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Name: Grade/Div: / Date: Subject:: Practice Paper For Checkpoint Exam 8 English Non-Fiction Section A: Reading

The document is a practice paper for an English non-fiction checkpoint exam for Grade 8 students, focusing on reading comprehension and writing skills. It includes an extract about the maritime mystery of the Mary Celeste, detailing its ill-fated voyage and the theories surrounding its abandonment. Additionally, it contains questions for students to answer based on the text and a writing prompt for a speech about the importance of traveling overseas.

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27 views5 pages

Name: Grade/Div: / Date: Subject:: Practice Paper For Checkpoint Exam 8 English Non-Fiction Section A: Reading

The document is a practice paper for an English non-fiction checkpoint exam for Grade 8 students, focusing on reading comprehension and writing skills. It includes an extract about the maritime mystery of the Mary Celeste, detailing its ill-fated voyage and the theories surrounding its abandonment. Additionally, it contains questions for students to answer based on the text and a writing prompt for a speech about the importance of traveling overseas.

Uploaded by

myra2010mdjsk
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PRACTICE PAPER FOR CHECKPOINT EXAM

Name: Grade/Div: 8 /
Date: Subject: ENGLISH – NON- FICTION
Section A: Reading

Spend around 30 minutes on this section.

Read this text (an extract from an informative text), then answer questions 1–7.

What happened to the Mary Celeste?


On 7 November 1872, the Mary Celeste left New York Harbor to sail to Genoa, Italy. On board
were eight crew members, the ship’s captain, Benjamin Briggs, his wife, Sarah, and their two-
year-old daughter, Sophia. However, despite departing on schedule, the ship never reached its
destination. After leaving New York, the Mary Celeste battled its
5 way through tempestuous seas and howling winds for two weeks. Then, on 25 November, the
captain wrote his last entry in the log: nothing was amiss.
Ten days later, a British ship called Dei Gratia, sailing about 400 miles east of the Azores, spotted
the Mary Celeste adrift, with the sails partly set but in poor condition. Some of the crew of the
Dei Gratia were sent aboard to investigate, but they found no
10 sign of the captain, his family or any of the crew. The lifeboat was missing, but the cargo, personal
belongings of those on board, and ample supplies of food and water remained on board. The Dei
Gratia had stumbled across a ghost ship!
Thus, one of the most famous maritime mysteries in history was born: why would an experienced
captain such as Briggs, or his sailors, abandon a perfectly seaworthy ship?
15 The riddle of the Mary Celeste has intrigued people ever since. Over the years, theories have
ranged from a crazed mutiny on board, to a pirate attack, a vicious assault by a giant octopus or
sea monster – even an alien abduction! The more scientifically minded suggest an explosion
caused by fumes from the 1,700 barrels of flammable liquid in the ship’s hold may have been the
cause, but as the ship was intact with no visible damage,
20 this theory did not hold water either. Perhaps the sea itself holds the answer. One possibility is
that the Mary Celeste was the victim of a waterspout (a tornado at sea), leading the crew to think
the vessel was about to sink and making the fatal mistake of abandoning ship and setting off in
the lifeboat.
The Mary Celeste had a shadowy past, which had already earned the vessel a negative
25 reputation. Originally christened as the Amazon, the ship was given a new name after a series of
unfortunate incidents, including the deaths of three captains, the first of
which occurred during her maiden voyage. It was rechristened the Mary Celeste in
1867 by a New York marine company. After being brought back to harbour by the Dei Gratia crew,
the ship continued in service until 1885, when it was filled with worthless
30 cargo then deliberately wrecked as part of an insurance fraud. The wreckage has never been
found.
The question remains unanswered: what happened to the Mary Celeste?

1
1 Give two factual details about the Mary Celeste’s planned voyage from paragraph 1.

• [2]

2 Give one word that means ‘stormy’ from paragraph 1.

[1]

3 Explain, using your own words, the effect of describing the Mary Celeste as a ‘ghost ship’ (line 12).

[1]

4 a ‘Thus, one of the most famous maritime mysteries in history was born’ (line 13).
What literary technique is used here? Tick (✓) one box.

hyperbole alliteration

personification simile [1]

b Give one word from paragraph 3 that means ‘a problem that is difficult to solve’.

[1]

5 a Explain, using your own words, why it is unlikely that the ship’s cargo caused an explosion
according to paragraph 3.

[1]

b Explain why the phrase ‘this theory did not hold water either’ (line 20) is an
effective choice of language in this text.

[1]

2
6 Explain, using your own words, what the writer means by ‘a shadowy past’ (line 24).

[1]

7 Why is the final paragraph effective in terms of the structure of the whole text?

[1]

Section B: Writing

Spend around 30 minutes on this section.

1 Write a speech for your class about why it is important to travel overseas.
You should consider:
• why people enjoy travelling overseas
• what people can learn from experiencing different cultures
• which countries you would like to travel to and why. [10]

Space for your plan:

Write your speech.

3
4
5

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