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Back
to the 8th Grade Test
Could
You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895?
PLEASE
NOTE: We have given the answers to the test
Answers
to the 8th Grade Test:
GRAMMAR
(Time, one hour)
1.
Give the nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
- Always
capitalize the first letter in a sentence or sentence fragment
- Always
capitalize the first letter in a direct quotation
- Always
capitalize the first letter in a direct question within a sentence
- Always
capitalize the first letter in a line of poetry
- Always
capitalize the first letter in proper nouns, including registered
trademarks, names of treaties, geological eras, planets, courts
of law, the days of the week, and genera in zoology and botany
- Always
capitalize the first letter in titles of books, magazines, newspapers,
movies, works of art, and music, except for conjunctions, prepositions,
and articles (Gone With the Wind)
- Always
capitalize the first letter in the names of ships, aircraft,
and spacecraft (e.g., Sputnik)
- Always
capitalize the first letter in peoples' names (e.g. John Smith)
- Always
capitalize the first letter in a title preceding a person's
name (e.g., Mr.)
- Always
capitalize the first letter in words designating the Deity (e.g.
God)
- Always
capitalize the pronoun "I"
2.
Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
- Noun:
A word used in a sentence as a subject or object of a very or
a preposition.
- Pronoun:
A word used as a substitute for a noun and which refers to a
person or thing.
- Adjectives:
A word that modifies a noun.
- Verb:
A word that expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being.
3.
Define:
- Verse:
A line of metric writing
- Stanza:
A series of lines within a poem that are arranged together and
usually involve a recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.
- Paragraph:
A subdivision of a written composition consisting of one or
more sentences dealing with one point or giving the words of
one speaker.
4.
What are the principal parts of a verb?
Transitive,
intransitive, past, present, future, conditional, subjunctive
Give
the principal parts of do, lie, lay, and run.
- Did,
do, doing, shall do
- Lied,
lie, lying, shall lie
- Lay,
lay, laying, shall lay
- Ran,
run, running, shall run
5.
Define Case.
A
change in the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective indicating
its grammatical relation to other words.
Illustrate
each case.
Near,
nearer, nearest
Nicely
6.
What is Punctuation?
Dividing
a written matter with punctuation marks.
Give
rules for principal marks of punctuation.
- Comma:
Separates main clauses joined by a conjunction; separates words
in a series; sets off an adverbial clause.
- Semicolon:
Links main clauses not joined by conjunctions.
- Colon:
Introduces a clause that explains or amplifies what has gone
on before.
- Period:
Terminates a sentence.
- Hyphen:
Used in some compound words.
- Question
mark: Terminates a direct question.
- Exclamation
point: Terminates an emphatic phrase or sentence.
- Apostrophe:
Indicates the possessive case or omissions in contracted words.
- Parentheses:
Sets off supplementary material.
- Quotation
marks: Enclose direct quotations.
7-10.
Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you
understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic
(Time, one hour)
1.
Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
- Arithmetic
is the branch of mathematics that deals with real numbers.
- Addition:
Combining numbers to obtain an equivalent quantity.
- Subtraction:
Deducting one number from another.
- Division:
Dividing one number by another.
- Multiplication:
Adding an integer a specified number of times.
2.
A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How
many bushels of wheat will it hold?
48
3.
If a load of wheat weighs 3942 pounds, what is it worth at 50
cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
The
net weight of the wheat is 2,892 pounds. A bushel of wheat weighs
about 60 pounds. The correct answer is $24.10.
4.
District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary
levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have
$104 for incidentals?
1.3
percent
5.
Find cost of 6720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
$20.16
6.
Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
$26
7.
What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at
20 cents per sq. foot?
$128
8.
Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
Bank
discount is the
bank charge made for payment of a note prior to maturity, expressed
as a percentage of the note's face value. Discount is subtracted
from the principal before the borrower receives the money. A
person who borrows $300 at a discount rate of 10 percent for
90 days would receive only $270.
9.
What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance
around which is 640 rods?
There
are 160 acres in this farm for a total cost of $2400.
See an animation of
the solution to this problem.
10.
Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
U.S.
History (Time, 45 Minutes)
1.
Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
- The
Colonial Era
- The
Revolutionary Era
- The
Critical Period
- The
Early National Era
- The
Jeffersonian Era
- The
Antebellum Era
- The
Civil War Era
- The
Gilded Age
Later periods of American History include:
- The
Progressive Era
- World
War I
- The
Interwar Era
- World
War II
- The
Postwar Era
2.
Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
In
1492, the Italian-born Columbus captained three ships westward,
seeking a water-route to the Spice Islands. After three months,
he encountered land in the Caribbean.
3.
Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
Causes
of the Revolution include the British decision to levy taxes
in the colonies without the colonists consent; the stationing
of troops in the colonies; the imposition of restrictions on
colonial trade, manufacturing, and westward expansion; and infringement
of the colonists' legal rights and liberties. Consequences of
the Revolution include the emancipation of slaves in many northern
states and the adoption of graduate emancipation schemes in
other states in the North; the disestablishment of churches
in most states; the adoption of new state constitutions; and
rapid westward expansion.
4.
Show the territorial growth of the United States.
A
correct answer would include the purchase of Louisiana Territory
from France; the annexation of Texas; the acquisition of the
Pacific Northwest as a result of negotiations with Britain;
the Mexican War; the Gadsden Purchase; the purchase of Alaska
from Russia; and the annexation of Hawaii.
5.
Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
A
correct answer would include the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which
opened Kansas to white settlement and the contest between pro-slavery
and free soil forces to control Kansas' territorial legislature.
6.
Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
- The
First Battle of Bull Run: The first full-scale battle of the
Civil War, which took place in Northern Virginia not far from
Washington, dashed Union hopes for a quick military victory.
- Antietam:
This battle, which witnessed the bloodiest day of the Civil
War, halted a Confederate offensive into the North and led President
Lincoln to issue his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
- Gettysburg:
The largest battle in the history of the Western Hemisphere
ended the Confederacy's ability to wage an offensive war in
the North and removed the threat of foreign intervention in
the conflict.
7.
Who were the following:
- Morse:
A prominent artist and nativist who invented the telegraph.
- Whitney:
The inventor of the cotton gin also helped popularize the American
System of standardized parts and mass production.
- Fulton:
Demonstrated the practicality of steam-powered navigation.
- Bell:
A teacher of the deaf who invented the telephone.
- Lincoln:
The 16th President of the United States led the Union during
the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which
transformed the conflict into a war to liberate the slaves.
- Penn:
The Quaker founder of Pennsylvania colony.
- Howe:
An inventor of the sewing machine.
8.
Name the events connected with the following dates:
- 1607:
The founding of Jamestown, Britain's first enduring colonial
settlement.
- 1620:
The landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.
- 1800:
The election of Thomas Jefferson as the third president marks
the first transfer of power from one political party to another.
- 1849:
The discovery of gold in California the previous year led some
80,000 '49ers to migrate into the territory.
- 1865:
The defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War and the assassination
of President Lincoln.
Orthography
(Time, one hour)
1.
What is meant by the following:
- Alphabet:
A set of letters or characters with which a language is written.
- Phonetic:
Representing the sounds of speech.
- Orthography:
The representation of a language by written letters or symbols.
- Etymology:
The history of a word.
- Syllabication:
The division of words into syllables.
2.
What are elementary sounds? How classified?
The
elementary sounds are the basic sounds of speech.
3.
What are the following, and give examples of each:
- Trigraph:
a cluster of three successive letters
- Subvocals:
The occurrence in the mind of words without vocal articulation.
- Diphthong:
A sound (such as the last sound in the word "toy")
that starts at the position of one vowel and moves toward another.
- Cognate:
Words related by descent from the same ancestral language.
- Linguals:
Sounds produced by the tongue.
4.
Give four substitutes for caret 'u.'
- ie
(view)
- ew
(blew)
- oo
(food)
- ou
(through)
5.
Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions
under each rule.
- A
single long vowel followed by a consonant (other than w or y)
is often followed by a final 'e.' (example: crude or prove;
exception: love or above)
- Two
consonants followed by a long 'e' at the end of a word often
include two "e"'s. (example: free or tree; exceptions:
brie or monkey)
6.
Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
Pneumonia;
knight
7.
Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word:
- Bi:
two parts; bicycle
- Dis:
opposite or deprive of; disagreeable
- Mis:
badly, unfavorable, or not; mistrust
- Pre:
earlier or prior to; prehistoric
- Semi:
half or partly; semi-circle
- Post:
after or subsequent; posthumous
- Non:
not or reverse of: nonpaying
- Inter:
between or occurring among: intermarriage
- Mono:
alone, single, or containing one: monotheistic
- Super:
above or over; superscript
8.
Mark diacritically and divided into syllables the following, and
name the sign that indicates the sound:
- Ball
'bol
- Mercy
'm&r-sE
- Sir
's&r
- Cell
'sel
- Rise
'rIz
- Blood
'bl&d
- Fare
'far
- Last
'last
A
glossary of pronunciation terms:
- Accent
marks: a mark used to indicate stress or pitch.
- Diaeresis:
Two dots placed side-by-side over a vowel to indicate that a
vowel is considered a separate vowel, even though it would normally
be considered part of a diphthong.
- Digraph:
A series of two letters that constitute a single sound not predicted
by combining the two letters.
- Diphthong:
A sound that start at the position for one vowel and moves toward
the position of another.
- Long
and short vowels: Vowel-containing sounds that are long or short
in duration.
9.
Use the following correctly in sentences,
- Cite:
Cite the proper source.
Site: The landing site was on the western coast.
Sight: It was a beautiful sight.
- Fane:
(temple or church) To the east is a fane.
Fain: (happy or inclined) He was fain to go to the party.
Feign: (to give a false impression) He feigned death.
- Vane:
(an object showing the direction of the wind) There was a weather
vane on the roof.
Vain: You are so vain.
Vein: Blood flows through her veins.
- Raze:
The construction workers razed the barn in order to build a
new house.
Raise: She raised the flag.
Rays: He enjoys the sun's rays.
10.
Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation
by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography
(Time, one hour)
1.
What is climate?
The
condition of the weather at a particular place.
Upon
what does climate depend?
On
the season, the temperature, wind velocity, the degree of cloud
cover, and precipitation, among other factors.
2.
How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
The
state's physical location. Cold air from the north moves easily
across the Kansas plains during the winter, and hot winds blow
from the south in the summer.
3.
Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
Rivers
offer a source of drinking water, water power, and transportation
routes. The ocean also provides a transportation route.
4.
Describe the mountains of North America.
Major
mountain ranges include the Appalachians, the Rocky Mountains,
the Sierra Nevadas, and the Cascades.
5.
Name and describe the following:
- Monrovia:
The capital of Liberia.
- Odessa:
City and port in southern Ukraine on the Black Sea.
- Denver:
The capital of Colorado.
- Manitoba:
A Canadian province.
- Hecla:
A volcano in southwest Iceland.
- Yukon:
A territory in northwest Canada between Alaska and British Columbia.
- St.
Helena: An island in the South Atlantic.
- Juan
Fernandez: A group of three islands in the southeast Pacific
west of Chile
- Aspinwall:
A city in western Pennsylvania.
- Orinoco:
A river flowing from the Brazilian border to the Columbian border
and into the Atlantic.
6.
Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco
7.
Name all the republics of Europe and give the capitals of each.
Examples
include:
- Britain
(London)
- Finland
(Helsinki)
- France
(Paris)
- Germany
(Berlin)
- Italy
(Rome)
- Netherlands
(Hague)
- Sweden
(Stockholm)
8.
Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same
latitude?
Because
of the routes of the ocean currents.
9.
Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to
the sources of rivers.
Through
evaporation and precipitation.
10.
Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the
earth.
The
earth spins on its axis once a day. It spins around the sun
once a year. The earth's inclination is 23.45 degrees.
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