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Practice Test A Reading 1-10

The passage summarizes the tools, techniques, and traditions used by early English furniture makers in colonial New England. It notes that [1] they used basic woodworking tools similar to those used for centuries, and specialized tools were rare. [2] Furniture was primarily constructed using mortise-and-tenon joinery, with wood pegs to secure joints. [3] Furniture designs were based on traditional English styles familiar to the colonists.

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240 views4 pages

Practice Test A Reading 1-10

The passage summarizes the tools, techniques, and traditions used by early English furniture makers in colonial New England. It notes that [1] they used basic woodworking tools similar to those used for centuries, and specialized tools were rare. [2] Furniture was primarily constructed using mortise-and-tenon joinery, with wood pegs to secure joints. [3] Furniture designs were based on traditional English styles familiar to the colonists.

Uploaded by

Ashan Said
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Practice Test A – Reading

Question 1- 10

The conservatism of the early English colonists in North America, their strong
attachment to the English way of doing things, would play a major part in the
furniture that was made in New England. The very tools that the first New England
Lin furniture makers used were, after all, not much different from those used for
e centuries – even millennia: basic hammers, saws, chisels, planes, augers,
(5 compasses, and measures. These were the tools used more or less by all people
) who worked with wood: carpenters, barrel makers, and shipwrights. At most the
furniture makers might have had planes with special edges or more delicate chisels,
but there could not have been much specialization in the early years of the colonies.
The furniture makers in those early decades of the 1600’ s were known as “ joiners,”
for the primary method of constructing furniture, at least among the English of this
(10 time, was that of mortise-and-tenon joinery. The mortise is the hole chiseled and cut
) into one piece of wood, while the tenon is the tongue or protruding element shaped
from another piece of wood so that it fits into the mortise; and another small hole is
then drilled (with the auger) through the mortised end and the tenon so that a
whittled peg can secure the joint – thus the term “ joiner. ” Panels were fitted into
slots on the basic frames. This kind of construction was used for making everything
(15 from houses to chests.
) Relatively little hardware was used during this period. Some nails – forged by
hand – were used, but no screws or glue. Hinges were often made of leather, but
metal hinges were also used. The cruder varieties were made by blacksmiths in the
colonies, but the finer metal elements were imported. Locks and escutcheon plates –
the latter to shield the wood from the metal key – would often be imported.
(20 Above all, what the early English colonists imported was their knowledge of,
) familiarity with, and dedication to the traditional types and designs of furniture they
knew in England.

(25
)

1. The phrase “ attachment to” in line 2 is 2. The word “ protruding” in line 13


closest in meaning to is closest in meaning to

(A) control of (A) parallel


(B) distance from (B) simple
(C) curiosity about (C) projecting
(D) preference for (D) important
3. The relationship of a mortise and
7. The word “ shield” in line 23 is closest
a tenon is most similar to that of
in meaning to
(A) a lock and a key
(A) decorate
(B) a book and its cover
(B) copy
(C) a cup and a saucer
(C) shape
(D) a hammer and a nail
(D) protect

4. For what purpose did


8. The word “ they” in line 25 refers to
woodworkers use an auger
(A) designs
(A) To whittle a peg
(B) types
(B) To make a tenon
(C) colonists
(C) To drill a hole
(D) all
(D) To measure a panel

9. The author implies that the


5. Which of the following were NOT
colonial joiners
used in the construction of colonial
furniture?
(A) were highly paid
(B) based their furniture on
(A) Mortises
English models
(B) Nails
(C) used many specialized tools
(C) Hinges
(D) had to adjust to using new
(D) Screws
kinds of wood in New England

6. The author implies that


10. Which of the following terms does
colonial metalworkers were
the author explain in the passage?
(A) unable to make elaborate parts
(A) “ millennia” (line 5)
(B) more skilled than woodworkers
(B) “ joiners” (line 10)
(C) more conservative than
(C) “ whittled” (line 15)
other colonists
(D) “ blacksmiths” (line 21)
(D) frequently employed by joiners

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