Understanding Writer's Effect
This worksheet helps 7th-grade students analyze how authors use literary devices and word choice to create specific effects on the reader.
Includes
Standards
Understanding Writer's Effect
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Read each question carefully and provide thoughtful answers. Pay close attention to how authors use language to create specific effects on the reader.
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
"The old house stood on a lonely hill, its windows like vacant eyes staring out at the stormy sea. A constant, mournful wind whispered through broken panes, carrying with it the scent of salt and decay. Inside, shadows danced with the flickering candlelight, and every creak of the floorboards echoed like a ghostly sigh."
1. What mood does the author create in the passage?
Joyful and exciting
Peaceful and serene
Gloomy and mysterious
Humorous and lighthearted
2. The phrase "windows like vacant eyes" is an example of what literary device?
Metaphor
Simile
Personification
Hyperbole
3. The author uses words like "lonely," "mournful," and "decay" to create a sense of and .
4. When an author uses words that appeal to our senses, like "scent of salt" or "flickering candlelight," they are employing .
5. Identify one example of personification from the passage and explain its effect on the reader.
6. How does the author's choice of verbs (e.g., "whispered," "danced," "echoed") contribute to the overall atmosphere of the passage?
7. An author's purpose is always to entertain the reader.
True
False
8. Diction refers to an author's word choice.
True
False
9. Write a short paragraph describing a bustling city street. Use at least two literary devices (e.g., simile, metaphor, personification, imagery) to create a specific effect on the reader. Underline the literary devices you use.