Grade 8 Text Analysis Worksheet
This worksheet helps 8th-grade students practice text analysis skills through a reading passage and various question types.
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Grade 8 Text Analysis Worksheet
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Read the passage below carefully and answer the questions that follow. Pay close attention to details, author's craft, and textual evidence.
Excerpt from 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett
When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another. Her father had held a position under the English Government and had always been too busy and ill himself to remember about her mother. Her mother had been a great beauty who cared only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people. She had not wanted a child at all, and when she found she had one she turned it over to the care of an Ayah, who was told to do everything she could to keep her out of the way. So when Mary was a little girl she was always at the Ayah's side, and as she grew older she spent her time playing by herself in the garden of their bungalow.
1. What is the primary reason for Mary Lennox's 'yellow' complexion?
She was naturally fair-skinned.
She spent too much time in the sun.
She had been born in India and was often ill.
She ate too many yellow fruits.
2. What does the passage suggest about Mary's parents?
They were loving and attentive.
They were often busy and neglected Mary.
They encouraged her independence.
They were always traveling with Mary.
3. Mary Lennox was sent to Manor to live with her uncle.
4. Mary's mother was described as a who cared only to go to parties.
5. Describe Mary Lennox's initial appearance and disposition as portrayed in the passage. Use specific details from the text.
6. How did Mary's parents' lifestyle contribute to her upbringing and personality? Provide textual evidence to support your answer.
7. Mary's father was very involved in her upbringing.
True
False
8. Mary's mother wanted to have a child.
True
False
9. Analyze the author's use of descriptive language to introduce Mary Lennox. How do these initial descriptions shape the reader's understanding of her character and her circumstances? Provide at least two examples of descriptive language and explain their effect.