Exam Review

I can't believe it's already time for exams! This year has flown by. To help you prepare for my exam, here are some websites that are interactive grammar reviews.

OWL exercises

Grammar Bytes

Interactive Quizzes

Grammar Interactive Exercises

ACT Practice

And, hey, if you get bored or tired of practicing all that grammar and need a break, why not read some really cool short stories by a local writer. (FYI-some stories have mature content!)

Billy Collins "Introduction To Poetry"

Introduction To Poetry


I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

"Scholars" by Walter de la Mare

Logic does well at school;
And Reason answers every question right;
Poll-parrot Memory unwinds her spool;
And Copy-cat keeps Teacher well in sight;

The Heart's a truant; nothing does by rule;
Safe in its wisdom, is taken for a fool;
Nods through the morning on the dunce's stool;
And wakes to dream all night.

"God's Wheel" by Shel Silverstein

God's Wheel by Shel Silverstein
GOD says to me with a kind of smile,
"Hey how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"

"Okay," says I,
"I'll give it a try.

Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"

"Gimme back that wheel," says GOD.
"I don't think you're quite ready YET."

"Fear No More" by William Shakespeare

Fear no more the heat o' the sun;
Nor the furious winter's rages,
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney sweepers come to dust.

Fear no more the frown of the great,
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dread thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

"Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood

"Siren Song"

This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces me
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls

the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember.

Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?

I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical

with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique

at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.

Suum Cuique

*"Suum Cuique" by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wilt thou seal up the avenues of ill?
Pay every debt, as if God wrote the bill.


* Latin - "to each his own"