School Improvement in Maryland

Sample Item
Selected Response Item for Grade 8

Standard 3.0 Comprehension of Literary Text

Topic A. Comprehension of Literary Text

Indicator 7. Analyze and evaluate the author's purposeful use of language

Objective a. Analyze and evaluate how specific language choices contribute to meaning

Assessment limits:

  • Significant words (e.g., idioms, colloquialisms, etc.) with a specific effect on meaning
  • Denotations of above-grade-level words used in context
  • Connotations of grade-appropriate words and phrases in context
Read this passage from 'Dear Mr. President Thomas Jefferson Letters from a Philadelphia Bookworm', a novel that takes place when President Jefferson was in office. Amelia Hornsby has grown up in Philadelphia but has recently followed her father, a doctor, to Pittsburgh. Then answer the following.


Read this sentence from paragraph 4 of the letter.

But it has been suggested to me that a person of my education and attainments might do well as a teacher for young ladies; and as this suits my temper very well, I think I may try it when I am of suitable years.

In this sentence, the word suitable suggests

  1. advanced
  2. appropriate
  3. matching
  4. noticeable

Correct Answer
B. appropriate
/toolkit/vsc/assessment_items/msa_ela_8_030.xml