This senior high school English Literature quiz takes a look at illustrating and supporting points in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. If you want to argue a point about a text, you will need to rely on evidence. By referring specifically and accurately to evidence from a text, you can strengthen your case.
Quoting accurately from a text is not the easiest of skills to learn, however. This quiz gives you an opportunity to test these vital literary skills. See how well you can spot the answers which have incorporated the evidence in support of a point accurately and grammatically. And don’t forget when writing essays to follow up your quotation with an explanation, too!
How to use evidence to support a point:
There are three key methods of using evidence when writing about a text: the first is by paraphrasing, the second by quoting single words or short phrases, and the third is by quoting longer sections of text. Paraphrasing is actually one of the easiest methods and is an essential skill in writing. Even without using a direct quotation, the use of paraphrasing clearly demonstrates your knowledge of a text. This is also likely to be the method used most when you do not have the text to hand (especially during an exam).
Quoting single words or phrases is effective and useful when you wish to draw attention to a specific choice of language. Mixing paraphrase and a short quotation in the same sentence is a very flexible way to use evidence. This is almost always better than writing long sentences full of multiple quotations. Such sentences can be clumsy and very difficult to read.
The third, and final, method is to quote a full sentence or more. If quoting a short phrase would not make sense on its own, or if you would like to discuss a longer quotation in detail, this method can be the best choice.
Remember: you should only use quotation marks around a single word if that word is significant in itself. It is unnecessary, and distracting, to quote each individual word which also happens to appear in the text. If you are using 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 To Kill a Mockingbird. Remember, the purpose of this quiz is not to test your knowledge of the text, rather your ability to know how to quote and paraphrase. One helpful tip is that it might be easier to eliminate the incorrect answers first!