the order in which somebody would actually notice a cat on a sill C It matches the rhyme scheme D It keeps the poem to six lines
Show answer & explanation

It is the order in which somebody would actually notice a cat on a sill

The poem could have given the body first.

Q125. What does the poem gain by refusing to comment on what it describes?

Advanced
A The poem becomes shorter B The poem is easier to translate C The poem manages to avoid being about the weather in any way whatever D The reader sees the thing itself instead of the poet's opinion of it
Show answer & explanation

The reader sees the thing itself instead of the poet's opinion of it

Exactness rather than instruction.

Q126. Which everyday form is this poem closest to?

Advanced
A A news bulletin read out loud on air B A recipe C A short film with no dialogue D A letter of complaint
Show answer & explanation

A short film with no dialogue

Three movements, and nothing said.

Q127. What would a rhymed version of this poem inevitably lose?

Advanced
A The cat B The quietness — rhyme would announce every line C The harbour and the whole of the city lying below it D Its length
Show answer & explanation

The quietness — rhyme would announce every line

And quietness is the whole subject.

Q128. Why should a student not invent a moral for this poem?

Advanced
A Because morals are never asked for B Because the examiner reading through the script will very probably never read as far down the page as that C Because the poem forbids interpretation D Because an invented message is less accurate than the true answer about its method and achievement
Show answer & explanation

Because an invented message is less accurate than the true answer about its method and achievement

Subject, method, achievement — all three are true.

Q129. Why is free verse the right form for this particular poem?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q130. What is wrong with defining free verse as 'poetry with no rules'?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q131. Show how the line breaks do the work that rhyme would have done.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q132. Does the poem have a moral, and does it need one?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q133. What order do the middle lines follow, and why is it the right one?

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Q134. 'No rhyme, no beat and no moral — and the poem works anyway.' Explain how.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: proof that there is no rhyme, by the line endings; the absence of regular metre; the textbook's definition of free verse; the argument that the form suits the subject; at least two line breaks examined; the absence of any moral and why that is not a fault;…

Q135. A classmate says this poem is not really a poem because it teaches nothing. Write your reply in about 120–150 words.

Advanced
Show answer & explanation

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Content 3 · Expression 2 · Accuracy 1. Content should include: agreement that the poem teaches nothing; an analogy or argument showing why that is not a defect; a specific account of what the poem does achieve; the observation that it refuses to comment or explain; and a closing position. Deduct if the reply invents a…

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