Read the following passage.
A. Emily Pauline Johnson was born on March 10, 1861, at Chiefswood, a house her father had built on the Six Nations Reserve. Her father, George Henry Martin Johnson, was a Mohawk of the Wolf Clan, and her mother, Emily Howells, was English. Johnson was taught largely at home. She spent two years at the reserve school and then went to Brantford Collegiate Institute between the ages of 14 and 16. At 23, she began to look to writing as a way to support herself. From 1886 she signed her work with both her English name and Tekahionwake, the Mohawk name of her great-grandfather.
B. In January 1892, she read her poems at an evening event held by the Young Men's Liberal Club in Toronto. The audience was thrilled by her dramatic recitations, especially of 'A Cry from an Indian Wife'. That success led to about 125 performances in 50 towns and villages across Ontario from October 1892 to May 1893. Late in 1892 she began to wear the costume she became known for: Indigenous dress for the first half of a program and a drawing-room gown for the second.
C. For the next 17 years, Johnson made her living mainly on the road. With stage partners Owen Smily and later Walter McRaye, she travelled across Canada from coast to coast and into parts of the United States. In 1894 she performed in London, England, and while there she found a publisher for her first book of poems, The White Wampum. Her second collection, Canadian Born, appeared in 1903, but it was less successful than the first. She also wrote stories and essays for magazines such as Mother's Magazine and Boys' World. On another visit to London in 1906, she met the Squamish chief Joseph Capilano.
D. In 1909, tired and already ill with breast cancer, Johnson ended her last stage partnership and moved to Vancouver. Friends helped her to complete Legends of Vancouver, which retold stories she had heard from Capilano, and Flint and Feather, a collected edition of her poems. She died in Vancouver on March 7, 1913. Chiefswood, her childhood home, is now a national historic site and a museum. Opinion of her work remains divided: she objected to the stereotyping of Indigenous people, yet some of her writing seemed to accept assimilation. Some people at Six Nations also point out that the leather, beadwork and feathers she wore on stage were not specific to Haudenosaunee culture.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: E
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, the writer names her first book, The White Wampum, and also describes her long tours of Canada. It never links the two. We are not told what the book earned or who paid for her travel.
Passage Reference: In 1894 she performed in London, England, and while there she found a publisher for her first book of poems, The White Wampum.
Tips: Two ideas sit in paragraph C, a book and a tour. Ask yourself whether the text actually connects them with money.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph covers her birth, her parents and her schooling. It says only that she hoped writing would support her.
- B: Paragraph B is about the Toronto evening and the Ontario shows that followed. It mentions no book and no travel money.
- C: Paragraph C holds both the first book and the tours, but nothing in it says one paid for the other.
- D: In paragraph D, the topics are her final years in Vancouver and her last books, not how her early travel was funded.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Her second collection, Canadian Born, appeared in 1903, but it was less successful than the first.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: her second collection, Canadian Born, came out in 1903 and was less successful than the first. 'Did not do as well' is another way to say 'less successful'.
Tips: Find the year 1903. Then check whether that book did better or worse than the one before it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: How she turned to writing at 23 and the names she signed with are in paragraph A. But no book titles are given.
- B: The second paragraph tells us how well her Toronto reading went in 1892. That is a performance, not a printed book.
- D: Paragraph D names two later books, Legends of Vancouver and Flint and Feather, but judges no book's sales.
- E: Canadian Born and the year 1903 appear in paragraph C, together with the comparison to her first collection.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Johnson was taught largely at home.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says she was taught largely at home. She spent only two years at the reserve school and a short time at Brantford Collegiate Institute. 'Largely' means most of her learning happened at home.
Tips: Find where her schooling is described. Check how her years at home compare with her time in schools.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: In paragraph B, the topic is her poetry evening in Toronto. Nothing is said about how she was educated.
- C: Paragraph C lists her books and magazine writing as an adult, not her lessons as a child.
- D: Chiefswood appears in paragraph D as her childhood home, but only to say what it is today.
- E: Her home teaching, the reserve school and Brantford Collegiate Institute are all listed in paragraph A.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: At 23, she began to look to writing as a way to support herself.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, we learn who her father was. We also learn that at 23 she turned to writing to support herself. It does not say that her father had any part in that choice.
Tips: Her father and her writing are both in paragraph A. Check whether any sentence joins them together.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A names her father and gives her age when she turned to writing. But it does not say what he thought of it.
- B: The second paragraph is about her stage success in 1892 and her costume. Her family does not appear in it.
- C: In paragraph C, you read about her books, her magazine work and her stage partners, not any advice from her family.
- D: Friends who helped her finish books near the end of her life appear in paragraph D, not her father.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Friends helped her to complete Legends of Vancouver, which retold stories she had heard from Capilano, and Flint and Feather, a collected edition of her poems.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: by 1909 she was already ill with breast cancer. Friends helped her to complete Legends of Vancouver and Flint and Feather. So, during her illness, others helped her finish books.
Tips: Find the time when she was sick. Then check who helped her, and whether that help was with finishing her books.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A speaks of her lessons at home and at school as a child, which is a different kind of help.
- B: The second paragraph covers her readings and her costume in the 1890s. Illness is not mentioned.
- C: In paragraph C, two stage partners toured with her, but they did not help her complete a book.
- E: Her breast cancer and the friends who helped with Legends of Vancouver both appear in paragraph D.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: That success led to about 125 performances in 50 towns and villages across Ontario from October 1892 to May 1893.
Why this is correct: In paragraph B, the audience at her 1892 Toronto reading was thrilled. That success led to about 125 performances in 50 Ontario towns and villages. About 125 is more than a hundred, and all of those towns were in Ontario.
Tips: Paragraph C also talks about touring, so look for the paragraph that names Toronto and gives a number of shows.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is set in her childhood and youth at Six Nations and Brantford. No reading or audience appears there.
- C: Paragraph C describes 17 years of touring across Canada, the United States and England. These are not the Ontario shows that came from one evening.
- D: Her move to Vancouver, her illness and how she is judged today fill paragraph D, with no mention of Toronto.
- E: Paragraph B ties the Toronto evening directly to the 125 Ontario performances that followed it.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: From 1886 she signed her work with both her English name and Tekahionwake, the Mohawk name of her great-grandfather.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: from 1886 she signed her work with her English name and with Tekahionwake. That was the Mohawk name of her great-grandfather. A great-grandfather is an ancestor, so the name first belonged to him.
Tips: Find where she takes a second name. Then check whose name it was first, and how that person was related to her.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: In paragraph B, the poem she read in Toronto is named and her costume is described. But the name she signed with is not there.
- C: The third paragraph gives the titles of her first two collections, not the name she put on them.
- D: Paragraph D names Chiefswood and her last books, but the name Tekahionwake does not appear there.
- E: Tekahionwake and the great-grandfather it came from are both named in the last sentence of paragraph A.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Late in 1892 she began to wear the costume she became known for: Indigenous dress for the first half of a program and a drawing-room gown for the second.
Why this is correct: Look at how paragraph B describes her costume. It was Indigenous dress for the first half of a program and a drawing-room gown for the second. So she wore one outfit and then changed for the second half of each show.
Tips: Her clothes are described twice. Look for the mention that splits a show into two halves.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph gives her family background and her two names, not anything she wore on stage.
- C: In paragraph C, we learn where she toured and with whom, but not what she wore on stage.
- D: The leather, beadwork and feathers she wore are in paragraph D. But it does not say she changed outfits partway through a show.
- E: The two outfits, one for each half of the program, are set out in the last sentence of paragraph B.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Chiefswood, her childhood home, is now a national historic site and a museum.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: Chiefswood, her childhood home, is now a national historic site and a museum. Paragraph A also names Chiefswood, but only as the house where she was born.
Tips: Chiefswood appears twice. Choose the paragraph that uses the present tense and the word 'museum'.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A names Chiefswood and says her father built it, but it says nothing about the house today.
- B: The second paragraph is about her success in Toronto and her stage costume, not about any building.
- C: In paragraph C, the focus is her working life on tour and in print, not the place she grew up.
- E: The museum at Chiefswood is mentioned in paragraph D, in the present tense.
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