Selecting evidence for a literary argument: Practice Questions (English Literature 9.7)

These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Works referred to are public domain (author and date given); the prompts, sample answers and rubrics were written by Marlbridge. Mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Questions 1 to 6 are multiple choice; Questions 7 and 8 are written responses. Allow about 50 minutes. No calculator is needed.

Questions 1 to 6 and 8 refer to this prompt, written by Marlbridge: Literature often shows characters who resist pressure to follow another’s expectations. Choose a novel in which a character’s resistance contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Analyse how this resistance contributes to that meaning. The chosen work is Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847).

Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)

A student wants evidence that Jane resists Rochester’s claim on her. Which piece of evidence is most relevant and specific?

(A) “Jane lives at Thornfield for some time.”
(B) “Rochester has a large house.”
(C) In the orchard Jane declares, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.”
(D) “Jane is a governess.”

Answer and explanation

Answer: (C). It is Jane’s own statement of independence in a named scene, and it can be analysed (the images of a bird and a net).

(A), (B) and (D) are true facts about setting or role, but none shows resistance, so they would not support the claim.

Question 2 (multiple choice · core)

For an argument about the whole novel, which set of evidence is best?

(A) A summary of every chapter in order.
(B) Three paragraphs on the red-room.
(C) A paragraph on the weather at Thornfield.
(D) One paragraph each on Jane’s childhood defiance, her refusal of Rochester at the orchard and the interrupted wedding, and her refusal of St John and her return to Rochester.

Answer and explanation

Answer: (D). The evidence comes from the beginning, middle and end, each with a specific job in the line of reasoning.

(A) is summary, not selected evidence.
(B) draws from one part of the work and is insufficient.
(C) is irrelevant to the claim.

Question 3 (multiple choice · core)

You remember that Jane tells St John Rivers that marrying him would destroy her, but you cannot recall the exact words. What is the best way to use this?

(A) Write your best guess in quotation marks as if it were exact.
(B) Paraphrase it precisely: “Jane refuses St John, telling him that marriage to him would kill her”, and then explain what it shows.
(C) Write “Jane says something about marriage.”
(D) Leave it out because you cannot quote it.

Answer and explanation

Answer: (B). A close paraphrase is accurate evidence; it keeps the detail without risking a false quotation.

(A) presents a guess as exact, which can mislead and cost credibility.
(C) is too vague to be evidence.
(D) wastes good evidence.

Question 4 (multiple choice · core)

Which sentence uses evidence to qualify the claim that the novel celebrates Jane’s independence?

(A) “Yet Jane’s freedom to return to Rochester depends partly on the fortune she inherits, so the novel’s picture of independence includes material security.”
(B) “Jane returns to Rochester.”
(C) “Jane is independent, and the novel celebrates that.”
(D) “Independence is a theme.”

Answer and explanation

Answer: (A). It introduces evidence (the inheritance) that complicates the claim, and uses it to refine the argument.

(B) is plot summary.
(C) repeats the claim.
(D) states a theme with no evidence.

Question 5 (multiple choice · core)

A student’s three body paragraphs all analyse the orchard scene (Chapter 23). The analysis is good, but the thesis is about the whole novel. What is the main weakness?

(A) The thesis is not defensible.
(B) The student should have written about a different novel.
(C) The evidence is insufficient for a whole-work claim: it comes from one scene and does not show how resistance develops across the novel.
(D) The quotations are too short.

Answer and explanation

Answer: (C). A claim about the whole work needs evidence from more than one part. The analysis is good, but the argument needs breadth.

(A) misdiagnoses the problem: the thesis is fine.
(B) is unnecessary: the novel suits the prompt.
(D) is wrong: short quotations are good practice.

Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)

Which entry would be the most useful for an evidence ledger on Jane Eyre for this prompt?

(A) “Chapter 26: Interrupted wedding. Rochester’s first wife revealed. Jane refuses to stay on unequal terms. Serves: resistance, conflict, secrets.”
(B) “Jane Eyre was published in 1847.”
(C) “The novel is long.”
(D) “Somewhere in the middle there was a house.”

Answer and explanation

Answer: (A). It gives the location, the event, what it shows and the prompts it could serve, so it can be chosen quickly and used precisely.

(B) is a fact about publication that does not help with evidence.
(C) says nothing about scenes.
(D) is too vague to use.

Question 7 (written response · core)

Build a ledger of five entries for a novel or play you know well (it may be Macbeth or another), for the claim: the work shows a character’s conscience growing louder as he or she tries to silence it. For each entry give the part of the work, a short quotation you are sure of or a one-line description, what it shows and its job. Name one tempting scene you would reject.

Answer and explanation

Sample ledger (written by Marlbridge), using Macbeth.

Where	Scene	Evidence	What it shows	Job
Beginning	Act 1: Macbeth weighs the murder: “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly”	Quotation	Conscience first appears as hesitation before the act	Illustrate
Early middle	Act 2: after Duncan’s murder Macbeth hears “Macbeth does murder sleep”	Quotation	Conscience becomes an inner voice that accuses him	Amplify
Middle	The banquet: Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth alone	Precise reference	Conscience takes visible form and breaks his public composure	Exemplify
Late	Act 5: Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, “Out, damned spot!”	Quotation	Her suppressed conscience returns when she is least in control	Amplify
End	Act 5: Macbeth says, “I have almost forgot the taste of fears”	Quotation	His conscience has been deadened, which qualifies the claim: the voice grows loud, then goes silent	Qualify

Rejected: the witches’ opening chant. It is vivid, but it concerns prophecy, not conscience.

Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points)

Point	What earns it
1	Five entries, each accurate and specific.
2	Evidence spread across beginning, middle and end.
3	Each entry has a clear “what it shows” and a plausible job.
4	A rejected scene is justified, and at least one entry qualifies the claim.

Question 8 (written response · stretch)

Write one body paragraph (about 150 words) for the claim: Jane’s final return to Rochester is chosen, not required, and shows the novel redefining independence as equality. Use at least two pieces of evidence, with commentary and a link to a thesis.

Answer and explanation

Sample response (written by Marlbridge). Jane’s return to Rochester is the novel’s answer to the claims that tried to define her. She has refused the passionate, deceptive claim of Rochester and the cold, dutiful claim of St John, telling the latter, “If I were to marry you, you would kill me.” When she returns it is because of a call she hears, “Jane! Jane! Jane!”, and because she is now independent in two senses: she has inherited her own fortune, and Rochester, blinded and diminished in power, can no longer command her. The reader hears the result in the narration of the ending, “Reader, I married him”, where the verb “married” has Jane as its subject. The sentence turns marriage from something done to her into something she does, so the novel’s version of independence is not isolation but equality, which supports the thesis that resistance reshapes the love plot.

Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points)

Point	What earns it
1	Opens with a claim that advances the line of reasoning.
2	At least two accurate pieces of evidence from different parts of the novel.
3	Commentary explains how each supports the claim (for example the grammar of “I married him”).
4	Links to a thesis about the whole work.

How did you do?

Questions 1 to 6 correct: try the Unit 9 diagnostic.
Missed 1 or 3: reread “What makes a piece of evidence good” and “Three forms of evidence” in the study guide.
Missed 2 or 5: practise spreading evidence across beginning, middle and end.
Missed 4: find, for one work, an episode that complicates your thesis, and use it.
Missed 6 or written responses below 3 points: build a ledger for a second work.