The Grammardog Guide to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley All exercises use sentences from the novel. Includes over 250 multiple choice questions. About Grammardog Grammardog was founded in 2001 by Mary Jane McKinney, a high school English teacher and dedicated grammarian. She and other experienced English teachers in both high school and college regard grammar and style as the key to unlocking the essence of an author. Their philosophy, that grammar and literature are best understood when learned together, led to the formation of Grammardog. com, a means of sharing knowledge about the structure and patterns of language unique to specific authors.
These patterns are what make a great book a great book. The arduous task of analyzing works for grammar and style has yielded a unique product, guaranteed to enlighten the reader of literary classics. Grammardog’s strategy is to put the author’s words under the microscope. The result yields an increased appreciation of the art of writing and awareness of the importance and power of language. Grammardog. com L. L. C. P. O. Box 299 Christoval, Texas 76935 Phone: 325-896-2479 Fax: 325-896-2676 fifi@grammardog. com Visit the website at www. grammardog. com for a current listing of titles. We appreciate teachers’ comments and suggestions.
E-mail us at fifi@grammadog. com Copyright © 2003 Grammardog. com L. L. C. Grammardog. com exercises may be reproduced for classroom and academic use only. Any other use requires express written permission of Grammardog. com. FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley – Grammar and Style All exercises use sentences from the novel. TABLE OF CONTENTS Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Parts of Speech 25 multiple choice questions ….. 3 ….. 5 Proofreading: Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation 12 multiple choice questions Exercise 3 – Proofreading: Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation 12 multiple choice questions ….. 6
Exercise 4 Exercise 5 – Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences 25 multiple choice questions ….. 7 ….. 9 Complements 25 multiple choice questions on direct objects, predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions Exercise 6 – Phrases 24 multiple choice questions on prepositional, appositive, gerund, infinitive, and participial phrases . . . . 11 Exercise 7 Exercise 8 Exercise 9 – Verbals: Gerunds, Infinitives, and Participles 24 multiple choice questions . . . . 13 . . . . 15 . . . . 17 Clauses 25 multiple choice questions Style: Figurative Language 4 multiple choice questions on metaphor, simile, personification, and onomatopoeia FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley – Grammar and Style TABLE OF CONTENTS Exercise 10 Style: Poetic Devices 25 multiple choice questions on assonance, consonance, alliteration, repetition, and rhyme . . . . 19 Exercise 11 Exercise 12 – Style: Sensory Imagery 25 multiple choice questions . . . . 21 . . . . 23 Style: Allusions 20 multiple choice questions on literary, religious, historical, mythological allusions Exercise 13 Exercise 14 Exercise 15 Exercise 16 Answer KeyGlossary – Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 1 6 multiple choice questions . . . 25 . . . . 27 . . . . 29 . . . . 31 . . . . 33 . . . . 35 Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 2 6 multiple choice questions Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 3 6 multiple choice questions Style: Literary Analysis – Selected Passage 4 6 multiple choice questions Answers to Exercises 1-16 Definitions of Terms Used in Literary Analysis SAMPLE EXERCISES – FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley EXERCISE 5 COMPLEMENTS Identify the complements in the following sentences. Label the underlined words: d. o. = direct object i. o. = indirect object o. p. = object of preposition p. n. = predicate nominative p. a. predicate adjective _____1. This breeze, which has traveled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle; and may regulate a thousand celestial observations, that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent for ever. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. PHRASES _____2. _____3. EXERCISE 6 Identify the phrases in the following sentences. Label the underlined words: par = participle ger = gerund infin = infinitive appos = appositive prep = preposition ____1. I am already far north of London; and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves, and fills me with delight. The cold is not excessive, if you are wrapped in furs – a dress which I have already adopted; for there is a great difference between walking the deck and remaining seated motionless for hours . . . One or two stiff gales, and the springing of a leak, are accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record; and I shall be well content if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage. STYLE: FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE ____2. _____3. EXERCISE 9 Identify the figurative language in the following sentences. Label the underlined words: p = personification s = simile m = metaphor h = hyperbole _____1. My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been. But when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed him. _____2. _____3. SAMPLE EXERCISES – FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley EXERCISE 12 STYLE: ALLUSIONS
Identify the type of allusion used in the following sentences. Label the underlined words: a. historical b. mythological c. religious d. literary _____1. I also became a poet, and for one year lived in a Paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated. I am going to unexplored regions, to “the land of mist and snow;” but I shall kill no albatross, therefore do not be alarmed for my safety, or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the “Ancient Mariner. Her presence had seemed a blessing to them; but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want, when Providence afforded her such powerful protection. STYLE: LITERARY ANALYSIS – SELECTED PASSAGE 1 _____2. _____3. EXERCISE 13 Read the following passage the first time through for meaning. (From Chapter 4) No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour.
My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realize. One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave, or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay?
My limbs now tremble and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then a resistless, and almost frantic, impulse urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was indeed but a passing trance that only made me feel with renewed acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits. I collected bones from charnel-houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame.
SAMPLE EXERCISES – FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley Read the passage a second time, marking figurative language, sensory imagery, poetic devices, and any other patterns of diction and rhetoric, then answer the questions below. 1 No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first 2 enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break 3 through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator 4 and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.
No father could claim 5 the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I 6 thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although 7 I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. 8 These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour. 9 My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. 10 Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day 11 or the next hour might realize.
One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had 12 dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless 13 eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, 14 as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave, or tortured the living animal to animate 15 the lifeless clay? My limbs now tremble and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then a 16 resistless, and almost frantic, impulse urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation 17 but for this one pursuit.
It was indeed but a passing trance that only made me feel with renewed 18 acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits. 19 I collected bones from charnel-houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets 20 of the human frame. ____1. Line 1 contains an example of . . . a. metaphor b. simile c. personification ____2. Lines 2 and 3 contain an example of . . . a. metaphor b. simile c. personification ____3. Line 12 contains an example of . . . a. metaphor b. simile c. personification
