A Sound of thunder comprehension

Comprehension Questions:

1. The penalty for disobeying instructions is $10,000 and possible government actions.

2. If Deutscher had gotten in they would have wanted to go back to 1492.

3. Trevor says that this is the best way to kill a dinosaur :  Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can, blind them, and go back into the brain.

4. The men travelled sixty million two thousand and fifty-five years back in time.

5. The ant-gravity metal path's purpose is so the men don't touch the world of the past in any way.

6. The machine and the men's clothes were sterilized.

7. The men wear oxygen helmets so the ancient atmosphere is kept clean of the men's bacteria in there breath.

8. The unique thing about the dinosaurs that they can shoot are animals that are going to die soon later in the nature.

9. "I'm shaking like a kid." said Eckels jokingly.

10. "It can't be killed," said Eckels after he met the dinosaur.

11. The men know which dinosaurs to shoot by marking the dinosaurs with red paint before the actual safari.

12. Billings and Kramer threw up after the dinosaur was dead.

13. Travis makes Eckels take the bullets out of the dinosaur.

14. Eckels notices the sign was different, it sounded the same if you read it out but spelt differently.

15. Eckels found a dead butterfly on the bottom of his boots.

Extension Questions:

1. What I inferred was that something tragic was going to happen.

He did not move. Eyes shut, he waited, shivering. He heard Travis breathe loud in the room; he heard Travis shift his rifle, click the safety catch, and raise the weapon.

 

This means that Travis is going to shoot Eckles. This is an inference.

 

 

2.My Paragraph: Eckels stood smelling of the air...

 

'His body screamed silence in return.'

 

This helps enhance the story by saying that Eckels was screaming inside because of the horror of Travis' madness.

 

'The colours, white, grey, blue, orange, in the wall,'

 

This shows sight imagery this makes the story more 'colourful '

 

'What sort of world it was now, there was no telling.'

 

This is saying that the world as they knew it in the story was probably changed dramatically.

 

3.

 

a) 'Eyes shut, he waited, shivering. He heard Travis breathe loud in the room; he heard Travis shift his rifle, click the safety catch, and raise the weapon.

There was a sound of thunder.

This foreshadows that Travis shot Eckels.'

b) 'You joking? You know very well.'

This foreshadows that everyone knows except for them because they changed the whole world, especially the new president of the USA.

c) "I've hunted tiger, wild boar, buffalo, elephant, but now, this is it," said Eckels.

This foreshadows that Eckels is an experienced hunter but he is really scared of the
Tyrannosaurus Rex.

d) 'I might kill you yet. I've got my gun ready.'

This foreshadows that Travis is mad at Eckels and Travis could kill Eckels.

e) "We guarantee nothing," said the official, "except the dinosaurs."

This foreshadows that Eckels is probably going to hunt dinosaurs. 

Bonus Question:

Anaphora: When the same word or phrase is used at the beginning of a series of sentences, that's anaphora.

The Machine slowed; its scream fell to a murmur. The Machine stopped.

Metaphor: To transfer a quality from one thing to another.

Each leg was a piston.

Simile: comparing two things using like or as.


My symbolism from the story:

'They're marked with red paint,'

The colour red symbolises danger.

figarutive language

Simile- comparison
(the things that are the same)
 Using 'like' or 'as'.

the toy bear was cute as a kitten

the student was as busy as a bee

he was as agile as a monkey

the sky was as black as coal

the man was as blind as a bat

Metaphor- transferring
a quality from one thing to another

the big kids called me mercury because I am the swiftest thing in the neighbour hood

computers are complicated idiots

he drowned in a sea of grief

she fishing in troubled waters

outside was a freezer


Symbols- something that represents something else.

Raymond's Run JKay

1. signify


Denote or connote
"I don’t think you’re going to win this time
," says Rosie, trying to signify with her
hands on her hips all salty, completely
forgetting that I have whupped her behind
many times for less salt than that.
He wanted to signify that his food was better quality.
　


2. prefer


Like better; value more highly
I’m ready to fight, cause like I said
I don’t feature a whole lot of chit-chat, I
much prefer to just knock you down right from the jump and save everybody a
lotta precious time.
I prefer wireless mouse over a mouse with a cable.


3. hustle


Move or cause to move energetically or busily
And I don’t have to earn my pocket money by hustling; George runs errands
for the big boys and sells Christmas cards.
"What’s all this hustle about?" Asked the man.


4. periscope


An instrument providing a view of an obstructed field
He
looks around the park for
Gretchen like a periscope in a submarine movie.
When the submarine captain announced "Up periscope." All of the crew immediately got the periscope ready for action.


5. static


Not in physical motion
Raymond is hollering
from the swings
cause he knows I’m about to do my thing cause the man on the loudspeaker has
just announced the fifty-yard dash, although
he might just as well be giving a
recipe for angel food cake cause you can hardly make out what he’s sayin for the
static.
The boy became static after he saw the cat jump of the fence.
　


6. rowdy


Disturbing the public peace; loud and rough
The parkees unfolding chairs and chasing the
rowdy kids from Lenox as if they had
no right to be there.
The drums were too rowdy next to the Maths room.


7. slosh


Spill or splash copiously or clumsily
And sometimes after a rain he likes to step down off his tightrope
right into the gutter and slosh around getting his shoes and cuffs wet.
The baby sloshed the milk out of her Mother’s hands.


8. uptight


Being in a tense state
I’ll high-prance down 34th Street like a rodeo pony to keep my
knees strong even if it does get my mother
uptight so that she walks ahead like
she’s not with me, don’t know me, is all by herself on a shopping trip, and I am
somebody else’s crazy child.
The girl was uptight with the boy.
 
9. glockenspiel 
A percussion instrument consisting of a set of metal bars
Most of the kids in my class are carrying bass drums and glockenspiels and flutes.
The boy played the glockenspiel gracefully.

Second list.
1.

prodigy

wonder child

He had an amazing prodigy - he had finished his university degree at aged 14. 

2.

corsage

bouquet

The man's corsage fell off his jacket un-noticed.
 
3.


spiel

plausible glib talk

The man told a boring long spiel.

 

4.

 

liable

non-resistant

The country was liable to loosing the war.

 
5.

ventriloquist

a performer who projects the voice into a wooden dummy

The man liked the ventriloquist, because he was funny.

 

6.
 

jam-packed

crowded
The book was jam-packed with funniness.
 

 

Question 2

“I always win cause I’m the best,”
I infer that Squeaky is a fast runner.

“Well, Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, going to give someone else a break this year?”
I infer that Squeaky was won the race every year.


Question 3

I much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if 'I am a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice,' which is how I got the name Squeaky.
This shows the how 'Squeaky' looks like: She is a girl, with skinny arms and a squeaky voice.
This is showing sight imagery.

I was once a strawberry in a Hansel and Gretel pageant when I was in nursery school,
This is also imagery of sight.

I’m the fastest thing on two feet.
Also imagery of sight.

Question 4

But a lot of people call him my little brother cause he needs looking after
cause he’s not quite right.
This tells us that Raymond is (unfortunately) mentally handicapped.

the landlady

1.

Foreshadowing is an advance sign or warning of what is to come in the future. The author of a mystery novel might use foreshadowing in the early chapter of his book to give readers an inkling of an impending murder.

I foreshadowed that there will be a storm tomorrow. 

2.

An inference is what you think will happen usually really soon but foreshadowing is what will happen in the fare future.
“Left?” she said, arching her brows. “But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here. Mr Temple is also here. They’re on the fourth floor, both of them together.” 


3.
swanky

1. They had porches and pillars and four or five steps going up to their front doors, and it was obvious that once upon a time they had been very swanky residences.

On the other hand, a pub would be more congenial than a boarding house.

The name itself conjured up images of watery cabbage, rapacious landladies, and a powerful smell of kippers in the living room.

After dithering about like this in the cold for two or three minutes, Billy decided that he would walk on and take a look at The Bell and Dragon before making up his mind.

Each word was like a large black eye staring at him through the glass, holding him, compelling him, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house, and the next thing he knew, he was actually moving across from the window to the front door of the house, climbing the steps that led up to it, and reaching for the bell.

The compulsion or, more accurately, the desire to follow after her into that house was extraordinarily strong.

The old girl is slightly dotty, Billy told himself.

“Dear me,” she said, shaking her head and heaving a dainty little sigh.

There is nothing more tantalizing than a thing like this that lingers just outside the borders of one’s memory.

There is nothing more tantalizing than a thing like this that lingers just outside the borders of one’s memory.

Emanate

To give out, a breath or an odour.

A pleased and satisfied look came over his countenance as the cooking odours emanating from the kitchen became more pronounced.

 

Malevolent

Wishing or appearing to wish evil to others.

The man before him did not speak, but those glittering eyes—burning, malevolent, ominous—seemed to cry out with surprise, hatred, and threats.

 

Naive

Marked by or showing unaffected simplicity.

But many nuns are highly educated, well-travelled and sophisticated, not naive and cloistered.

 

Gullible

Easily tricked because of being too trusting.

Kids are more impulsive, gullible, and trusting, and don’t focus as much on long-term consequences.

 

Beguiling

Misleading by means of pleasant or alluring methods

Kids of all ages are riveted, in the palm of his gently beguiling hand.


4.

“It said BED AND BREAKFAST. There was a vase of yellow chrysanthemums, tall and beautiful, standing just underneath the notice.”

This shows an example of sight. This helps to tell the story by telling us what Billy sees.

“Billy started sipping his tea. She did the same. For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke.”

This shows an example of hearing. This helps to tell the story by telling us what the characters hear.

5.

Stuffing her pets and stuffing people she murdered (Poison).

“The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it.”

“He put out a hand and touched it gently on the top of its back. The back was hard and cold, and when he pushed the hair to one side with his fingers, he could see the skin underneath, greyish black and dry and perfectly preserved.”

6.

“Not in the least,” she said. “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?” 

“No, thank you,” Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it. 

“You did sign the book, didn’t you?” 

“Oh, yes.” 

“That’s good. Because later on, if I happen to forget what you were called, then I could always come down here and look it up. I still do that almost every day with Mr. Mulholland and Mr. . . .

Mr. . . .” 

This is the climax of this story were you notice the big turnaround, hence the; “The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and didn’t care much of it.”

I didn’t realised that she was a murderer until I understood ‘the bitter almonds’ phrase.

7.

After I understood that the burnt almonds were poison I really wanted to read on- unfortunately the story ended and I didn’t appreciate that. (I enjoyed the story even before I knew what the smell of burnt almonds meant, even after I understood what it meant I still liked the story but I didn’t understand the story properly.)



8.

Even though I like stories with cliff hangers I think that this story has a too much cliff hanger in it. That is why I dislike the story especially the ending.