Exercises

Hello and salam to all students ! We hope the guidelines we have provided to you in previous posts have helped you in analyzing a short story. To test your understanding, we have prepared some exercises to see how far is your understanding in analyzing a short story. We have divided three different exercises for three different level of proficiency and feel free to complete all the exercises. All the best ! :)

Level : Beginners 

A. Rearrange the sentences below according to the sequence of events in the story.

• She borrowed a necklace from a friend. (   )
• She called her husband a 'little clerk'. (   )
• Loisel received an invitation to the ball. (   )
• She had become unattractive due to the difficult life. (   )
• Mathilde was unhappy with her life. (   )
• It took them ten years to pay back what they owed. (   )
• Feeling frightened, she realized the necklace was gone. (   )
• She felt outraged when she was told the the necklace was fake. (   )
• She believed she could have a better life. (   )
• They searched everywhere but could not find it. (   )
• She had a wonderful time at the ball. (   )
• The bought another one to replace it. (   )

B. The sentences below describe the setting of the story. Fill in the blanks with the locations given in the box.

1. Mathilde and loisel live in an apartment in ____________________.
2. They later changed their lodgings to a  ____________________ under the roof.
3. The Ministerial Ball is held at the  ____________________ on 18th January.
4. They walked towards the  ____________________ in the hope of finding a cab.
5. The ancient night cabs are so shabby that they are never seen around  ____________________ until after dark.
6. The found a cab on the  ____________________.
7. Loisel has planned to treat himself to a little shooting on the  ____________________ next summer with several friends
8. They found in a shop at the  ____________________, a string of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost.
9. One Sunday, Mathilde had a chance encounter with Madame Forestier when she went for a walk in the  ____________________ to refresh herself after the labours of the week.

Level : Intermediate 

A. Give your own opinions (agree or disagree) on each situations given below. Elaborate your answers.

1. Lying is acceptable in some situations. You should always lie to save face.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

     2. Life sometimes hands you cruel situations. The best thing to do when this happens is to keep your suffering to yourself and find a way to get by.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    3. People with money and people without money should not socialize.
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    4. The only way to impress others is to spend extravagant amounts of money.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    5. Money can buy happiness.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

B. Decide which adjectives best decribe Mathilde Loisel and Monsieur Loisel. The first example has been given.

i) She is ;

•  Demanding
•  
•  
•  
•  
• 
  

ii) He is ;

• Patient
•  
•  
•  
•  
• 
  

Level : Advanced 

A. Below are some of the words/phrases used by the writer to depict both wealth and poverty story. Arrange them in the correct categories.

          WEALTH                                                                      POVERTY
 
       ____________                                                                ____________
       ____________                                                                ____________
       ____________                                                                ____________
       ____________                                                                ____________
       ____________                                                                ____________


B. Using details from the story, do you agree or disagree with the following quote, "Honesty is the best policy" Write your opinion on the space provided for not more than 150 words.

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We hope this exercises help ! Regards.