Texas Assessment

of Knowledge and Skills

ELA
Grade 10
2008 Released Items
TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Literary Selection

Final Visit
by Donna Gamache

1 The sun was almost touching the horizon, turning the My notes about what I am
river to a ribbon of shining gold, when Scott Larner drove reading
down the long lane to the farm. He stopped the car at the
barbed wire gate which barred his way, and looked at the
newly painted “No Trespassing” sign which hung on the
gate. His father would never have wanted such a sign. But
Joe Larner had been dead for a month, and probably Bert
Wilson, the estate lawyer, did not want strangers in the
yard or house.
2 Or perhaps it was the bank which had put up the sign.
The farm had been paid for years ago, but with farming
conditions the way they were, maybe Joe had borrowed to
buy machinery. Perhaps the bank, too, was trying to locate
him, Joe’s son and only heir.
3 Bert Wilson’s letter had reached him on the fifteenth of
September after weeks of being redirected. “Your father
passed away August 24th,” he wrote. “The farm has been
left to you. Please get in touch with me immediately.”
4 Though Joe had never forgiven Scott for leaving the
farm at eighteen, though he’d never answered the
occasional letters Scott sent over the years, or shown in any
way that he’d like Scott to come back, in the end, he had
willed the farm to him. Obviously, though, he had not even
kept Scott’s address, but had left it up to Wilson to locate
Scott.
5 When it had arrived, Scott read the letter slowly, then
again, and his eyes, surprisingly, misted at the news,
though it had been months since he even thought of his
father, or Manitoba, or the farm. At first, he decided to
reply that the farm should be sold and the money cabled to
him. But he delayed for a week, and then, when he meant
to write to the lawyer, he found he couldn’t do it. The farm
called him. He wanted to see it one more time before he
signed the papers. He asked for two weeks’ leave of
absence. “Enough time to go home for a short visit and tie
up all the loose ends,” he said. “I’ll be back.”
6 Home—strangely, he had almost forgotten that word in
relation to this land, these hills and fields, and the river
meandering through them in long loops. Home had been for
years a bunkhouse at the Sparwood Mine, three provinces
away. Now, since his recent promotion at the mine, home

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Literary Selection

was one side of a duplex, cleaned each week by a stout My notes about what I am
graying woman who kept the place spotless. reading

7 Scott climbed stiffly from the car and opened the gate.
There were no cattle in the yard—they must all be on the
hills, he thought. But he dutifully closed the gate anyway.
“Joe would have approved of that,” he spoke aloud to
himself.
8 Joe—funny, he’d never thought of him as Dad or Father,
always Joe. Joe said this; Joe wanted that done; Joe
wouldn’t let him go.
9 During Scott’s teenage years, Joe had seemed like a
tyrant. Now Scott realized that Joe had just tried to do the
best he could for his only child, motherless since Scott’s
mother died when the boy was eight.
10 He stood for a few minutes looking around the barnyard
and down towards the winding river. The river had been
his favorite place, as a boy. He remembered hot summer
days spent swimming in the deep hole, and cool evenings
when the fish would bite at the rapids farther
downstream—small jackfish, just the size for a meal or two.
The river still beckoned; he would walk there tomorrow,
trace his steps along the sandbars and occasional steep
bank bounded by thick willows and tall poplars and maple
trees. But now the sun was down, and he turned instead to
the house.
11 Both doors of the house were locked. Scott hadn’t
expected that; the house was never locked in all the years
he lived there. He doubted if Joe even had a key.
12 He didn’t want to drive back to town in hopes of finding
the lawyer, or bank manager, or whoever might let him in.
But maybe it wouldn’t be necessary. If Joe hadn’t changed
the basement windows in the last ten years, then there was
an easy way inside that Scott could use.
13 The windows were just the same. He removed the storm
window from the one on the northeast corner, and easily
pushed the window in. He’d used that route many times
during the last year he spent with Joe, slipping out at night
to walk alone on the hills, and coming back late without his
father’s knowledge.
14 Scott was heavier now, though, and it wasn’t quite so
easy to squeeze through and drop to the basement floor. He
was breathing deeply by the time he succeeded. The
basement hadn’t been altered in ten years, he realized as
he caught his breath, except for the accumulation of ten
more years of dust and cast off possessions.

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Literary Selection

15 The rest of the house was the same, too. It might have My notes about what I am
been yesterday that Scott left. The table and chairs, the reading
living room furniture, even the wallpaper, were all
unchanged. Scott almost expected Joe to come striding out
of the back room with orders to go feed the cattle. When,
reluctantly, he climbed the stairs to the bedrooms, he found
his room unaltered from when he’d left it ten years ago.
Only the empty closet was evidence of his absence.
Suddenly exhausted, he lay on the bed and was almost
immediately asleep.
16 He awoke at seven, refreshed and hungry. Joe’s
cupboards contained the usual box of corn flakes and, to
Scott’s surprise, a box of milk powder; and the freezer in
the basement held several loaves of bread. He ate heartily.
17 The sun was bright, but there was a cool east breeze
when Scott left the house. Bert Wilson and his legal forms
could wait. Scott would look over the farm first, see what
things looked like after ten years away. If he was going to
sell everything, he’d have to get an idea of what there was.
18 The barn and feedlots were empty. Scott could see the
Hereford cattle, Joe’s special pride, grazing on the hills.
The field to the east had been combined, 1 he noticed,
though the straw was not yet baled. Neighbors, he
supposed, would have come in to take off Joe’s crops. He’d
forgotten that neighbors did things like that.
19 The tractor shed held a newer tractor than Scott
remembered, not the old W-6 he used to drive, and the
haying equipment was new, too. But the combine hadn’t
changed; it was still the old pull-type that Scott
remembered using his last autumn on the farm, that last
fall when the constant bickering with Joe over the way
things should be done, and over his personal affairs, had
finally led him to leave the farm.
20 He turned now toward the river and headed
downstream. The river, too, seemed the same. It was low at
this time of year, of course, and he was able to walk along
the very edge. In some places one could almost cross on
stones, but at other spots deeper, darker pools glistened.
Did they still hold fish?
21 He sat down on a large rock by the very edge, sheltered
from the breeze by the overhanging bank. Overhead, a
small vee of geese winged southward, and on a nearby
sandbar, a sandpiper strode on stilted legs. Nothing seemed

1 Harvested using a combine (a piece of farming equipment that gathers and threshes
grain as it moves across a field).

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Literary Selection

to have changed—nothing except him. He was no longer My notes about what I am

eighteen, rebellious and resentful of Joe’s orders. He was reading
sure of himself now, a man with authority at the mine. But
the mine seemed a long way away now. Would he be
different back here on the farm?
22 Scott stood and headed downstream towards the lower
rapids. Just above the rapids, he remembered, the water
was slow and deep in a wide meander. It had been Scott’s
favorite fishing spot. And behind and above the river was a
thick grove of poplars and maples, edged by willows. It was
one of the best spots he knew for nest hunting, and
sometimes rabbits and raccoons had frequented the spot.
His feet hurried towards it.
23 Then, abruptly, he stopped. At the corner, where the
long, deep curve began, something was missing. Several
tall poplars had stood there. And now they didn’t. Had Joe
been way down here cutting wood?
24 He walked closer, then stopped in surprise. It was not
Joe who had removed the trees. The stumps of the poplars
were pointed, and tooth marked.
25 “Beavers!” Scott exclaimed. “When did they come here?”
Looking farther ahead, he could detect missing poplar trees
all along the whole curve.
26 But there had been no beavers on this river for as long
as Scott could remember, none at all throughout all the
years he’d grown up there. He remembered Joe spoke of
beavers in the past, but for years there were none
anywhere, except farther to the north in the Riding
Mountain Park. But now they were on this river.
27 He continued on, picking his way over downed poplars,
noticing the well worn trails the beavers had made. Clearly,
they had been here for at least a couple of years. Some of
the stumps were yellow, newly cut, but others had already
darkened, and the chips were covered by old leaves.
28 The river seemed deeper than he remembered, and
against the far bank a half-submerged pile of branches was
probably a feed bed. Scott could see no beaver house, but
perhaps they had tunneled into the river bank. He was not
surprised, when he rounded the final corner, to find, just
above the rapids, a large beaver dam holding back a good
three feet of water.
29 He sat down on the bank above the dam to watch.
Probably he’d have to come back in the evening to see the
beavers, but he’d wait for awhile. It was hard to

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Literary Selection

believe—beavers back on the river where they hadn’t been My notes about what I am
for years. And managing all right, too, by the look of things. reading
He hoped whoever bought the farm liked beavers, and
didn’t decide to trap them out. Had they returned all up
and down the river? He’d like to do some more exploring, if
he only had the time.
30 Then he shook his head. He could have the time, if he
wanted. And he could see to it that the beavers were
protected. He could stay here. The farm was his now, his to
sell or his to keep, if he wanted. Someone else could have
these beavers on their farm, these pools to fish, these fields
to harvest; or it could be himself.
31 He shrugged his shoulders. Did it make sense for him to
return to the farm? To give up the place of authority and
the salary he commanded at the Sparwood Mine? He knew
that it didn’t. And he’d been away ten years, had no doubt
forgotten some of the things he’d need to know. Could he
handle the farm machinery? Look after Joe’s cattle properly
at calving time? Did he have the knowledge and skills he’d
need to run this place?
32 Not all of them. But he could get help and advice, when
he needed it. And he did have some money, saved over the
years at the mine. He’d need money. Some of Joe’s
machinery should be replaced; the barn was in need of
repair. The money would help.
33 It wouldn’t be easy, Scott knew that. The hours would
be much longer, the money much less. Could he adjust to a
life which didn’t contain a paycheck every two weeks?
34 Scott sat on the bank, deep in thought. When he came
for this visit, he’d had no intention of returning
permanently. Or had he? Was that why he’d asked for the
leave of absence? Was that why he couldn’t answer the
lawyer without one last visit? Deep down, without knowing
it, had he wanted to return here?
35 Would Joe be happy to have him back on the farm?
Maybe he’d known that if he left Scott the farm, he couldn’t
resist returning. Perhaps, somewhere, Joe was having the
last laugh.
36 Abruptly, Scott stood up and, almost beneath his feet, a
sharp crack broke the silence as a beaver tail slapped hard
on the water. Scott jumped, then grinned at himself.
37 “You’re back,” he said to the beaver. “And you’re doing
fine, it looks like. If you can return, then why not me?”
Written by Donna Gamache, MacGregor, MB, Canada.

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 TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Expository Selection

The Grandfather
by Gary Soto

1 Grandfather believed a well-rooted tree peaches and branch-scuffed plums cooled

was the color of money. His money he kept in the refrigerator. From the kitchen chair
hidden behind portraits of sons and he brought out in the evening, Grandpa
daughters or taped behind the calendar of would scold, “Hijo, what’s the matta with
an Aztec warrior. He tucked it into the you? You gonna break it.”
sofa, his shoes and slippers, and into the
By the third year, the tree was as tall 4
tight-lipped pockets of his suits. He kept it
as I, its branches casting a meager shadow
in his soft brown wallet that was machine
on the ground. I sat beneath the shade,
tooled with “MEXICO” and a campesino
scratching words in the hard dirt with a
and donkey climbing a hill. He had
stick. I had learned “Nile” in summer
climbed, too, out of Mexico, settled in
school and a dirty word from my brother
Fresno and worked thirty years at Sun
who wore granny sunglasses. The red ants
Maid Raisin, first as a packer and later,
tumbled into my letters, and I buried
when he was old, as a watchman with a
them, knowing that they would dig
large clock on his belt.
themselves back into fresh air.
2 After work, he sat in the backyard
A tree was money. If a lemon cost seven 5
under the arbor, watching the water
cents at Hanoian’s Market, then
gurgle in the rose bushes that ran along
Grandfather saved fistfuls of change and
the fence. A lemon tree hovered over the
more because in winter the branches of his
clothesline. Two orange trees stood near
lemon tree hung heavy yellow fruit. And
the alley. His favorite tree, the avocado,
winter brought oranges, juicy and large as
which had started in a jam jar from a seed
softballs. Apricots he got by the bagfuls
and three toothpicks lanced in its sides,
from a son, who himself was wise for
rarely bore fruit. He said it was the wind’s
planting young. Peaches he got from a
fault, and the mayor’s, who allowed office
neighbor, who worked the night shift at
buildings so high that the haze of pollen
Sun Maid Raisin. The chile plants, which
from the countryside could never find its
also saved him from giving up his hot,
way into the city. He sulked about this. He
sweaty quarters, were propped up with
said that in Mexico buildings only grew so
sticks to support an abundance of red
tall. You could see the moon at night, and
fruit.
the stars were clear points all the way to
the horizon. And wind reached all the way But his favorite tree was the avocado 6
from the sea, which was blue and clean, because it offered hope and promise of
unlike the oily water sloshing against a more years. After work, Grandpa sat in the
San Francisco pier. back yard, shirtless, tired of flagging
trucks loaded with crates of raisins, and
3 During its early years, I could leap
sipped glasses of ice water. His yard was
over that tree, kick my bicycling legs over
neat: five trees, seven rose bushes, whose
the top branch and scream my fool head
off because I thought for sure I was flying.
I ate fruit to keep my strength up, fuzzy

■ see Grandfather, page 2

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 TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Expository Selection

■ Grandfather, cont. from page 1 Page 2

fruit were the red and white flowers he throats. Wasps wove a horn-shaped hive
floated in bowls, and a statue of St. one year, but we smoked them away with
Francis that stood in a circle of crushed swords of rolled up newspapers lit with
rocks, arms spread out to welcome hungry matches. By then, the tree was tall enough
sparrows. for me to climb to look into the neighbor’s
yard. But by then I was too old for that
7 After ten years, the first avocado hung
kind of thing and went about with my
on a branch, but the meat was flecked
brother, hair slicked back and our shades
with black, an omen, Grandfather thought,
dark as oil.
a warning to keep an eye on the living.
Five years later, another avocado hung on After twenty years, the tree began to 11
a branch, larger than the first and edible bear. Although Grandfather complained
when crushed with a fork into a heated about how much he lost because pollen
tortilla. Grandfather sprinkled it with salt never reached the poor part of town,
and laced it with a river of chile. because at the market he had to haggle
over the price of avocados, he loved that
8 “It’s good,” he said, and let me taste.
tree. It grew, as did his family, and when
9 I took a big bite, waved a hand over my he died, all his sons standing on each
tongue, and ran for the garden hose other’s shoulders, oldest to youngest, could
gurgling in the rose bushes. I drank long not reach the highest branches. The wind
and deep, and later ate the smile from an could move the branches, but the trunk,
ice cold watermelon. thicker than any waist, hugged the
10 Birds nested in the tree, quarreling ground.
jays with liquid eyes and cool, pulsating

Gary Soto, “The Grandfather” from A Summer Life © 1990 by University Press of New England; reprinted with permission.

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Visual Representation

With your
family’s help
we can turn
an eyesore
into an
oasis.

J oin the
Eastside Garden
Club Saturday,
March 1, at
10:00 A.M. at
the corner of
Martin Street
and North
Road to
begin work
on a neighborhood
community garden. Your family’s
participation will help us grow!

Tools and supplies provided

by Montvale Nursery

Top photograph courtesy of © Peter Turnley/CORBIS; bottom photograph courtesy of © CORBIS.

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Literary Selection/Objective 1

Use “Final Visit” to answer questions 1–6.

1 What are paragraphs 23 through 29 mainly 2 Which word from paragraph 10 helps the
about? reader understand the meaning of the word
meandering in paragraph 6?
A Scott sees that the river is the same as it
was when he left. A sandbars
B Scott compares himself as a teenager to B downstream
the man he is now.
C favorite
C Scott remembers Joe talking about
D winding
beavers being on the river.
D Scott discovers that the beavers have
returned to the river.

Page 10
TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading
Literary Selection/Objective 2
3 What was the major source of conflict between
Scott and Joe?
A Scott kept sneaking out of the house at
night.
B Scott wanted to be a miner instead of a
farmer.
C Joe tried to control his son’s life.
D Joe refused to answer his son’s letters.
Page 11
2008 Released Items
4 Scott’s thoughts as he walks along the river
indicate that he —
A has worked indoors for most of his life
B goes to Riding Mountain Park on
vacations
C wants to sell the farm as quickly as he can
D spent time observing nature when he was
a boy
TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading
Literary Selection/Objective 3
5 Which detail from the story supports the idea
that Joe still cared about his son?
A Joe willed the farm to Scott.
B Joe put extra bread in the freezer.
C A lawyer told Scott about Joe’s death.
D Scott found a new tractor in the shed.
Page 12
2008 Released Items
6 Which of these sentences from the story shows
how much Scott has changed since he left the
farm?
A He was no longer eighteen, rebellious and
resentful of Joe’s orders.
B The farm was his now, his to sell or his to
keep, if he wanted.
C He wanted to see it one more time before he
signed the papers.
D During Scott’s teenage years, Joe had
seemed like a tyrant.
TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Expository Selection/Objective 1

Use “The Grandfather” to answer questions 7–12.

7 Read the following dictionary entry. 8 Which of the following is the best summary of
the selection?
cast \ kast\ v 1. to give forth; to project 2. to
direct (the eye) 3. to deposit (a ballot) formally A The author’s grandfather arrived in
4. to assign a role to Fresno from Mexico. He worked at the
Sun Maid Raisin plant. In his spare time
Which definition best fits the word casting as he tended his backyard garden.
it is used in paragraph 4?
B The author jumped over a small avocado
tree. The tree grew, and then the author
A Definition 1
could sit in its shade. Later the author
B Definition 2 tasted an avocado from the tree.
C Definition 3 C The author remembers his grandfather.
He traces their relationship by recalling
D Definition 4
the growth of his grandfather’s avocado
tree.
D The author’s grandfather was careful
about money. He grew much of his own
food. To save money, he also traded fruit
with friends and family.

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Expository Selection/Objective 2

9 One theme of this selection is that — 10 In paragraph 10, the word pulsating helps
describe the —
A it is often less expensive to grow your own
food A rapid movement of the jays’ throats
B children soon outgrow the love of playing B cool breeze in the tree branches
outdoors
C harsh sounds of the quarreling birds
C a neat yard reveals something about a
D deep color of the jays’ eyes
person’s character
D sometimes a person must be patient in
order to see results

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Expository Selection/Objective 3

11 From what the author writes in paragraph 2, 12 The tone of paragraph 6 can best be described
the reader can conclude that — as —

A the author’s grandfather refused to vote A objective

for the mayor
B peaceful
B the author’s grandfather missed his home
C mysterious
in Mexico
D resentful
C California and Mexico are very much alike
D the moon and stars aren’t visible over
Fresno

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Crossover Items

Use “Final Visit” and “The Grandfather” to answer

questions 13 and 14.

13 Which of Joe’s actions in “Final Visit” would 14 Both selections stress —

have been approved by the grandfather in
“The Grandfather”? A the survival of animals
B the importance of home and family
A Refusing to write to Scott
C an appreciation of plants
B Buying new machinery
D the difficulties of dealing with nature
C Letting the beavers stay
D Keeping the farm in the family

Objective 3

Objective 3

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Visual Representation/Objective 3

Use the visual representation on page 9 to answer

questions 15 and 16.

15 How does the bottom photograph help define 16 What is probably one reason behind the
the word oasis? Montvale Nursery’s donation of tools and
supplies to the project?
A It shows one of the girls doing all the
work. A The nursery will benefit from an
increased neighborhood interest in
B It proves that even children can tend a
gardening.
garden.
B The nursery has a surplus of tools and
C It suggests that the secret to a successful
supplies.
garden is water.
C Montvale is the only nursery that the
D It features two girls standing in a lush
garden club asked to sponsor the event.
garden.
D The people who own the nursery also own
the vacant lot.

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA Reading 2008 Released Items
Open-Ended Items

17 In “Final Visit,” how does the return of beavers on the river help convince Scott to return to the farm?
Support your answer with evidence from the selection.

Objective 2

18 Why do you think the avocado tree is so important in “The Grandfather”? Support your answer with
evidence from the selection.

Objective 3

19 How is nature important in both “Final Visit” and “The Grandfather”? Support your answer with
evidence from both selections.

Objective 3

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA 2008 Released Items
Prompt

WRITTEN COMPOSITION

Write an essay exploring how a place or an object

can remind a person of a special relationship.

The information in the box below will help you remember what you should think about when you
write your composition.

REMEMBER—YOU SHOULD

❑ write about the assigned topic

❑ make your writing thoughtful and interesting

❑ make sure that each sentence you write contributes to your

composition as a whole

❑ make sure that your ideas are clear and easy for the reader to
follow

❑ write about your ideas in depth so that the reader is able to

develop a good understanding of what you are saying

❑ proofread your writing to correct errors in spelling,

capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA 2008 Released Items
Revising and Editing Passage

Rashid wrote this paper about an interesting event he attended. He has asked you
to read the paper and help him identify the corrections and improvements he
should make. When you finish reading, answer the questions that follow.

Photo courtesy of Jym Batey.

The Combine Demolition Derby

(1) As summer approaches each year, residents in the city of Lind

Washington, prepare for several thousand visitors. (2) Thanks to the inovative

idea of community member Bill Loomis, Lind has hosted the Combine

Demolition Derby every year since 1988. (3) At this unusual competition,

combines, huge farm machines that usually move slowly through wheat fields

harvesting grain, meet in an arena and crash into one another. (4) Metal scrapes

against metal, and tires fling mud in every direction.

(5) At a recent competition 16 enormous combines battled in front of more

than 3,000 spectators. (6) As the rules dictate, each machine was at least 25

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA 2008 Released Items
Revising and Editing Passage

years old and unable to be used in the fields anymore. (7) With balloons, ribbon,

and paint decorating many of them. (8) Metal clashed, dirt flew, and farmers

wrestled with their combines to see who’s machine would be the last one

moving—the requirement for winning first prize.

(9) While fun is a critical element in the Combine Demolition Derby, great

attention is also given to the safety of participants and observers.

(10) Every driver must wear a helmet and a safety belt. (11) Dangerous parts of

the combines, including the glass and much of the equipment, is removed from

the machines. (12) All combine drivers must be at least 18 years old, and an

ambulance has to be available throughout the event.

(13) As the competition proceeds, some machines become disabled.

(14) A towing company quickly drags these combines out of the arena.

(15) Talented crews immediately begin repairs. (16) Each crew is composed of

seven people, including welders and mechanics.

(17) At the end of the competition, judges award prizes to the three

machines that lasted the longest, who come from the surrounding communities.

(18) The best-decorated combine it also gets a prize. (19) After the event

machines that still run are put away for another season. (20) When summer

comes again, the machines can be retrieved for use in the next Combine

Demolition Derby!

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA 2008 Released Items
Revising and Editing/Objective 6

1 What change, if any, should be made in 4 What revision, if any, should be made in
sentence 1? sentence 7?

A Change approaches to approach A With balloons, ribbon, and paint, many

were decorated.
B Change residents to resedents
B Many were decorated with balloons,
C Insert a comma after Lind
ribbon, and paint.
D Make no change
C Decorating many of them with balloons,
ribbon, and paint.
D No revision is needed.

2 What change, if any, should be made in 5 What change should be made in sentence 8?
sentence 2?
A Delete the comma after clashed
A Change inovative to innovative
B Change wrestled to wresteled
B Delete the comma after Loomis
C Change who’s to whose
C Change has hosted to had hosted
D Change requirement to required
D Make no change

3 What change, if any, should be made in 6 What change, if any, should be made in
sentence 4? sentence 11?

A Change scrapes to scrape A Change Dangerous to Danger

B Change fling to flinging B Delete the comma after equipment
C Change direction to directon C Change is removed to are removed
D Make no change D Make no change

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA 2008 Released Items
Revising and Editing/Objective 6

7 What transition should be added to the 9 What is the most effective way to rewrite the
beginning of sentence 12? ideas in sentence 17?

A As a result A At the end of the competition, judges

award prizes to the three machines that
B Furthermore
lasted the longest. Who come from the
C However surrounding communities.
D Previously B At the end of the competition, judges from
the surrounding communities award
prizes to the three machines that lasted
the longest.
C At the end of the competition, judges
award prizes to the three machines that
lasted the longest, they come from the
surrounding communities.
D At the end of the competition, judges
award prizes. To the three machines that
lasted the longest and who come from the
surrounding communities.

8 Where should the following sentence be added 10 What change, if any, should be made in
to the fourth paragraph (sentences 13–16)? sentence 18?

These specialists repair the machines as A Insert a comma after combine

quickly as possible so that the combines can
B Delete it
rejoin the battle.
C Change gets to get
A At the beginning of the paragraph
D Make no change
B After sentence 13
C After sentence 14
D At the end of the paragraph

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA 2008 Released Items
Answer Key

Item Student Correct

Number Expectation Answer
LITERARY SELECTION
OBJECTIVE 1
1 E.7 (F) D
2 E.6 (B) D
OBJECTIVE 2
3 E.11 (C) C
4 E.11 (C) D
OBJECTIVE 3
5 E.7 (G) A
6 E.10 (B) A

EXPOSITORY SELECTION
OBJECTIVE 1
7 E.6 (E) A
8 E.7 (F) C
OBJECTIVE 2
9 E.11 (A) D
10 E.11 (D) A
OBJECTIVE 3
11 E.7 (G) B
12 E.12 (A) B

CROSSOVER ITEMS
13 E.7 (G) D
14 E.7 (G) B

VISUAL REPRESENTATION
OBJECTIVE 3
15 E.19 (B) D
16 E.20 (C) A

OPEN-ENDED ITEMS
17 E.10 (B) OE
18 E.10 (B) OE
19 E.10 (B) OE

WRITING PROMPT
E.1 (B)

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TAKS Grade 10 ELA 2008 Released Items
Answer Key

Item Student Correct

Number Expectation Answer
REVISING AND EDITING
OBJECTIVE 6
1 E.3 (A) C
2 E.3 (A) A
3 E.3 (D) D
4 E.2 (C) B
5 E.3 (B) C
6 E.3 (B) C
7 E.2 (C) B
8 E.2 (C) D
9 E.3 (B) B
10 E.3 (B) B

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