gre #1

as promised, here comes the first in a series of sample gre study items. read the passage and name the author and the work:

"I wish I owned half of that dog."

"Why?" somebody asked.

"Because I would kill my half."

The group searched his face with curiosity, with anxiety even, but found no light there, no expression that they could read. They fell away from him as from something uncanny, and went into privacy to discuss him. One said:

"'Pears to be a fool."

"'Pears?" said another. "Is, I reckon you better say."

"Said he wished he owned half of the dog, the idiot," said a third. "What did he reckon would become of the other half if he killed his half? Do you reckon he thought it would live?"

actually, let's do this gre style. choose, between these five authors:

a. langston hughes
b. walt whitman
c. ernest hemingway
d. mark twain
e. john steinbeck

the author of this work also made a brief foray into which other literary genre?

a. imagism
b. arthurian literature
c. theater of the absurd
d. pre-raphaelite literature
e. post-modern gertrude steinesque nonsense

according to the allusion in lines 4-5 this passage from pudd'n'head wilson alludes to what breed of dog?

a. a german shepherd
b. one of those rat-like chihuahuas
c. a mutt
d. a pit pull terrier
e. a "death-hound"


andrew david 'outside church' puerto vallarta, mexico.
this shot had great potential, but the final product stinks. oh, well. i still like the idea.

if necesary, i am more than happy to offer test-taking strategies for these questions in future posts. to see how you did, simply drag your cursor over this blank space, and you should see the answers: 1. d; 2. b; 3. none of the above! sorry, that was evil. there was totally NO allusion in those lines! one could argue that the passage somehow alludes to solomon, but gosh--that's a baby, not a dog! but be glad, the gre would never do that to you.