New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

New Century School

Grade 5 English
Homework Practice 5024b
Name: …………………………………………………

Campus: ………………………………………………

Score: …………………………………………………

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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

Part 1: Vocabulary
Commonly Misused Words

The words below on the left are paired with the word they are most commonly confused with. You may
know these types of words as ‘homophones’ – words that have the same or similar pronunciation, but
different meanings, origins, or spelling.

affect effect
principle principal
advice advise

Definitions:

‘Affect’ versus ‘Effect’:

Affect is usually a verb, and it means to impact or change.

Effect is usually a noun; an effect is the result of a change.

So, if an event affects your life, you will feel the event’s effect.

Example (affect): The severe storm affected residents within a five-kilometre radius of Melbourne.

Example (effect): The effect of the storm was devastating to the residents of Melbourne.

‘Principle’ versus ‘Principal’:

Principal can be a noun or adjective. As a noun, it refers to the person in charge of a school or organisation.
As an adjective, it means most important.

A principle (always a noun) is a firmly held belief or ideal.

Example (principal as a noun): Jenny was called into the principal’s office to receive an award.

Example (principal as an adjective): The principal reason for this meeting is to brainstorm ideas for
John’s birthday party.

Example (principle): She was a woman of principle and believed in telling the truth.

‘Advice’ versus ‘Advise’:

Advice and advise not only have different meanings but are also pronounced differently. Advise is a verb,
and advice is a noun.

So advice is what is given, while the act of giving advice is called advising (or to advise).

Example (advice): She gave fantastic advice, leading to a great outcome for all.

Example (advise): I asked him to advise me on the best course of action to take.
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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

Task 1: Affect or effect? Circle the correct word choice.

1. Carbon dioxide emissions affect / effect the environment.

2. The affect / effect of global warming is that glaciers will melt and sea levels will rise.

3. The changes had an immediate affect / effect.

4. She wasn’t going to let a little rain affect / effect her good mood.

Task 2: Principal or principle? Circle the correct word choice.

1. She asked to see the principal / principle of the school for help enrolling her daughter.

2. My principals / principles will not allow me to make such a poor decision.

3. He believed firmly in the principal / principle of not using plastic straws to help protect the
environment.

4. I am the principal / principle point of contact for this division of the company.

Task 3: Advice or advise? Circle the correct word choice.

1. I advice / advise you to resign from your position.

2. Take my advice / advise and quit your wasting your time being silly.

3. My lawyer has adviced / advised me to settle this matter out of court.

4. I am seeking your advice / advise because you are more experienced in such matters.

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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

Part 2: Reading Comprehension

Carefully read the passage, then answer the questions that follow. You should highlight key points.

Passage 1

Famous Artists: Frida Kahlo

Mexican painter Frida Kahlo was born in 1907,

but later she told people she was born in
1910. It’s not that she wanted to seem younger –
1910 was the year of the Mexican
Revolution and Kahlo wanted to identify herself
with Mexican culture and pride. With that goal
in mind, she painted self-portraits and other
scenes to represent different aspects of Mexican
culture and women’s experiences in that
culture. She would go on to become a popular
figure in Mexico and around the world, as a
person who stood against the stereotypes and
cultural expectations of her time. Kahlo was a
passionate artist who loved her country and valued being true to herself over all else. She did not behave
how women were expected to in the early twentieth century and her paintings, many of them self-portraits,
were of a style never seen before at that time because she often experimented with the images she produced
of herself. Her radical political beliefs and exciting lifestyle also set her apart. Her unique personal style –
dramatic eyebrows, fancy flowery headdresses, and bright colours – is so recognizable that her portraits still
show up on magazine covers and as Halloween costumes today.

Early Life

Kahlo grew up at home with her parents in Coyoacán, Mexico, right outside of Mexico City. Her memories
as a child were of the bad marriage of her parents and often being sick. When she was six years old she
contracted polio, a very serious disease affecting muscles and movement. Since the disease left one of her
legs smaller and weaker than the other, her father encouraged her to get outside and bike, swim, and play
sports, all unusual activities for a little girl at the time. Later she enrolled at National Preparatory School,
one of 35 female students at a school of over 2,000 students.
Kahlo fell in love with drawing at an early age. Her father’s friend Fernando Fernandez gave her drawing
lessons and even employed her as an engraving apprentice. He thought she was an extremely talented artist,
but Kahlo never considered art as a career. However, at the age of 18 Kahlo was riding a bus when it
collided with a streetcar, and she was so badly injured in the ribs, back, and pelvis that she had to spend
three months on bed-rest to recover. She spent those long hours painting, mostly self-portraits and some
portraits of her friends from school. Though she recovered, she would spend the rest of her life in
pain. Because of this, pain was a theme often featured in her work.

Mexican Heritage

After she recovered, she started socialising with her friends again and joined the Mexican Communist
Party. The political activism the group practiced gave Kahlo greater appreciation for Mexican culture,
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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

especially when it came to the role women played within it. She continued painting, and in 1928 she met
Diego Rivera, a famous artist and fellow member of the Communist Party. She asked him if her paintings
were good enough to make a living on; Rivera was extremely impressed by her unique work. Kahlo and
Rivera went on to get married the next year.
Over the next few years, Kahlo continued to embrace her traditional Mexican heritage. She wore traditional
dress (long, colourful dresses, fancy headdresses, and heavy jewellery) and changed her artistic style to
reflect traditional Mexican folk art. Kahlo believed that her lifestyle, fashion choices, and art all reflected
her feminism and the spirit of Mexican independence.

Passion for Life and Art

Kahlo maintained her style when she and Rivera moved to the United States in 1930. The couple lived in
several cities in just a few years, and both enjoyed success in the art world. Kahlo displayed her artwork in
galleries and became popular with the American press, who appreciated her strong English and passion for
art and her home country. Sadly, Kahlo suffered from more health problems while living in the United
States, as she would for the rest of her life. She became homesick and convinced Rivera to move back to
Mexico with her.
The couple led a unique and varied life back in a rich suburb of Mexico City. They were commissioned to
paint a bridge together; Kahlo painted her half blue and Rivera painted his half pink and white, and the
colours met in the middle. The bridge became a symbol and meeting place for artists all over the city. They
hosted the famous Russian political refugee Leon Trotsky in their house for two years. Kahlo met a French
art critic who loved her work and offered to host an art show for her in Paris. Although the show was not as
successful as she hoped, she did become the first modern-day Mexican artist featured in the Louvre, Paris’
world-famous art museum.
Continual relationship troubles with Rivera and never-ending health issues only pushed Kahlo to paint even
more. She produced some of her most famous paintings during the early 1940s, such as The Two
Fridas, Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, and The Wounded Table, and her art was featured in galleries from
Mexico City to New York. Kahlo’s paintings became so popular around Mexico that she could usually sell
a painting before even finishing it, and most group art exhibitions in the country featured at least some of
her work.

Death and Legacy

Unfortunately, by 1950, Kahlo’s health was so bad she was mostly confined to bed. She lobbied for political
causes as much as she could. Her nurses observed that a combination of medicine and increased alcohol
consumption changed her painting style to be much more rushed, colourful, and intense. Her very last
drawing was a black angel, which many people see as a foreshadowing of her death in 1954.
Kahlo’s fame only grew after she died. Her family home opened as a museum in 1958, and the feminist
movement in the 1970s led to a re-examination of her paintings as feminist icons. Kahlo’s paintings are a
unique mix of Mexican folk art, realistic portraits and still-life images, as well as gory interpretations of
history and emotions. She is, today, one of Mexico’s most famous artists, and is considered to be a woman
who was ahead of her time. Exhibitions of her work have been featured all around the world, films have
been made about her life, and her paintings have sold for a lot of money. Her self-portraits are so iconic that,
today, some people call her “the mother of the selfie” – so next time you snap a picture of yourself,
remember Frida Kahlo and her passionate commitment to culture and art, which she said was “the frankest
expression of myself.”

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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

1. Based on this passage, Frida Kahlo can be described as a contemporary woman.

a. True.
b. False.
c. Cannot tell.

2. Frida Kahlo was most well-known for… 3. Frida Kahlo was born in…

a. Taking selfies. a. 1954

b. Being very unlucky. b. 1958
c. Painting bright landscapes. c. 1907
d. Painting self-portraits. d. 1910

4. Based on the passage, it can be said that Frida Kahlo experienced a happy childhood. This
statement is…

a. True.
b. False.
c. Cannot tell.

5. Based on the passage, Frida’s relationship with Diego can be described as uncomplicated. This
statement is…

a. True.
b. False.
c. Cannot tell.

6. Which word below is a synonym for the word ‘radical’, as used in the passage?

a. Perfect.
b. Personable.
c. Profound.
d. Polite.

7. Which word below is a synonym for the word ‘iconic’, as it was used in the passage?

a. Representative.
b. Unimportant.
c. Atypical.
d. Unknown.

8. Which word below is an antonym for the word ‘traditional’, as used in the passage?

a. Conventional.
b. Old-fashioned.
c. Contemporary.
d. Obsolete.
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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

Carefully read the poem below, then answer the questions that follow.

Passage 2

The Dentist and the Crocodile

by Roald Dahl

The crocodile, with a cunning smile, sat in the dentist’s chair.

He said, “Right here and everywhere my teeth require repair.”
The dentist’s face was turning white. He quivered, quaked and shook.
He muttered, “I suppose I’m going to have to take a look.”
“I want you”, Crocodile declared, “to do the back ones first.
The molars at the very back are easily the worst.”
He opened wide his massive jaws. It was a fearsome sight—
At least three hundred pointed teeth, all sharp and shining white.
The dentist kept himself well clear. He stood two yards away.
He chose the longest probe he had to search out the decay.
“I said to do the back ones first!” the Crocodile called out.
“You’re much too far away, dear sir, to see what you’re about.
To do the back ones properly you’ve got to put your head
Deep down inside my great big mouth,” the grinning Crocky said.
The poor old dentist wrung his hands and, weeping in despair,
He cried, “No no! I see them all extremely well from here!”
Just then, in burst a lady, in her hands a golden chain.
She cried, “Oh Croc, you naughty boy, you’re playing tricks again!”
“Watch out!” the dentist shrieked and started climbing up the wall.
“He’s after me! He’s after you! He’s going to eat us all!”
“Don’t be a twit,” the lady said, and flashed a gorgeous smile.
“He’s harmless. He’s my little pet, my lovely crocodile.”

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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

1. What is the purpose of the exclamation mark in the line below?

"I said to do the back ones first!"

a. To show the crocodile does not like going to the dentist.

b. To create a sense of urgency.
c. To show the dentist has many patients waiting.
d. To show the crocodile has very bad teeth.

2. How many teeth does the crocodile 3. If someone has a ‘cunning smile’ it
have? means they are:

a. 100. a. clever and tricky.

b. 200. b. honest and kind.
c. 300. c. witty and clever.
d. Cannot tell. d. tricky and kind.

4. Complete this line: ‘The dentist’s face was turning white. He …’

a. quivered, quaked and shook.

b. wrung his hands.
c. started climbing up the wall.
d. flashed a gorgeous smile.

5. What do you think happened at the end of the poem?

a. The crocodile ate the dentist.

b. The crocodile ate everyone.
c. The crocodile returned home.
d. The crocodile returned to the beach.

6. Which word below is a synonym for the word ‘despair’, as used in the poem?

a. Comfort.
b. Anguish.
c. Anger.
d. Confidence.

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 New Century School Grade 5 English Homework Practice

Teacher Answers 5024b

Part 1: Vocabulary

Task 1:

1. affect
2. effect
3. effect
4. affect

Task 2:

1. principal
2. principles
3. principle
4. principal

Task 3:

1. advise
2. advice
3. advised
4. advice

Part 2: Reading Comprehension

Passage 1:

1. A
2. D
3. C
4. B
5. B
6. C
7. A
8. C

Passage 2:

1. B
2. D
3. A
4. A
5. C
6. B

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