Unit Three: Language and Literature Practice

This set of flashcards covers reading comprehension regarding John Sumner's character and experiences, vocabulary for singular and plural noun forms, gendered terms for humans and animals, and punctuation rules for abbreviations.

In the extract from "Let the Balloon Go" by Ivan Southall, the main character who is described as "spastic" is __________.

John Sumner

John feels like a "young __________ in chains" and an "eagle with clipped wings."

lion

The adults in the story tell John that he must remember he is __________ from other children.

different

John compares his feeling of being handled carefully to that of a __________.

broken egg

John thinks of himself as being a person like Hercules, Edmund Hillary, or __________.

Herb Elliott

The central metaphor of the story concludes that a balloon is not a balloon until someone __________.

cut the string

The medical words listed for study in the text include pneumonia, psychiatrist, haemorrhage, and __________.

epilepsy

The plural form of the noun "basis" is __________.

bases

The plural form of the noun "datum" is __________.

data

The singular form of the plural noun "appendices" is __________.

appendix

The singular form of the plural noun "curricula" is __________.

curriculum

A masculine noun names a male, a feminine noun names a female, and a __________ noun names a thing.

neuter

The feminine term for an "Emperor" is __________.

Empress

A male whose spouse has died is called a "widower," while a female is called a __________.

widow

The masculine term for a "mare" is __________, and the masculine for a "goose" is "gander."

stallion

The feminine term for a "fox" is __________.

vixen

According to the punctuation rules provided, a full stop is used for abbreviations unless the __________ letter of the abbreviation is also the last letter of the complete word.

last

The abbreviation "Rd" for "Road" does not require a full stop because the letter __________ is the last letter of both the abbreviation and the complete word.

d