Flashcards: Cause and Effect

Adapted from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908)

The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters, then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash, 'till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said "Bother!" and "O blow!" and also "Hang spring cleaning!" and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat. Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he made for the steep little tunnel which answered in his case to the gaveled carriage-drive owned by animals whose residences are nearer to the sun and air. So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped, working busily with his little paws and muttering to himself, "Up we go! Up we go!" 'till at last, pop! His snout came out into the sunlight, and he found himself rolling in the warm grass of a great meadow.

"This is fine!" he said to himself. "This is better than whitewashing!" The sunshine struck hot on his fur, soft breezes caressed his heated brow, and after the seclusion of the cellarage he had lived in so long, the carol of happy birds fell on his dulled hearing almost like a shout. Jumping off all his four legs at once, in the joy of living and the delight of spring without its cleaning, he pursued his way across the meadow 'till he reached the hedge on the further side.

"Hold up!" said an elderly rabbit at the gap. "Sixpence for the privilege of passing by the private road!" He was bowled over in an instant by the impatient and contemptuous Mole, who trotted along the side of the hedge chaffing the other rabbits as they peeped hurriedly from their holes to see what the row was about. "Onion-sauce! Onion-sauce!" he remarked jeeringly, and was gone before they could think of a thoroughly satisfactory reply. Then they all started grumbling at each other. "How STUPID you are! Why didn't you tell him—" "Well, why didn't YOU say—" "You might have reminded him—" and so on, in the usual way; but, of course, it was then much too late, as is always the case.

What effect does the author's use of repetition have in the lines underlined in the passage?

The repetition emphasizes how long and how much energy it takes the mole to burrow to the surface.

The repetition is meant to confuse the reader, just as the mole is confused on his way to the surface.

The repetition suggests that the mole gets lost on his way from his home to the surface.

The repetition doesn't affect the reader's perception of the story at all; the author is just having fun with language.

The repetition emphasizes how busily the mole worked while spring cleaning his home.

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If your child is in the eighth grade and planning to attend an independent or magnet high school, then he may be required to take the nationally recognized High School Placement Test. Private schools across the country require incoming students to take the test in order to determine acceptance into the school, proper course placement, scholarship qualification, or some combination of all three. The HSPT is composed of five main sections, including quantitative, verbal, language, mathematics, and reading. If your child is not a strong reader, they may feel some anxiety when it comes to the reading section of the HSPT. Sufficient test preparation can help to reduce your child’s anxiety and improve their overall test performance. Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools are free online HSPT study resources that are easy to use and offer self-study support. Online HSPT Reading Flashcards are one of these exceptional Learning Tools. The Flashcards tool offers a concept-specific tiered structure that allows your child to quickly assess his strengths and weaknesses, providing quality High School Placement Test review.

The reading section of the HSPT consists of over 60 questions to be answered within only 25 minutes. The purpose of the reading section is to assess your child’s ability to understand details and meanings presented in different reading passages. The HSPT Reading Flashcards are designed to help strengthen these skills in two main categories: Comprehension and Vocabulary. The tiered structure includes concept-specific subtopics within these categories, helping your child focus on the topics in which they need the most improvement. For example, within the Comprehension category, your student could study a broad selection of content using the Passage Reasoning Flashcards, or they can select a more specific HSPT Reading review using the Passage Reasoning in Contemporary Life flashcards.

Once your child selects a concept to practice, an HSPT Reading sample question is presented in a multiple-choice format which simulates the actual exam. Once your child selects an answer, the flashcard flips and the correct answer is revealed, followed by a detailed explanation of the answer. The explanation also includes links to relevant concepts and definitions. The multiple-choice answers are randomly assigned with each use of the flashcard, securing a valid learning experience and denying the possibility of automatically memorizing the answers based on their order.

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