Praxis 5511 Practice Test
Question 1 of 5.
Extract:Although the fire was burning up briskly, she was surprised to see that her visitor still wore his hat and coat, standing with his back to her and staring out of the window at the falling snow in the yard. His gloved hands were clasped behind him, and he seemed to be lost in thought. She noticed that the melting snow that still sprinkled his shoulders dripped upon her carpet. "Can I take your hat and coat, sir? "she said, "and give them a good dry in the kitchen?†"No." he said without turning. -H. G. Wells, from The Invisible Man
The description of the setting implies that the visitor
A. is waiting to be served a meal
B. will soon be going outside again
C. is concerned about the melting snow
D. has been inside long enough to be warm
Explanation: The visitor's retention of his hat and coat, despite the warm fire, suggests he intends to leave soon, as he has not settled in.
Question 2 of 5.
A teacher is a person who is patient. A teacher is dedicated. A teacher helps others. Which of the following revisions to the sentence best demonstrates parallel structure?
A. A teacher is a person who is patient, dedicated, and helpful.
B. A teacher is patient, likes to be dedicated, and to help.
C. A teacher is a person who is patient, dedicated, and likes to help.
D. A teacher is patient, dedicated, and helps.
Explanation: Option A maintains parallel structure by using three adjectives (patient, dedicated, helpful) in a consistent form, describing the teacher uniformly.
Question 3 of 5.
Extract:The following excerpt is from the introduction to The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday. Once there was a lot of sound in my grandmother's house, a lot of coming and going, feasting and talk. The summers there were full of excitement and reunion. The Kiowas are a summer people; they abide the cold and keep to themselves, but when the season turns and the land becomes warm and vital they cannot hold still; an old love of going returns upon them.
The 'old love of going' mentioned in the last line of the passage most likely refers to the
A. Kiowas' fondness for traveling during the summer
B. Kiowas' fondness for spending summer in solitary contemplation
C. tendency of the Kiowas to leave their houses during the winter months
D. speaker's desire to go to his grandmother's house during the summer
Explanation: The passage describes the Kiowas' excitement and movement in summer, indicating their 'old love of going' refers to their tendency to travel during this season.
Question 4 of 5.
Which of the following sentences would be most likely to begin an essay intended to explain?
A. Even though mobile phones are seen as more convenient, there are many advantages to maintaining a landline.
B. It always calmed my nerves when my father sat on the back porch drinking tea from a flowered mug and humming 'Old Man River.'
C. Negative political ads should not be not used in campaigns because they fail to give the public any reliable evidence about candidates.
D. In order to train dogs to listen to your commands, you must set up a system that rewards their positive responses.
Explanation: Option D introduces a process (training dogs) with a clear intent to explain how to achieve a goal, fitting the purpose of an explanatory essay.
Question 5 of 5.
Extract:The following is an excerpt from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939), a novel depicting the plight of migrant workers during the Great Depression. In the passage, Tom Joad and his family have reached a government-sponsored tent camp where many migrant workers have settled. Tom is walking and surveying the camp in the early morning. The ground of the street had been swept and sprinkled. From the tents came the snores of sleeping people. The whole camp buzzed and snorted. Tom walked slowly. He neared Number Four Sanitary Unit and he looked at it curiously, an unpainted building, low and rough. Under a roof, but open at the sides, the rows of wash trays. He sawthe Joad truck standing near by, and went quietly toward it. The tarpaulin was pitched and the camp was quiet. As he drew near a figure moved from the shadow of the truck and came toward him. Ma said softly, "That you, Tom? "Yeah." "Sh!" she said. "They're all asleep. They was tar'd out." "You ought to be asleep too," Tom said.
Which of the following best describes a primary purpose of the imagery in the passage?
A. It suggests the hardship faced by the characters.
B. It highlights character traits through interactions with the environment.
C. It resolves a tension between old and new ways of life.
Explanation: The imagery of the rough, unpainted sanitary unit and the exhausted, sleeping camp suggests the harsh conditions and hardship faced by the migrant workers.