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The Attic

7th grade reading

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The Attic

The attic door had been painted shut for as long as Daniel could remember. His mother said there was nothing up there but dust and old suitcases. So when the decorators scraped away the paint on the first Saturday of the summer holidays, Daniel was the first one up the narrow stairs. The air was thick and warm and smelt of mothballs. Thin blades of light slid through gaps in the roof tiles and lay across the floorboards like fallen swords. In the far corner, beneath a sheet greyed with age, something waited. Daniel crossed the room slowly. Each board groaned beneath him as if complaining about being woken. He reached out, hesitated, then pulled the sheet away in one quick movement. It was a desk – small, battered, and covered in carvings. Initials. Dates. A crooked drawing of a sailing boat. And there, in the corner, carved more deeply than all the rest, were three letters he knew better than his own name: D.A.M. Daniel Adebayo Mensah. His grandfather. The grandfather who had died two years before Daniel was born, and whom his mother never spoke about. He ran his fingers over the letters. Downstairs, someone switched on a radio, and a burst of music floated up through the floor. Daniel did not move. For the first time, the silence in the attic did not feel empty. It felt like someone waiting to tell him a story.

1
Question 1
Read "The Attic". "Thin blades of light…lay across the floorboards like fallen swords." What effect does this simile create?
- A. It makes the attic feel dramatic and slightly threatening.
- B. It tells us there are weapons in the attic.
- C. It makes the attic feel cheerful.
- D. It shows the attic is brightly lit.
2
Question 2
Read "The Attic". "Each board groaned beneath him as if complaining about being woken." Which technique is used?
- A. personification
- B. onomatopoeia only
- C. hyperbole
- D. alliteration
3
Question 3
Read "The Attic". What mood does the writer create in paragraphs 2 and 3?
- A. light-hearted and comic
- B. bored and dull
- C. angry
- D. mysterious and tense
4
Question 4
Read "The Attic". What can we infer about Daniel's mother's feelings towards his grandfather?
- A. She never met him.
- B. The subject is painful or difficult for her.
- C. She is excited to talk about him.
- D. She hid the desk because it was valuable.
5
Question 5
Read "The Attic". Why does the writer reveal the initials D.A.M. before explaining who they belong to?
- A. to create a moment of suspense before the discovery
- B. to show Daniel cannot read
- C. because the reader already knows
- D. to change the setting
6
Question 6
Read "The Attic". How has Daniel's feeling about the attic changed by the end?
- A. He wants to leave it immediately.
- B. It now feels full of connection rather than empty.
- C. He is now afraid of it.
- D. He thinks it is boring.

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Answer key: The Attic

1. A. It makes the attic feel dramatic and slightly threatening.
- Writers choose words for their connotations and effects.
- Swords suggest danger and drama, building tension.
- So the answer is: It makes the attic feel dramatic and slightly threatening.
2. A. personification
- Writers choose words for their connotations and effects.
- The boards are given human feelings: complaining and being woken.
- So the answer is: personification
3. D. mysterious and tense
- Tone is the writer's attitude; mood is the feeling created for the reader.
- Details like 'something waited', groaning boards and hesitation build suspense.
- So the answer is: mysterious and tense
4. B. The subject is painful or difficult for her.
- An inference combines clues in the text with what you know.
- She 'never spoke about' him and said the attic held nothing, suggesting pain or avoidance.
- So the answer is: The subject is painful or difficult for her.
5. A. to create a moment of suspense before the discovery
- Text structure is how a writer organises ideas.
- Holding back the explanation makes the reader wonder, then the next paragraph reveals it.
- So the answer is: to create a moment of suspense before the discovery
6. B. It now feels full of connection rather than empty.
- A character's words and actions reveal what they are like and what they want.
- The silence 'did not feel empty. It felt like someone waiting to tell him a story.'
- So the answer is: It now feels full of connection rather than empty.