These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Any passage not credited to a named public-domain author was written by Marlbridge for practice; quotations from named authors are public-domain texts quoted briefly. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric to help you check your own work; they are not an official scoring guideline. There is no calculator. Try each question before opening its answer.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which sentence embeds its quotation most smoothly?
- (A) Roosevelt said something. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
- (B) Roosevelt’s famous line, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” tries to turn the nation’s anxiety into a target he can name.
- (C) “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This is Roosevelt’s line.
- (D) In his speech there is a line about fear that is quoted often.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The quotation is joined to the writer’s own grammar and followed by a comment on its effect.
- (A) is wrong: the quotation stands alone and the first sentence says nothing.
- (C) is wrong: the quotation is dropped in as a separate sentence with no commentary.
- (D) is wrong: it gives no quotation and no analysis.
Question 2 (multiple choice · foundation)
A writer wants to use a source’s striking phrase because the exact wording matters. Which method is best?
- (A) Summary
- (B) Paraphrase
- (C) Ignoring the source
- (D) Quotation
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). When the wording itself is the point, quote the source exactly and credit it.
- (A) is wrong: a summary would lose the phrase.
- (B) is wrong: a paraphrase would replace the wording the writer wants to analyse.
- (C) is wrong: the writer wants to use the source.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Source sentence (written by Marlbridge): “Over the past decade, the village’s only bus route has been cut from twelve services a day to four, leaving residents without a way to reach the clinic.” Which is the best paraphrase?
- (A) The report says that during the last ten years the village’s single bus route lost eight of its twelve daily services, so people can no longer get to the clinic.
- (B) “Over the past decade, the village’s only bus route has been cut from twelve services a day to four, leaving residents without a way to reach the clinic.”
- (C) Buses are important for villages.
- (D) The report notes that the bus service is bad.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). It restates the whole idea in new words and structure, with the same facts (ten years, twelve to four, the clinic), and credits the report.
- (B) is wrong: is a copy, not a paraphrase.
- (C) is wrong: drops the details and is not a paraphrase of this sentence.
- (D) is wrong: changes the meaning to an opinion and loses the facts.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
A student’s draft reads: “The speech uses strong words. ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’ This is a good quotation.” Which revision best improves the paragraph?
- (A) Delete the quotation.
- (B) Add another quotation after it.
- (C) Embed the quotation in a sentence and explain how its wording supports the claim.
- (D) Change “good” to “great”.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). The problems are a dropped quotation and empty commentary. The fix is to join the quotation to the sentence and explain its effect.
- (A) is wrong: removes the evidence instead of fixing it.
- (B) is wrong: adding more unexplained evidence worsens the problem.
- (D) is wrong: it changes one word and leaves the problem.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
In the sentence “By urging the nation to act ‘with firmness in the right,’ Lincoln pairs mercy with resolve,” the quotation is best described as
- (A) a dropped quotation
- (B) a summary
- (C) embedded in the writer’s own sentence
- (D) an unsupported claim
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). The quoted phrase completes the writer’s grammar (“to act ‘with firmness in the right’”).
- (A) is wrong: a dropped quotation stands alone.
- (B) is wrong: a summary condenses a longer passage without quotation marks.
- (D) is wrong: the sentence also gives analysis (“pairs mercy with resolve”).
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Claim: “Roosevelt’s first inaugural address tries to treat the country’s panic as the real enemy.” Evidence: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (4 March 1933). Write a short paragraph of three to four sentences that states the claim, embeds the quotation and comments on at least one word or phrase.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address tries to treat the country’s panic as the real enemy. By declaring that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he moves attention from the banks and the breadlines to the state of mind that spreads them. The echo of the verb “fear” in the noun “fear itself” names a single enemy twice, so the audience hears one target. A nation that believes the danger is its own panic can act against it.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | States the claim in the writer’s own words. |
| 1 | Embeds the quotation accurately in the writer’s grammar. |
| 1 | Comments on a specific word, phrase or feature (for example, the echo of “fear” as verb and noun). |
| 1 | Explains how that feature supports the claim, rather than repeating the quotation. |
| 1 | Writes a coherent paragraph in three to four sentences. |
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Use the source passage below (written by Marlbridge).
“In the harbour town, almost every shop sells something made by hand: pots, knitwear, boats the length of a bus. Visitors say they come for the scenery, but they spend their money on the makers. The town’s trade is not in scenery at all; it is in skill.”
(a) Write a paraphrase of the passage’s main idea. (b) Write a one-sentence summary. (c) Write one sentence that embeds a short quotation from the passage in support of the claim “The town’s economy depends on its craftspeople.”
Answer and explanation
Model answer. (a) Nearly every shop in the harbour town sells handmade goods, and although tourists say the view attracts them, it is the makers who earn their money. (b) The passage argues that the harbour town earns its living from craftsmanship rather than scenery. (c) The town’s economy depends on its craftspeople: as the source puts it, trade “is not in scenery at all; it is in skill.”
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Paraphrase keeps the meaning and changes both wording and structure. |
| 1 | Paraphrase does not add opinion. |
| 1 | Summary is shorter than the paraphrase and states the main point. |
| 1 | Quotation is exact and embedded in the sentence. |
| 1 | All three are accurate to the passage. |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
A student writes: “Susan B. Anthony says ‘I stand before you tonight under indictment.’ She is a strong speaker.” Identify two problems with how the student has used the evidence, and rewrite the sentences into a single sentence that embeds the evidence and comments on it.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. First problem: the quotation is partly embedded but followed by a separate, unsupported judgement (“a strong speaker”) that does not say how the evidence shows it. Second problem: the commentary is vague and says nothing about the audience or purpose. Revision: By opening with the blunt admission that she stands “under indictment,” Anthony makes her audience confront at once that she is being tried for a vote, so that her argument about citizenship begins from a fact they cannot dismiss.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Names the problem of unsupported or vague commentary. |
| 1 | Names a second distinct problem (for example, evidence not tied to a claim, or no explanation of effect). |
| 1 | Rewrite embeds the quotation accurately. |
| 1 | Rewrite includes commentary that explains an effect on the audience or argument. |
| 1 | Rewrite is a single, grammatical sentence. |
How did you do?
Count the multiple-choice questions you got right and compare your written answers with the rubric points. For anything you missed, reread the matching section of the study guide, then tick off the topic checklist.