Pit and the pendulum

Comprehension Test
The Pit and the Pendulum and Other Stories
Edgar Allen Poe
1 Match the events to the story.
a For an hour he sat in bed staring at it.
b His fears went away, and his catalepsy with them.
c The wine was making his eyes bright.
d She fought wildly to get out of her coffin.
e He can feel the soft wind on his face.
f People came running down the steps to thewater.
g He took poison.
h He tore off a small piece of his prison shirt.
i Nobody has moved the bones for fifty years.
j Day by day she looked more unhappy.

1 The Pit and the Pendulum
2 The Cask of Amontillado
3 The Premature Burial
4 The Meeting
5 The Oval Portrait
20 marks

2 Match the people to the descriptions. The man with catalepsy, Fortunato, The young man inVenice, The Marchesa, The Painter’s wife
1 He knows a lot about wine and loves drinking it
2 She is married to someone she doesn’t love
3 He is afraid of being buried before he is dead
4 She is the loveliest woman in the town
5 He died for the woman he loved
10 marks

3 Do you remember these words?
1 To send out air from the mouth in a noisy way ………………
2 A cupfor wine without handles ……………
3 A place where a dead person is buried ………………
4 The part of a knife that cuts ………………
5 A river made by people for boats to travel on ………………
6 To fall down suddenly because you are ill or afraid ………………
7 To hurt someone because they did something wrong ………………
8 To almost fall ………………
9 To look at someone or something for a long time ………………10 Very thick, strong string ………………
30 marks

4 Match the beginning of the sentence with the correct ending.
1 She was a young woman of great beauty,
2 Her eyes were dark with terror,
3 She lay like this for three days,
4 Day after day,
5 Her burial dress caught on some metalwork,

a and her face as white as the moonlight.
b she sat still and silent, not moving, notspeaking.
c and even more beautiful when she was smiling and laughing.
d which stopped her falling.
e and then they buried her in the family vault.
20 marks

5 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
a The Marchesa lives in London.
b Fortunato was wearing a carnival suit with bells on.
c Mentoni is much younger than the Marchesa.
d The Oval Portrait was of a handsome man.e The man in prison falls into the pit.
f Fortunato wants to drink the Amontillado.
g The man with catalepsy wants to die.
h The painter loves his work more than his wife.
I The Oval Portrait is on the kitchen wall.
j The pit is full of cats and dogs.
20 marks

Total marks

Multiple-choice Test
The Pit and the Pendulum and Other Stories
Edgar Allen Poe

Setting
Choosethe best answer.
1 The pit and the pendulum are in a _____.
a [ ] house b [ ] shop c [ ] prison d [ ] school
2 The pendulum is made from _____.
a [ ] rope b [ ] metal c [ ] meat d [ ] stone
3 The pit is full of _____.
a [ ] meat b [ ] cats c [ ] rats d [ ] light
4 The Cask of Amontillado is in a _____.
a [ ] shop b [ ] housec [ ] school d [ ] pit
5 The man with catalepsy dreams he is _____.
a [ ] dead b [ ] on a boat c [ ] in his house d [ ] buried alive
6 The Marchesa lives in _____.
a [ ] Rome b [ ] Verona c [ ] Milan d [ ] Venice
7 The Marchesa’s _____ falls in the canal.
a [ ] child b [ ] friend c [ ] husband d [ ] servant
8 The young man metThe Marchesa in _____.
a [ ] Paris b [ ] Madrid c [ ] London d [ ] Oxford
9 The oval portrait is in a _____.
a [ ] bedroom b [ ] school c [ ] bathroom d [ ] cellar
10 The Oval Portrait is of _____.
a [ ] a young man b [ ] an old man c [ ] an old woman d [ ] a young woman
20 marks

Characters
Choose the best answer.
11 The man in...