EXTENSION SELECTION TEST

Words Do Not Pay

Name: Date:

Words Do Not Pay

Chief Joseph

DIRECTIONS: Complete each item, responding to the prompt or identifying the choice
that best answers the question. Your teacher may instruct you to respond to prompts on a
separate sheet of paper.

1. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then answer
Part B.

Part A In “Words Do Not Pay,” what is a main way in which Chief Joseph
chooses words to be more persuasive?
a. He employs frequent word repetition.
b. He provides many facts and statistics.
c. He speaks in long, complex sentences.
d. He uses a great deal of figurative language.

Part B Which of these quotations from the text best illustrates the correct
answer to Part A?
a. I do not understand why nothing is done for my people.
b. They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white men.
c. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man
who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and
denied liberty to go where he pleases. . . .
d. Let me be a free man—free to travel, free to stop, free to trade where I
choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of
my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself. . . .

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 EXTENSION SELECTION TEST
Words Do Not Pay

2. Read this sentence from “Words Do Not Pay.” Then, write a few sentences
in which you explain what the words literally mean and how they affect
Chief Joseph’s tone.

Good words will not give me back my children.

DIRECTIONS: Complete each item, responding to the prompt or identifying the choice
that best answers the question. Your teacher may instruct you to respond to prompts on a
separate sheet of paper.

3. The word calculate means “to figure out.” What does it mean if you add up
numbers and miscalculate? Use your knowledge of the prefix mis- to help
you answer.

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 EXTENSION SELECTION TEST
Words Do Not Pay

4. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then answer
Part B.

Part A Read this sentence and then answer the question.

Most people are contented if they are allowed to live freely and miserable if
they are not.

From the context, what is the most likely meaning of contented as it is used
in the sentence?
a. happy
b. forbidden
c. thoughtful
d. independent

Part B Which word in the sentence in Part A offers a contrast that is the
best context clue to the meaning of contented?
a. people
b. allowed
c. freely
d. miserable

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 EXTENSION SELECTION TEST
Words Do Not Pay

5. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then answer
Part B.

Part A Read this sentence and then answer the question.

The Native Americans did not want to be penned up instead of living freely
in the area of their birth.

From the context, what is the most likely meaning of penned as it is used in
the sentence?
a. trained
b. trapped
c. wrote pleas for help
d. forced to sign treaties

Part B Read this dictionary entry and then answer the question.

pen (pehn) n. 1. originally, a heavy quill or feather used for writing with ink
2. a device used for writing or drawing with ink 3. a small yard or enclosed
area for farm animals 4. any small enclosed area v. 1. to write with a pen
2. to compose a message; to write 3. to confine; to imprison

Which dictionary definition best confirms the meaning of the word penned
you identified in Part A?
a. noun definition 1
b. noun definition 3
c. verb definition 2
d. verb definition 3

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 EXTENSION SELECTION TEST
Words Do Not Pay

6. Which of these synonyms has the most positive connotation?

a. babyish
b. childish
c. youthful
d. immature

7. Which of these sentences best illustrates the use of parallelism?

a. She wanted less talk, fewer promises, and for people to take action.
b. She wanted less talk, fewer promises, and he wanted more action.
c. She wanted less talk, fewer promises, and more taking action.
d. She wanted less talk, fewer promises, and more action.

8. Rewrite this sentence so that it uses parallelism.

He came to believe that freedom meant thinking for himself, speaking for
himself, and the ability to act for himself.

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