ENGLISH PLACEMENT TEST - St. George's University

PLACEMENT EXAM - ENGLISH
ST. GEORGE’S UNIVERSITY
Exam time: one and half hours
Section 1
A. ENGLISH USAGE ITEMS
DIRECTIONS
Some of the following sentences contain an error in grammar, usage, or punctuation. Some of the
sentences are correct. No sentence contains more than one error. If there is an error, select the one
underlined part that must be changed in order to make the sentence correct and shade the corresponding
space on your answer sheet. Assume that all other parts of the sentence are acceptable and cannot be
changed. If there is no error, mark the final answer space, E. You have 20 (twenty) minutes to do this
section.
1. Cheryl is afraid of the thunder, she likes
A B C D
rain. No error
E
2. Jerry who had just eaten, thought concerning
A
B
having a chocolate or ice cream. No error
C D E
3. The public is not so angry about the lack of jobs
A B
than it is disgusted with corruption in government.
C D
No error
E
4. While reading the assignment, the teacher suspect
A
B
that the student had plagiarised and not documented
C
D
carefully. No error
E
5. How well the new comedy series on GBN does in
A
the ratings depends almost entirely on its competition.
B C D
No error
E
1

6. Carrie and me were left a legacy by an uncle
A
B
who had always liked us both. No error
C D E
7. I had read one of the most interesting book
A
B
in the library before becoming a member.
C
D
No error
E
8. Having enjoyed the scenery, the boat next took us
A
to Turtle Island, an island whose history was hardly
B C D
known until 1965. No error
E
9. The three-week Caribbean cruise will allow
A
B
passengers to relax, to find romance and
C
and they can visit exotic places. No error
D
E
10. There is a great many people in Grenada
A B
who have enough training to work easily
C D
with computers. No error
E
B. SENTENCE CORRECTION
This is a test of correctness and effectiveness of expression. In each of the sentences of this section, one
portion is underlined. Beneath each sentence, you will find five ways of writing the underlined part; the
first of these always repeats the original and the other four are all different. If you think the original
sentence is better than any of the suggested changes, choose the first answer A; otherwise, select the best
revision and shade the corresponding space on your answer sheet. Do not make a choice that changes the
original sentence.
1. Heavy drinking and to overeat are activities which a heart patient must avoid.
a. Heavy drinking and to overeat.
b. Drinking heavily and to overeat.
c. To drink heavily and overeating.
d. Heavy drinking and overeating
e. Drinking heavy and to overeat.
2

2. In the small town of Gouyave, where one can easily find fish and other sea foods.
a. , where one can easily find fish and other sea foods.
b. where one can easily find fish and other sea foods.
c. , where one can easily find fish and other sea foods,
d. , one can easily find fish and other sea foods.
e. one can, easily find fish and other sea foods.
3. Dr. Johnson is a remarkable physical specimen: although sixty five, he is as vigorous as ever.
a. although sixty-five, he is as vigorous as ever.
b. he, seeing he is sixty five, is as vigorous as ever.
c. he is sixty five, being vigorous as ever.
d. as vigorous as ever, he is sixty five years of age.
e. he is as vigorous as ever, however he is sixty five.
4. Ms. Pierce’s recommendation was believed to be sufficient and that it would guarantee my getting a
job.
a. and that it would guarantee my getting a job.
b. , and that it would guarantee my getting a job.
c. and, that it would guarantee me to get a job.
d. that it would guarantee me getting a job.
e. to guarantee my getting a job.
5. It was interesting to note that the prisoner’s hero was without moral convictions, acceptable manners,
and he had little else in his favour.
a. without moral convictions, acceptable manners, and he had little else in his favour.
b. without moral convictions or acceptable manners and had little else in his favour.
c. without moral convictions acceptable manners or little else in his favour.
d. without moral convictions and acceptable manners or little else in his favour.
e. without much else in his favour, including moral convictions and acceptable
manners.
6. One method of ending cheating in college is to demand references by all students.
a. to demand references by all students.
b. demanding students to give references.
c. to demand that students give references.
d. that students be demanded to give references.
e. that of demanding students to give references.
7. Mr. Vincent planning to teach a course in “Domestic Violence” next semester.
a. planning
b. are planning
c. , with a plan
d. was planned
e. plans
3

8. Being a tall person, the low ceiling was a problem to me.
a. the low ceiling was a problem to me.
b. I had a problem with the low ceiling.
c. being a low ceiling was a problem for me.
d. it was a problem for me.
e. it was a low ceiling problem to me.
9. Although both brothers are playwrights, one writing comedy while the other goes in for tragedy.
a. one writing comedy while the other goes in for tragedy.
b. one, writing comedy while the other writes tragedy.
c. one writes comedy, the other doing tragedy.
d. one writes comedy while the other writes tragedy.
e. one writing comedy, the other writing tragedy.
10. Neither the faculty nor the students was aware about exactly the kind of changes being made at the
school.
a. was aware about exactly the kind of changes.
b. were aware about exactly the kind of changes.
c. was aware of the exact nature of the changes.
d. were aware of exactly what were the nature of the changes.
e. was aware about the nature of the kind of changes.
End of Section 1
4

SECTION 2
READING COMPREHENSION
Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to the question. You have 40 (forty)
minutes to answer this section.
The fairy tale of Cinderella is one of the most widely known folk stories in the world. In its
various versions it captures the struggle for the young girl’s passage into womanhood. It covers,
in its scope, several of Karen Horney’s ideas, as well as the trials, totems, and family patterns
found in primitive cultures. The Cinderella story chronicles the transformation of the girl into the
woman, the profane into the spiritual; ending in the heroine’s resolution of her feminine powers.
The Cinderella story goes back as far as seventh century China. It is classified among the most
well-known folktales in the world, and there is a version in nearly every language. The plot is
universal: Cinderella, a beautiful, kind, and loving girl, suffers within her family, and is aided by
some form of magic, through which she meets the man she is destined to marry. After the initial
meetings with this man, she loses some article symbolic of her womb, and the man uses this
article to find and betroth her.
Several of Karen Horney’s theories from ‘The Distrust Between the Sexes’ are evident in this
folktale. One of the main ideas in Cinderella is the concept of the evil stepmother or foster
mother. Even in instances where Cinderella’s father is still living, the stepmother is allowed to
abuse her. Her elder sisters are also given this privilege. This is because the mother and sisters
are older and less attractive than the heroine. Cinderella’s persecution is permitted because, as
Horney says, “… it is only the sexually attractive woman of whom [man] is afraid and who …
has to be kept in bandage.” In the cultures from which the story derives, old women are not
sexually threatening to men and so the stepmother is given the power (by the father) to make the
heroine submissive. Horney continues: “Old women, on the other hand, are held in high esteem,
even by cultures in which the young woman is dreaded and therefore suppressed.” Not only is
the stepmother granted more power over Cinderella due to her position, but she feels her power
potentially jeopardized by the sway that Cinderella’s beauty may have over men. The sisters also
feel jeopardized by the heroine’s sexual attractiveness, which leads to greater resentment and
cruelty on their part.
Another of Horney’s theories prevalent in the story is the duality of motherhood. There are two
aspects of motherhood, the virgin mother who is self-sacrificing, nurturing and selfless, and the
mother goddess, warm, earthy, sensual, and fertile. Both aspects are visible in the heroine.
Cinderella, as she is first seen, sleeps in the cold, empty hearth, reflective of the virgin’s womb,
empty until acted upon by some outside force. She is covered in ashes, dressed in rags; in general
a picture of self effacing humility. Despite the hardships put upon her by her family, she is kind
to them and even tries her best to beautify her step sisters for the ball. She is virtuous, in contrast
to her stepsisters and stepmother. After marriage to the prince, in the end, the heroine does not
5

seek any revenge on her persecutors. In some renditions, she actually invites her family to come
live with her and her new husband. Further evidence of this virginal mother aspect is the part that
the prince plays in her life at this point. Like the ultimate example of nurturing motherhood,
Mother Mary, who waits for the male god to act upon her, Cinderella lies in wait for the prince to
come and save her. He is the aid she needs to be freed of her harsh life.
The other aspect of motherhood is revealed in her when magic help arrives from the outside. She
is bestowed with sensual, material things: beautiful clothes, ornaments, cosmetics: things to make
her desirable to men. The heroine is also gifted with the famous shoes, reflective of the womb.
The prince is usually attracted to her for her physical appearance. She is displaying her sensual,
seductive, earthy side and the prince is a reward for her power to act on him with her seductive
ability. This dichotomy provides some confusion to the heroine, her family, and her suitor. The
journey to resolve the puzzle of her two-fold womanhood is a main theme in this folktale.
The passage from a girl to a woman is only one of the several transitions that take place within
our heroine. She also undergoes a spiritual transformation. In the beginning of every account,
the heroine is dirty and ragged. In at least three versions, she is made to wear animal skins.
These things are representative of the material, animalistic, profane world. As she is put through
the trials for entering into adulthood, she is also put through trials to test her spirituality. In spite
of hardships, she manages to remain pious, loving and kind. These trials come to an end and she
becomes clean and well dressed. She is described as radiant, angelic, and fairylike. The heroine
is then presented to the prince. The image of the prince embracing the servant girl is heavily
laden with religious meaning, especially during the period when this story became popular. This
analogy was very often used by the convents of the Middle Ages to relate the relationship of the
nuns to Jesus Christ. Cinderella’s spiritual ascent is completed with her royal wedding.
The heroine’s time of testing is not completely at an end until the two sides of her femininity
merge. They have been in the process of merging since the time of her totem’s arrival. Since the
arrival of the totem, she has actively struggled with her two female aspects, the virginal/nurturing
and the earthy/seductive. The heroine in each version of the tale is given a womb symbol: either
a shoe or a ring. This symbol accompanies her when she meets the prince in her state of beauty
and sensuality. She then loses this article with the prince, who uses it to find her. When he sees
her again, she is once more virginal, modest, covered in dirt ashes, yet she is missing this symbol
of her womanhood. The prince is confused; this is not quite the girl he thought he came for.
After he places the shoe on her foot (or the ring on her finger, as the case may be) he sees her as
whole: sensual, earthy, yet loving and virginal. She no longer runs from him as she did in earlier
encounters, when things became too intimate with the prince.
This is also a moment of recognition for Cinderella. She has discovered a unity of both female
forces within her. There were clues previously as to the wholeness of her nature, but she ignored
them. She managed to overlook the times when she was sensual, at the ball, and was still kind to
her family, generously giving them jewellery. She failed to see her true nature when she was
beautiful and yet very humble in the presence of nobility. Now she can no longer hide herself.
The prince has seen her spiritual, virginal, and sensual facets and her true nature is revealed to all,
including her astonished family. She found strength in wholeness, and the prince is both her aid
in discovering herself and her reward for being discovered.
1. This passage asserts that:
I. only those versions of the story that are American can be used to illustrate
Horney’s theories.
6

II. regardless of the version of the Cinderella tale, the story tells of a young girl’s
passage into womanhood.
III. the concept of the evil stepmother or foster mother is a main ingredient in the
Cinderella story.
IV. Cinderella’s sisters typically are older than she and less attractive.
V. the prince finally sees only one facet of Cinderella.
a. I, II, and III c. II, III, and IV
b. I and IV d. IV only
2. According to this passage, Cinderella:
a. contemplates revenge on her sisters and mother but doesn’t carry through with it.
b. does not seek revenge at all.
c. gives up her need for revenge after she marries the prince.
d. cannot bring herself to completely forgive her persecutors.
3. The author of this passage concludes the following from the fact that in at least three versions of
the story, Cinderella is made to wear animal skins.
a. She needs the warmth that these skins provide.
b. The animal skins have nothing to do with the rites of passage that she is going through.
c. The animal skins symbolise the profane animal world that she figuratively is leaving.
d. She may decide to keep the animal skins.
4. Throughout the essay, but especially in the concluding paragraphs, the author suggests that
Cinderella:
a. is less complex than she had originally thought herself to be.
b. is moving psychologically toward a condition of wholeness.
c. intentionally exploits the prince to bring about her own growth.
d. is weakened by her newly discovered wholeness.
5. One might draw the following conclusions from this passage:
a. Horney probably had the Cinderella story in mind when she formulated her theories.
b. Folktales and fairy tales such as Cinderella can be useful in illustrating aspects of
psychological theories such as those of Horney.
c. Horney’s theories are valid because the plots of the various versions of the Cinderella
story bear them out.
d. Horney altered the story to make it fit her theories.
6. An appropriate title for this essay would be:
a. “If the Shoe Fits”: Horney’s Theories and the Cinderella Story.
b. The Narcissism of Cinderella.
c. The Stepmother as Heroine.
d. The Varieties of Magical Experience: the Shoe that Fit.
7. If one were to write an essay that used logic similar to that in this essay, that study might be
called:
7

a. Fairy Tales of the Western World.
b. Jack and the Beanstalk and the Theories of Sigmund Freud.
c. Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White.
d. Cinematic Interpretations of Eastern and Western Folktales.
8. In its context, the word “chronicles” (line 7) means most nearly
a. captures
b. researches
c. testifies
d. heralds
9. The word “it” in Sentence 2 refers to which of the following:
a. Folk stories of the world.
b. The trials and family patterns of primitive cultures.
c. The fairy tale of Cinderella.
d. A young girl’s transformation to womanhood.
10. Which sentence best summarizes Paragraph 6
a. The Cinderella story is also symbolic of spiritual transition.
b. Cinderella experienced several transitions.
c. The story is best understood in its historical context.
d. The story was probably created by monks in the Middle Ages.
End of Section 2
8

SECTION 3
THE WRITTEN ESSAY
In a 100 – 150 word essay, respond to the following topic. You have thirty (30) minutes to plan,
write and proofread your essay.
A. Television does more harm than good. Write a speech in which you present strong
arguments for or against this view.
End of Examination
9