PSAT Critical Reading : Tone, Audience, and Point of View in Literary Fiction Passages
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Example Questions
Example Question #101 : Language In Literary Fiction Passages
Adapted from James Fennimore Cooper’s novel, The Last of the Mohicans (1826). Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.
1 A young man, in the dress of an officer, conducted to their steeds two
2 females, who, as it was apparent by their dresses, were prepared to encounter
3 the fatigues of a journey in the woods. One, and she was the most juvenile in her
4 appearance, though both were young, permitted glimpses of her dazzling
5 complexion, fair golden hair, and bright blue eyes to be caught, as she artlessly
6 suffered the morning air to blow aside the green veil which descended low from
7 her beaver. The flush which still lingered above the pines in the western sky was
8 not more bright nor delicate than the bloom on her cheek; nor was the opening
9 day more cheering than the animated smile which she bestowed on the youth, as
10 he assisted her into the saddle. The other, who appeared to share equally in the
11 attentions of the young officer, concealed her charms from the gaze of the
12 soldiery, with a care that seemed better fitted to the experience of four or five
13 additional years. It could be seen, however, that her person, though molded
14 with the same exquisite proportions, of which none of the graces were lost by
15 the travelling dress she wore, was rather fuller and more mature than that of
16 her companion.
From what point of view is this passage narrated?
First-person
Third-person limited
Third-person omniscient
Third-person omniscient
Third-person omniscient
The narrator speaks about the characters in third person: he, she, they (Lines 10, 15). Also, the narrator knows certain details about the characters, like the fact that the officer does not favor one woman to the other.
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