How the Parts Build the Whole

English · Reading Comprehension · ages 10-11

Name ______________________ Date ____________

On its own, one stanza is the whole poem.
Circle one: True False
What is a scene in a play?
- The whole play from beginning to end
- One part of the play that does its own job
- A list of the play's characters
In a novel, what is the main job of a chapter?
- To advance the plot or develop a character
- To fill space without changing anything in the story
- To repeat what already happened in an earlier chapter
Scenes in a play work together to develop conflict and lead toward a resolution.
Circle one: True False
In a play, scene 1 shows a storm coming toward a small boat. Scene 2 shows the boat's sail ripping in the wind. Scene 3 shows the crew working together to reach the shore. What job does scene 2 do?
- It solves the whole problem right away
- It builds the tension by making the problem worse
- It starts a new story about a farm
In a play, the final scene should have no connection to the conflict introduced in the first scene.
Circle one: True False
In a poem, stanza 1 asks where the river goes. Stanzas 2 and 3 follow the river past farms and towns. Stanza 4 shows the river reaching the sea. What is stanza 4 doing?
- Starting a brand new question about the sea
- Repeating stanza 1 word for word
- Answering the question that stanza 1 started
A comic book is split into 6 parts. Each part ends with a small problem, and the next part picks it up. What do these parts work like?
- A single photograph, showing everything at once
- An alphabet list, where letters never connect
- Chapters in a novel, each one doing its job
A poem about a bridge has 3 stanzas. Stanza 1 shows the bridge being built. Stanza 2 shows it holding strong through a storm. Stanza 3 shows people crossing it every day. Why might the writer put the storm stanza in the middle?
- Because stanzas must always be in random order
- To build tension after the bridge is introduced and before it is used
- To hide the bridge from the reader
Leo says he can understand a novel's ending just by reading the last chapter, since chapters don't really connect to each other. What is wrong with Leo's thinking?
- Endings usually depend on questions or clues set up in earlier chapters
- Leo is right, chapters never connect
- The last chapter is always unrelated to the plot

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

How the Parts Build the Whole W1-mt_PetJM-AYz9-s1

False · A stanza is only one piece. The stanzas work together to build the whole poem.
One part of the play that does its own job · A play is built from scenes, and each scene is one part that does its own job.
To advance the plot or develop a character · Each chapter should move the story forward, either through plot or through a character.
True · That's how a play's structure works: scenes build the conflict, then guide it toward its resolution.
It builds the tension by making the problem worse · The ripped sail makes the crew's problem bigger, so scene 2 builds the tension.
False · Good plays connect their scenes, so the ending grows out of the conflict the earlier scenes built.
Answering the question that stanza 1 started · Stanza 4 reaches the sea, which answers the question stanza 1 asked about where the river goes.
Chapters in a novel, each one doing its job · Each part of the comic hands the story to the next part, just like chapters in a novel.
To build tension after the bridge is introduced and before it is used · The storm tests the bridge, so putting it in the middle builds tension between the start and the payoff.
Endings usually depend on questions or clues set up in earlier chapters · Endings usually pay off something started earlier, so skipping ahead means missing how the whole story fits together.