Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A friend sends you one text before school: 'We need to talk. Meet me at lunch. Don't tell Sam.' Write three short answers. (1) What will you do next because of the text? (2) What does the text tell you about your friend's mood right now? (3) What is one decision you might make because of it?"

   Collect a few answers to each question. Point out that one short message did three jobs: it made the next event happen (you meet at lunch), it showed something about the sender (worried, secretive), and it pushed you to choose (tell Sam or not). Tell the class that authors use lines of dialogue and incidents in exactly these three ways, and that RL.8.3 asks them to explain how.

2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes

   Terms to know:

   • Dialogue: the words characters say to each other, usually inside quotation marks.
   • Incident: a single event or action in the story, such as striking a match or a tree falling.
   • Propel the action: push the plot forward, so that something happens next because of the line or incident.
   • Reveal an aspect of a character: show one quality of a person, such as pride, loyalty or fear, often without the narrator naming it.
   • Provoke a decision: cause a character to make a choice. To show it, name who decides, what they decide, and what pushed them.
   • Twist ending: a surprise at the end that changes how earlier lines read. Rereading after a twist is one of the best ways to see what a line was really doing.

   Introduce the text: O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter, an American writer known for short stories with surprise endings. After Twenty Years takes place on a New York street in the early 1900s. Words to know: habitual (done out of habit), de-peopled (emptied of people), adown the pacific thoroughfare (down the peaceful street), stalwart (strong and sturdy), vicinity (neighborhood), scarfpin (a jeweled pin worn on a necktie), chum (close friend), corresponded (wrote letters), proposition (here, a thing or a place to deal with), stanchest (most loyal), plodder (a slow, steady worker), my pile (my fortune), razor-edge (a sharp edge), call time on him sharp (leave the minute the agreed time is up) and absurdity (silliness). Read the first two passages aloud while students follow the numbered paragraphs. Paragraph numbers restart in each passage.

   1The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o’clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh de-peopled the streets.

   2Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.

   3When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.

   4“It’s all right, officer,” he said, reassuringly. “I’m just waiting for a friend. It’s an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn’t it? Well, I’ll explain if you’d like to make certain it’s all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands—‘Big Joe’ Brady’s restaurant.”

   5“Until five years ago,” said the policeman. “It was torn down then.”

   6The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.

   7“Twenty years ago to-night,” said the man, “I dined here at ‘Big Joe’ Brady’s with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn’t have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be.”

   1“It sounds pretty interesting,” said the policeman. “Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven’t you heard from your friend since you left?”

   2“Well, yes, for a time we corresponded,” said the other. “But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he’s alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He’ll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door to-night, and it’s worth it if my old partner turns up.”

   3The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds.

   4“Three minutes to ten,” he announced. “It was exactly ten o’clock when we parted here at the restaurant door.”

   5“Did pretty well out West, didn’t you?” asked the policeman.

   6“You bet! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of plodder, though, good fellow as he was. I’ve had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to get my pile. A man gets in a groove in New York. It takes the West to put a razor-edge on him.”

   7The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two.

   8“I’ll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?”

   9“I should say not!” said the other. “I’ll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he’ll be here by that time. So long, officer.”

   10“Good-night, sir,” said the policeman, passing on along his beat, trying doors as he went.

   11There was now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers astir in that quarter hurried dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost to absurdity, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.

   12About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

   • Dialogue that reveals a character

     The man in the doorway "spoke up quickly" (first passage, paragraph 3) before the policeman asked him anything: "It's all right, officer," he said, reassuringly (paragraph 4). What does this line reveal?

     Result: He answers a question no one has asked and offers to explain "if you'd like to make certain it's all straight" (paragraph 4). A man with nothing to hide rarely rushes to tell a policeman that everything is all right, so the line reveals that he expects a police officer to be suspicious of him. At this point it is only a hint about his character; students should keep it in mind as they read on.

   • Dialogue that propels the action

     In paragraph 7 of the first passage, the man explains why he is standing in the doorway. How does this speech push the story forward?

     Result: He says "we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time" (paragraph 7). The speech sets the time and place of everything that follows and gives the story its question: will Jimmy Wells come? Every later event, the waiting, the arrival of the tall man and the walk up the street, happens because of this promise.

   • An incident that reveals a character and plants a clue

     The man "struck a match and lit his cigar" (first passage, paragraph 6). What does this small incident show the reader?

     Result: The light shows "a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow" and a scarfpin that is "a large diamond, oddly set" (paragraph 6). The scar hints at a rough life and the diamond at new money he likes to show. The incident also lets the policeman see the man's face clearly. Tell students to remember this match; it matters again at the end.

   • Dialogue that reveals a character (two sides)

     Asked whether he did well out West, the man says "You bet! I hope Jimmy has done half as well" (second passage, paragraph 6). What does the rest of his answer reveal?

     Result: He calls Jimmy "a kind of plodder, though, good fellow as he was" and brags that "I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to get my pile" (paragraph 6). The line reveals pride and a habit of looking down on his friend. "Sharpest wits" also hints that he made his money among clever, possibly dishonest men. Yet he still calls Jimmy a "good fellow," so the same line shows that he cares about him.

   Quote, job, change. Model the three moves for each example: quote the exact line or name the incident with a paragraph number; name the job it does (propels, reveals, provokes); and explain the change it makes: what happens next, what we now know about the character, or what the character chooses. Give two sentence frames: "When ___ says '___' (paragraph __), it reveals that ___, because ___." and "The incident of ___ (paragraph __) propels the action / provokes a decision because afterward ___." Show Diagram 1 and fill in the first two columns together.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read the end of the story aloud. Words to know: Bully (old slang for excellent), egotism (thinking too much about yourself), submerged (hidden, as if under water), simultaneously (at the same time), a Roman nose (a nose with a high, curved bridge), a pug nose (a short nose that turns up), wires us (sends us a telegram), a plain clothes man (a police officer who does not wear a uniform) and Patrolman (a police officer who walks a beat).

   1“Is that you, Bob?” he asked, doubtfully.

   2“Is that you, Jimmy Wells?” cried the man in the door.

   3“Bless my heart!” exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other’s hands with his own. “It’s Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I’d find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well!—twenty years is a long time. The old restaurant’s gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?”

   4“Bully; it has given me everything I asked it for. You’ve changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches.”

   5“Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty.”

   6“Doing well in New York, Jimmy?”

   7“Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we’ll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times.”

   8The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, submerged in his overcoat, listened with interest.

   9At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously to gaze upon the other’s face.

   10The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.

   11“You’re not Jimmy Wells,” he snapped. “Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man’s nose from a Roman to a pug.”

   12“It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one,” said the tall man. “You’ve been under arrest for ten minutes, ‘Silky’ Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That’s sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here’s a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the window. It’s from Patrolman Wells.”

   13The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was rather short.

   14Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn’t do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job.

   15JIMMY.

   Pairs work through three lines from the ending, one for each job. Ask each question before revealing the teacher note.

   1. "You're not Jimmy Wells," he snapped. "Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man's nose from a Roman to a pug." (paragraph 11). Which job does this line do? Teacher note: it propels the action. It is the turning point: the friendly walk stops, and the tall man must now say who he is. The incident just before it, the two men turning to look at each other in the drug store's "glare" (paragraph 9), is what makes the discovery possible.
   2. "It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one," said the tall man (paragraph 12). What does this line reveal, and about whom? Teacher note: it answers Bob's remark about noses by turning it into a comment about Bob himself: twenty years have made him a criminal. It reveals that the officer knows exactly who Bob is, and it hints at Jimmy's sadness about what happened to his friend.
   3. The note: "When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job." (paragraph 14). Which incident provoked which decision? Teacher note: the match from the first passage (paragraph 6) showed Jimmy that his old friend was a wanted man, and that sight provoked his decision: arrest Bob, but not with his own hands. "Somehow I couldn't do it myself" reveals loyalty and duty pulling in opposite directions, so the one line does two jobs.

   Show Diagram 2 and trace the chain backward from the note to the match. Then have pairs reread the policeman's words in the first two passages: now that they know he is Jimmy, which lines read differently? Collect two or three ideas and save the rest for Activity 2. Each pair writes a three-sentence answer: the incident, the decision it provoked, and what happened because of the decision.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read two passages from Saki's The Interlopers on their own. Saki was the pen name of H. H. Munro, a British writer. What has happened before the first passage: for three generations the families of Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym have fought over a narrow strip of forest in the mountains of eastern Europe. A court gave the land to Ulrich's grandfather, but Georg's family never accepted the ruling, and each man now hates the other. On a stormy winter night Ulrich, rifle in hand, is out with his foresters looking for Georg, who he thinks is hunting on the land. The two men meet face to face, but before either can shoot, a huge beech tree crashes down and pins both of them to the ground, side by side. Paragraph numbers restart in each passage.

   Words to know: snared (caught, like an animal in a trap), plight (a bad situation), poaching (hunting on someone else's land without permission), for form's sake (only to look polite), condolences (a message of sympathy sent after a death), interlopers (outsiders who push into something that is not their business), forest-thief, game-snatcher (insults: a thief of the forest's animals), foresters (men who guard a forest), endeavours (efforts), draught (a drink), scarcely (hardly), languor (weakness and tiredness), compact (agreement), boundary dispute (an argument over where one person's land ends), gabble (chatter) and feud (a long, bitter quarrel between families).

   1“So you’re not killed, as you ought to be, but you’re caught, anyway,” he cried; “caught fast. Ho, what a jest, Ulrich von Gradwitz snared in his stolen forest. There’s real justice for you!”

   2And he laughed again, mockingly and savagely.

   3“I’m caught in my own forest-land,” retorted Ulrich. “When my men come to release us you will wish, perhaps, that you were in a better plight than caught poaching on a neighbour’s land, shame on you.”

   4Georg was silent for a moment; then he answered quietly:

   5“Are you sure that your men will find much to release? I have men, too, in the forest to-night, close behind me, and they will be here first and do the releasing. When they drag me out from under these damned branches it won’t need much clumsiness on their part to roll this mass of trunk right over on the top of you. Your men will find you dead under a fallen beech tree. For form’s sake I shall send my condolences to your family.”

   6“It is a useful hint,” said Ulrich fiercely. “My men had orders to follow in ten minutes time, seven of which must have gone by already, and when they get me out—I will remember the hint. Only as you will have met your death poaching on my lands I don’t think I can decently send any message of condolence to your family.”

   7“Good,” snarled Georg, “good. We fight this quarrel out to the death, you and I and our foresters, with no cursed interlopers to come between us. Death and damnation to you, Ulrich von Gradwitz.”

   8“The same to you, Georg Znaeym, forest-thief, game-snatcher.”

   9Both men spoke with the bitterness of possible defeat before them, for each knew that it might be long before his men would seek him out or find him; it was a bare matter of chance which party would arrive first on the scene.

   10Both had now given up the useless struggle to free themselves from the mass of wood that held them down; Ulrich limited his endeavours to an effort to bring his one partially free arm near enough to his outer coat-pocket to draw out his wine-flask. Even when he had accomplished that operation it was long before he could manage the unscrewing of the stopper or get any of the liquid down his throat. But what a Heaven-sent draught it seemed! [...] the wine was warming and reviving to the wounded man, and he looked across with something like a throb of pity to where his enemy lay, just keeping the groans of pain and weariness from crossing his lips.

   1“Could you reach this flask if I threw it over to you?” asked Ulrich suddenly; “there is good wine in it, and one may as well be as comfortable as one can. Let us drink, even if to-night one of us dies.”

   2“No, I can scarcely see anything; there is so much blood caked round my eyes,” said Georg, “and in any case I don’t drink wine with an enemy.”

   3Ulrich was silent for a few minutes, and lay listening to the weary screeching of the wind. An idea was slowly forming and growing in his brain, an idea that gained strength every time that he looked across at the man who was fighting so grimly against pain and exhaustion. In the pain and languor that Ulrich himself was feeling the old fierce hatred seemed to be dying down.

   4“Neighbour,” he said presently, “do as you please if your men come first. It was a fair compact. But as for me, I’ve changed my mind. If my men are the first to come you shall be the first to be helped, as though you were my guest. We have quarrelled like devils all our lives over this stupid strip of forest, where the trees can’t even stand upright in a breath of wind. Lying here to-night thinking I’ve come to think we’ve been rather fools; there are better things in life than getting the better of a boundary dispute. Neighbour, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I—I will ask you to be my friend.”

   5Georg Znaeym was silent for so long that Ulrich thought, perhaps, he had fainted with the pain of his injuries. Then he spoke slowly and in jerks.

   6“How the whole region would stare and gabble if we rode into the market-square together. No one living can remember seeing a Znaeym and a von Gradwitz talking to one another in friendship. And what peace there would be among the forester folk if we ended our feud to-night. And if we choose to make peace among our people there is none other to interfere, no interlopers from outside . . . [...] In all the countryside there are none that could hinder if we willed to make peace. I never thought to have wanted to do other than hate you all my life, but I think I have changed my mind about things too, this last half-hour. And you offered me your wine-flask . . . Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend.”

   On the handout, students fill in a chart with three columns (Line or incident, Job, What changes because of it) for four lines of dialogue of their choice, at least one from each passage, and one incident. Then they answer in two or three sentences: which moment in these passages provokes a decision, who decides, and what do they decide? The quiz uses both passages; its answers are not discussed until students have finished the chart.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence, explain the difference between a line that propels the action and a line that reveals a character. (2) Choose one line from either story that does two jobs at once, quote it with its passage and paragraph number, and name both jobs.

   Teacher note on language and content: After Twenty Years was published in 1906 and uses slang of its time, such as "chum," "my pile" and "Bully." The Interlopers was published in 1919. Its trapped enemies curse each other ("these damned branches," "Death and damnation to you"), threaten murder, and Ulrich drinks from a flask of wine and offers it to Georg; the last line leaves the injured men in danger, and what happens next is left for readers to imagine. Present these as part of a story about hatred and its cost. The words are Saki's and are kept exactly. Two passages from The Interlopers are shortened for length; each cut is marked [...] and described in the source note under the passage.

   For homework: students read the ending of The Interlopers, printed below. It follows directly from the second passage. Words to know: reconciliation (making peace after a quarrel), succour (help), honourable attention (respectful care, as a host gives a guest), lull (a short, quiet pause), halloo (a shout to call someone), pestilential (horribly annoying, like a disease), muster (gather up), distinctly (clearly) and unstrung (having lost control of the nerves).

   1For a space both men were silent, turning over in their minds the wonderful changes that this dramatic reconciliation would bring about. In the cold, gloomy forest, with the wind tearing in fitful gusts through the naked branches and whistling round the tree-trunks, they lay and waited for the help that would now bring release and succour to both parties. And each prayed a private prayer that his men might be the first to arrive, so that he might be the first to show honourable attention to the enemy that had become a friend.

   2Presently, as the wind dropped for a moment, Ulrich broke silence.

   3“Let’s shout for help,” he said, “in this lull our voices may carry a little way.”

   4“They won’t carry far through the trees and undergrowth,” said Georg, “but we can try. Together, then.”

   5The two raised their voices in a prolonged hunting call.

   6“Together again,” said Ulrich a few minutes later, after listening in vain for an answering halloo.

   7“I heard nothing but the pestilential wind,” said Georg hoarsely.

   8There was silence again for some minutes, and then Ulrich gave a joyful cry.

   9“I can see figures coming through the wood. They are following in the way I came down the hillside.”

   10Both men raised their voices in as loud a shout as they could muster.

   11“They hear us! They’ve stopped. Now they see us. They’re running down the hill towards us,” cried Ulrich.

   12“How many of them are there?” asked Georg.

   13“I can’t see distinctly,” said Ulrich; “nine or ten,”

   14“Then they are yours,” said Georg; “I had only seven out with me.”

   15“They are making all the speed they can, brave lads,” said Ulrich gladly.

   16“Are they your men?” asked Georg. “Are they your men?” he repeated impatiently as Ulrich did not answer.

   17“No,” said Ulrich with a laugh, the idiotic chattering laugh of a man unstrung with hideous fear.

   18“Who are they?” asked Georg quickly, straining his eyes to see what the other would gladly not have seen.

   19“Wolves.”

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which example shows a line of dialogue that provokes a decision?

   AA coach says, "Practice starts at four today," and the next scene takes place out on the field BA boy says, "I love old movies," and the narrator describes his bedroom CA girl tells her friend, "You never listen to me," and the friend quits the band that night DA teacher says, "Good morning," and the class opens their books

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In the first Interlopers passage, Georg says Ulrich is "snared in his stolen forest" (paragraph 1). What do the words "his stolen forest" reveal about Georg?

   AHe believes the land was taken from his own family and is not really Ulrich's BHe thinks Ulrich has been cutting down and stealing trees from the forest this winter CHe is only joking and does not care who owns the forest DHe wants to buy the forest from Ulrich once they are rescued

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Ulrich answers, "I'm caught in my own forest-land" (first Interlopers passage, paragraph 3). How does his reply to Georg's words reveal the feud?

   AIt shows that Ulrich agrees the land belongs to Georg's family BIt shows that each man is just as sure the same land is his own CIt shows that Ulrich is too badly hurt to argue with Georg DIt shows that Ulrich wants to change the subject to the weather

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Georg says, "I have men, too, in the forest to-night, close behind me, and they will be here first and do the releasing" (first Interlopers passage, paragraph 5). How does his speech propel the action?

   AIt ends the quarrel, because Georg now admits that both of the trapped men need help BIt makes Ulrich shout for his foresters at once CIt reveals that Georg is too badly hurt to survive the night DIt sets up a race: whichever group of men arrives first decides who lives

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Georg ends his threat with "For form's sake I shall send my condolences to your family" (first Interlopers passage, paragraph 5). What does this sentence reveal about him?

   AHe is truly sorry about the accident and wants to comfort Ulrich's family BHe is afraid that Ulrich's family will take revenge on him CHe can make a cruel joke, pretending polite manners while planning Ulrich's death DHe does not know that Ulrich has any family

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Ulrich replies that "My men had orders to follow in ten minutes time, seven of which must have gone by already" (first Interlopers passage, paragraph 6). What does this detail add to the scene?

   AIt says his men should arrive soon, answering Georg's threat with a threat BIt proves that Ulrich's men will certainly reach the two trapped men before Georg's CIt shows that Ulrich has lost track of time and is confused DIt explains why the beech tree fell during the storm

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   After the threats, the narrator says, "Both men spoke with the bitterness of possible defeat before them" (first Interlopers passage, paragraph 9). What does this sentence reveal about the threats the two men have just made?

   AEach man is sure that his own foresters will win the race and rescue him BBehind the fierce words, each man knows that he may be the one who loses and dies CThe two men are only joking and do not mean what they have said DThe two men have already begun to forgive each other for the feud

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Near the end of the first Interlopers passage, the wine "was warming and reviving to the wounded man, and he looked across with something like a throb of pity" (paragraph 10). What does this incident reveal about Ulrich?

   AHe is pleased that Georg is in more pain than he is BHe is planning to trick Georg into drinking the wine CHe is too weak to feel anything but his own pain DHis hatred is starting to soften as he watches his enemy suffer

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Ulrich asks, "Could you reach this flask if I threw it over to you?" and adds, "Let us drink, even if to-night one of us dies" (second Interlopers passage, paragraph 1). What does this offer reveal?

   AHe will share with his enemy while still expecting that one of them may die BUlrich has decided to make Georg his friend and says so CUlrich hopes the wine will make Georg fall asleep so that his own men arrive first DUlrich is trying to prove that he has the better wine

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Georg refuses the flask (second Interlopers passage, paragraph 2). Which choice names both reasons he gives?

    AHe does not like wine, and his own men will bring him something better BHe is afraid the wine is poisoned, and he cannot reach the flask CHe can hardly see because of the blood around his eyes, and he will not drink with an enemy DHe is too proud to accept help from Ulrich, and he wants Ulrich to suffer as long as possible

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In paragraph 3 of the second Interlopers passage, "An idea was slowly forming and growing in his brain." According to the narrator, what makes the idea grow stronger?

    AThe sound of his foresters calling from the hillside BLooking across at his enemy, who is fighting so grimly against pain CRemembering the famous law suit in his grandfather's day DGeorg's promise to send condolences to his family

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Ulrich calls the land "this stupid strip of forest, where the trees can't even stand upright in a breath of wind" (second Interlopers passage, paragraph 4). How does this description connect to the incident that trapped the men?

    AIt explains that Ulrich plans to sell the forest after the night is over BIt shows that Ulrich still thinks the forest is the most valuable thing he owns CIt blames Georg for weakening the trees by poaching DThe fallen tree has shown him the land is worth less than the feud has cost

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    At the end of the second Interlopers passage, Georg says, "And you offered me your wine-flask . . ." (paragraph 6). What does this line show about his decision to become Ulrich's friend?

    AThe offered flask helped provoke his decision, though he refused it at the time BGeorg has changed his mind because he is thirsty and wants the wine now CGeorg is accusing Ulrich of trying to trick him with the flask DGeorg decides to be friends only because he now expects Ulrich's men to arrive first

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Before he answers Ulrich, "Georg Znaeym was silent for so long that Ulrich thought, perhaps, he had fainted," and then "he spoke slowly and in jerks" (second Interlopers passage, paragraph 5). What do these details suggest?

    AGeorg is too angry at Ulrich to speak at all BGeorg has not heard what Ulrich said CThe decision is hard for Georg, who is setting aside a lifetime of hatred DGeorg is listening carefully to hear whether his own men are coming close yet

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Georg uses the word "interlopers" twice: "no cursed interlopers to come between us" (first Interlopers passage, paragraph 7) and "there is none other to interfere, no interlopers from outside" (second passage, paragraph 6). What does the word mean each time, and what does the change show about Georg?

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Compare the way Ulrich speaks to Georg in paragraph 3 of the first Interlopers passage with the first word of his speech in paragraph 4 of the second passage. What change does the dialogue reveal?

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Ulrich says, "But as for me, I've changed my mind" (second Interlopers passage, paragraph 4), and Georg later says, "I think I have changed my mind about things too, this last half-hour" (paragraph 6). What does Saki show by giving both men nearly the same words?

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In After Twenty Years, Bob says, "He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door to-night, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up" (second passage, paragraph 2). What does this line reveal about Bob, and why does it make the ending sadder?

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In the third passage of After Twenty Years, "His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished" (paragraph 13). What does this small incident reveal about Bob?

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write 4-6 sentences: choose one line Georg speaks in the first Interlopers passage and one he speaks in the second. Quote both, explain what each reveals about him, and explain how the difference between them propels the action.

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These standards connect to RL.8.3: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.