These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The poem was written by Marlbridge for this practice. Mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Multiple-choice questions have four options.
Poem AF (written by Marlbridge), “Night Shift”.
At four the corridor hums like a held breath.
I push the trolley past the sleeping doors,
each one a small country with its border closed,
and listen for the one that wants a visitor.
Behind me the lights go out in sections,
the way a town does when the last bus leaves.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Which of the following is the best claim about Poem AF for a paragraph?
- (A) The poem is set in a corridor at four o’clock.
- (B) The poem has six lines.
- (C) The speaker’s images of closed borders and listening show a worker who feels both shut out from and responsible for the sleepers.
- (D) The speaker pushes a trolley.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It says what the images show about the speaker and can be defended with lines from the poem.
- (A) and (D) state facts. They would be evidence or context, not claims.
- (B) is a fact about form.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
Which quotation best supports the claim that the poem presents the sleeping patients as separate and unreachable?
- (A) “At four the corridor hums”
- (B) “each one a small country with its border closed”
- (C) “I push the trolley”
- (D) “the way a town does”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The metaphor of a country with a closed border presents each room as separate and guarded.
- (A) is a sound detail that supports mood, not separation.
- (C) is an action of the speaker.
- (D) is part of the final simile and bears on the lights going out, not on separateness.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Which of the following embeds a quotation from Poem AF most smoothly, accurately and with correct line-break punctuation?
- (A) The speaker listens “for the one / that wants a visitor”, which suggests she is hoping to be needed.
- (B) The speaker listens “for the one that wants a visitor”, which suggests she is hoping to be needed.
- (C) The speaker “listens for the one who wants a visit”.
- (D) The speaker “and listen for the one that wants a visitor” suggests she is hoping to be needed.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The words are exact, they are within a single line, so no slash is needed, and the quotation is built into the sentence.
- (A) inserts a slash that does not occur in the poem’s line: “and listen for the one that wants a visitor” is one line.
- (C) alters the words (“who”, “visit”).
- (D) does not fit the grammar of the sentence.
Question 4 (multiple choice · stretch)
Which sentence completes a device-to-effect chain about the simile “the way a town does when the last bus leaves”?
- (A) The poem has a simile in its last line.
- (B) The lights going out in sections are compared with a town emptying, which makes the building’s quiet feel like the end of the day’s connections and leaves the speaker alone.
- (C) Buses are a common form of transport.
- (D) The speaker is thinking about her journey home.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It names the comparison and ends in an effect on the poem’s mood and the speaker’s situation.
- (A) names the device only.
- (C) is general and unrelated to the poem.
- (D) is not supported by the lines.
Question 5 (multiple choice · stretch)
“At four the corridor hums like a held breath.” Which statement best explains the effect of the simile?
- (A) It shows that the corridor is noisy.
- (B) It suggests a quiet, tense stillness in which something might happen.
- (C) It shows that the speaker is out of breath.
- (D) It repeats the sound of the trolley.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A held breath is silent and tense, so the simile transfers suspense and expectancy to the sleeping corridor.
- (A) contradicts the silence of a held breath.
- (C) misreads the comparison, which is about the corridor, not the speaker.
- (D) does not follow from the line.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Write one paragraph (four to six sentences) about how Poem AF presents the sleeping patients. Include a claim, at least two quotations and a link.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The poem presents the sleeping patients as private worlds that the speaker watches over but cannot enter. Each door is “a small country with its border closed”, a metaphor that gives each sleeper a separate territory with its own boundary. The speaker, however, does not simply pass by: she must “listen for the one / that wants a visitor”, which shows that her job is to wait for a need that she cannot see. The result is a speaker who is both outside and responsible, patrolling borders that she has no right to cross.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | A claim about what the poem presents or shows (not a summary) |
| 2 | At least two accurate quotations or specific details |
| 3 | Quotations embedded, exact and marked with slashes where lines break |
| 4 | At least one device-to-effect chain (device, function, effect) |
| 5 | A link or conclusion tying the evidence to the claim |
Other defensible claims (for example, about isolation or care) earn full marks if the evidence supports them.
Question 7 (constructed response · stretch)
Here is a weak paragraph about Poem AF:
The poem is about a nurse. She pushes a trolley and listens. There is a simile about a held breath. This shows she is lonely.
Rewrite it as a paragraph that has a claim, at least two embedded quotations and a link.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The poem shows a worker whose watchfulness gives the night its tension. The corridor “hums like a held breath”, a simile that makes the quiet feel suspended and expectant. The speaker pushes the trolley “past the sleeping doors” and listens “for the one that wants a visitor”, which shows that her attention is turned outward to others’ needs while she herself is unseen. The simile of the town after “the last bus leaves” closes the poem on the image of connections being switched off, leaving her alone with the task.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Replaces the topic and label with a claim about what the poem shows |
| 2 | At least two accurate, embedded quotations |
| 3 | Explains the effect of at least one device (simile, metaphor) |
| 4 | Includes a link sentence or conclusion |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Explain how the final simile of Poem AF changes the reader’s view of the speaker’s situation. Refer to at least two details from the poem.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The final simile, “the way a town does when the last bus leaves”, compares the building at night to a town that is being left. Before it, the speaker moves “past the sleeping doors” and listens for someone who “wants a visitor”, so her work is to stay available. The simile suggests that the lights going out “in sections” are the signs of departure, and that she is the one who remains when others have gone. The image shifts the poem from the corridor’s tense stillness to a more solitary, lonelier mood.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the main subject (the building, lights) and comparison subject (a town after the last bus) |
| 2 | Uses at least two accurate details from the poem |
| 3 | Explains what transfers (departure, being left behind, quiet emptiness) |
| 4 | Explains how it changes the view of the speaker’s situation |
How did you do? If you missed Questions 1 to 3, reread “Choosing a claim about a poem” and “Quoting lines of poetry” in the study guide. If you missed Questions 4 and 5, reread “The device-to-effect chain”. For the written questions, compare with the rubrics, use the self-assessment table, then check the checklist.