The Sign of the Four - Form, structure and language test questions - AQA

Read the extract from The Sign of the Four and answer questions 1-3 below.

We had, indeed, reached a questionable and forbidding neighbourhood. Long lines of dull brick houses were only relieved by the coarse glare and tawdry brilliancy of public houses at the corner. Then came rows of two-storied villas each with a fronting of miniature garden, and then again interminable lines of new staring brick buildings,—the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country. At last the cab drew up at the third house in a new terrace. None of the other houses were inhabited, and that at which we stopped was as dark as its neighbours, save for a single glimmer in the kitchen window.

What sort of neighbourhood does Conan Doyle present?

What are the 'monster tentacles' an example of?

How does Conan Doyle present the new brick buildings?

Read this extract from The Sign of the Four and answer questions 4-7 below.

Small had dropped his mask of stoicism, and all this came out in a wild whirl of words, while his eyes blazed, and the handcuffs clanked together with the impassioned movement of his hands. I could understand, as I saw the fury and the passion of the man, that it was no groundless or unnatural terror which had possessed Major Sholto when he first learned that the injured convict was upon his track.

What literary device is 'wild whirl of words' an example of?

Where is onomatopoeia used in this extract?

What do we learn about Small from this section?

When Watson says Small's 'eyes blazed', what device is being used?

Read this extract from The Sign of the Four and answer questions 8-10 below.

"But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment."

"I trust," said I, laughing, "that my judgment may survive the ordeal. But you look weary."

"Yes, the reaction is already upon me. I shall be as limp as a rag for a week."

"Strange," said I, "how terms of what in another man I should call laziness alternate with your fits of splendid energy and vigour."

"Yes," he answered, "there are in me the makings of a very fine loafer and also of a pretty spry sort of fellow.

How does Conan Doyle use language to show the relationship between Holmes and Watson?

When Holmes says he 'shall be as limp as a rag', which literary device is he using?

How does the style of this extract reflect the overall style of the novel?