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Flashcards: Determining Authorial Tone in Narrative Social Science Passages
Adapted from Early European History Hutton Webster (1917)
It was the work of Darius to provide for his dominions a stable government which should preserve what the sword had won. The problem was difficult. The empire was a collection of many people widely different in race, language, customs, and religion. Darius did not attempt to weld the conquered nations into unity. As long as the subjects of Persia paid tribute and furnished troops for the royal army, they were allowed to conduct their own affairs with little interference from the Great King.
The entire empire, excluding Persia proper, was divided into twenty satrapies, or provinces, each one with its civil governor, or satrap. The satraps carried out the laws and collected the heavy tribute annually levied throughout the empire. In most of the provinces there were also military governors who commanded the army and reported directly to the king. This device of entrusting the civil and military functions to separate officials lessened the danger of revolts against the Persian authority. As an additional precaution Darius provided special agents whose business it was to travel from province to province and investigate the conduct of his officials. It became a proverb that "the king has many eyes and many ears."
Darius also established a system of military roads throughout the Persian dominions. The roads were provided at frequent intervals with inns, where postmen stood always in readiness to take up a letter and carry it to the next station. The Royal Road from Susa, the Persian capital, to Sardis in Lydia was over fifteen hundred miles long; but government couriers, using relays of fresh horses, could cover the distance within a week. An old Greek writer declares with admiration that "there is nothing mortal more swift than these messengers."
The tone of this passage could best be described as __________.
disparaging and humorous
enigmatic and emotive
critical and harsh
aggressive and bellicose
informative and authoritative
All SSAT Middle Level Reading Resources
Our SSAT Middle Level Reading Comprehension Flashcards each contain one question that might appear on the Middle Level Reading Comprehension section of the SSAT. You can use them to get a comprehensive overview of each topic covered by the SSAT Middle Level Reading Comprehension section one problem at a time, or to do problem drills that focus on particular problem types or content areas found on the SSAT Middle Level Reading Comprehension section.
Is your child taking the SSAT test soon? Make sure to encourage him or her to study for the Reading section of the test. Even if your child reads well, they need to get used to the format of this section of the test and work up their reading speed. The SSAT Middle Level Reading test will contain 40 questions that your child will have to answer in 40 minutes. The questions will assess their comprehension of several literary passages. They will have to ready quickly to make sure they have enough time as possible to concentrate on the questions.
To make preparing for this important section of the SSAT easier, Varsity Tutors' Learning Tools offers many SSAT Middle Level Reading study help activities, including free flashcards online. The flashcards offer a great way for your child to squeeze in a little test preparation when they don't have time to take a practice test or a full diagnostic test. Learning Tools Flashcards for SSAT Middle Level Reading can be accessed from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. That means that your child can study them when on-the-go between extracurricular activities, while riding to and from school, or any time they have a little unexpected downtime during their day.
The SSAT Middle Level Reading study flashcards were produced in a format similar to the reading question format on the SSAT. Each flashcard contains a passage your child must read, and then asks a question based on the passage.
The types of passages on the flashcards include literary fiction, poetry, science, social science, humanities, and several other types of passages that they may encounter on the SSAT. The questions they must answer after reading the passages include determining tone and purpose, making inferences, determining authorial attitude, determine the meaning of words based on context, and many more types of questions they may later encounter on the SSAT.
When helping your child with their SSAT Middle Level Reading review, you may also want to take advantage of the flashcards maker. This Learning Tool provides blank flashcard templates that can be filled out with additional literary passages and multiple-choice questions based on them. If your child is an avid reader, then find out what book they are currently reading for fun and what chapter they are on in it. Then, enter passages from the next chapter they haven't read yet and questions based on them. This can help them look forward to studying, because it allows them to read their favorite book as they learn!
An additional way you can use the flashcards creator is to simply pull the ready-made cards that your child needs to study most into a new, customized deck. Once you create a new deck of flashcards using either method, you can then save it, and your child can access it from their computer, tablet, or smartphone any time they want to study it until test day.
The SSAT Middle Level Reading test can be challenging, so encourage your child to study as much as
they can until test day. Practice reading passages and answering questions based on them can help your child improve their reading and comprehension skills.
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