How Text Reveals Character: Fiction/Drama Practice Test
•15 QuestionsRead the following original drama passage and answer the question.
Hospital waiting room, predawn. Fluorescent lights hum. A vending machine blinks “SOLD OUT.” MR. PIERCE sits rigidly with a paper cup of water. NORA, his adult daughter, scrolls her phone, then stops.
NORA: You could sit back. The chair reclines.
MR. PIERCE: If it reclines, it’s admitting we’re staying.
NORA: We are staying.
MR. PIERCE (stares at the cup): Staying is a choice. Waiting is a posture.
NORA: Dad, you’re not in charge of the schedule.
MR. PIERCE (too calm): I’m in charge of myself.
He folds the plastic wristband he was given into a neat rectangle, then unfolds it, then folds it again.
NORA (soft): You don’t have to be strong like this.
MR. PIERCE: This isn’t strength. It’s manners.
He stands when a nurse passes, though she doesn’t look at him.
Which inference about Mr. Pierce is best supported by “Waiting is a posture” and his repeated folding of the wristband?
Read the following original drama passage and answer the question.
Hospital waiting room, predawn. Fluorescent lights hum. A vending machine blinks “SOLD OUT.” MR. PIERCE sits rigidly with a paper cup of water. NORA, his adult daughter, scrolls her phone, then stops.
NORA: You could sit back. The chair reclines.
MR. PIERCE: If it reclines, it’s admitting we’re staying.
NORA: We are staying.
MR. PIERCE (stares at the cup): Staying is a choice. Waiting is a posture.
NORA: Dad, you’re not in charge of the schedule.
MR. PIERCE (too calm): I’m in charge of myself.
He folds the plastic wristband he was given into a neat rectangle, then unfolds it, then folds it again.
NORA (soft): You don’t have to be strong like this.
MR. PIERCE: This isn’t strength. It’s manners.
He stands when a nurse passes, though she doesn’t look at him.
Which inference about Mr. Pierce is best supported by “Waiting is a posture” and his repeated folding of the wristband?