Writing Quiz for Grade 12 English | Free Online Practice

Writing Quiz for Grade 12 English | Free Online Practice

1. What is the main irritation that Lynn Coady discusses at the beginning of her essay?
2. How does Coady describe her feeling as a writer in Canada?
3. According to Coady, what do people traditionally expect from a Canadian writer's work?
4. What does Coady claim the new generation of 'Urban-Canadian' writers are doing?
5. What is Coady’s ultimate problem with the new generation of urban Canadian writers?
6. What literary element does Coady feel is severely lacking in mainstream Canadian literature?
7. Which author does Coady explicitly name as an exception to the rule of humorless Canadian writing?
8. Why does Coady believe that literature must include a 'sublime sense of stupidity'?
9. Where does Coady originally come from, which she says might make her highly sensitized to these literary expectations?
10. What happened to Coady’s novel Strange Heaven?
11. In the first paragraph, Coady mentions an editor being 'indifferent.' What does 'indifferent' mean in this context?
12. Coady states that editors 'scrupulously tracked' her down. What does 'scrupulously' mean?
13. The essay mentions a 'dour' religious boarding school. What is the closest synonym for 'dour'?
14. What does the word 'earnestness' mean as used in the title and throughout the essay?
15. Coady writes about 'cloyingly sentimental renderings of life.' What does 'cloyingly' imply?
16. In paragraph 5 of the essay, Coady uses the word 'nonagenarian' to describe a grandmother. What does this word mean?
17. Why does Coady use the highly advanced word 'nonagenarian' right next to a description of a character with diarrhea?
18. Coady refers to a 'penchant' for absolute earnestness. What is a 'penchant'?
19. What does the word 'irreverence' mean in the context of Coady’s writing philosophy?
20. Coady attacks the 'smiley kind of censorship that hides behind a Pollyanna face.' What does a 'Pollyanna face' mean?
21. What is the main controversial claim Coady makes about a work of literature that lacks any sense of stupidity or humor?
22. How does Coady use her rejected Christmas anthology story to convince readers that her approach to writing is valid?
23. What approach or tone does Coady use to convince her readers that Canadian writers are too serious?
24. Why did the editors of Lost Classics reject Coady's piece on Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories?
25. What was the underlying message of Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories that terrified Coady as a child?
26. When Coady says 'People are stupid. We’re all stupid,' what point is she trying to get across about literature?
27. At the end of page 3, a quote by Virginia Woolf states that a good essay must 'draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in, not out.' How does Coady's essay subvert or respond to this quote?
28. If we compare Coady’s 'The Importance of Being Earnest' with Drew Hayden Taylor's 'What Colour Is a Rose?' on the aspects of intent and tone, what do both Canadian writers have in common?
29. What does Coady mean by the phrase 'the smiley kind of censorship'?
30. What is Coady’s final stance on 'serious' writers who write serious books and essays?