This high school English Literature quiz challenges you on illustrating and supporting points in Animal Farm by George Orwell. If you want to argue a point about a text, you will need to offer evidence contained in the text in support. By referring specifically and accurately to evidence from a text, you can make your point much more persuasive. Being able to quote accurately from a text is a useful skill to have, but it is not the easiest to learn. This quiz gives you the chance to test these vital literary skills. How well can you can identify the answers which have supported a point by referring to evidence from the text accurately and grammatically? When writing your own essays or exam answers, remember to follow up your quotation with an explanation, too!
How to use evidence to support a point:
You should know the three primary methods of using evidence when writing about a text: paraphrase, quoting single words or short phrases, or quoting longer sections of text. Inexplicably neglected at times, paraphrasing is one of the easiest methods to refer to evidence and is, in addition, an essential skill in writing. By paraphrasing, you clearly demonstrate your knowledge of a text, even though no direct quotes are used. This is an especially useful method of using evidence when you do not have the text to hand, such as during an exam.
Selecting single words or phrases to quote is also effective. This method is particularly useful when you wish to draw attention to language choice. Mixing paraphrase and a short quotation in the same sentence will enable you to be flexible in your writing and use of evidence. This style is preferable to writing long sentences full of multiple quotations. Sentences full of multiple quotations can be awkward and are quite difficult to read.
The final method is to quote a full sentence or more. Use this method if quoting a short phrase would not make sense on its own, or if you plan to discuss the longer quotation in detail.
Remember: only use quotation marks around a single word if that word is significant in itself. Ordinary words do not require quotation marks unless there is something especially significant about their use. Whenever you use an exact phrase or sentence from the text, remember to put quotation marks around it.
See how you do with this quiz on the best way to use evidence from Animal Farm. Remember, this quiz aims to test your ability to quote and to paraphrase; it does not aim to test your knowledge of the text. One helpful tip is that it might be easier to eliminate the incorrect answers first!