A class read a story about two sisters who stop speaking after an argument over an inheritance. Which of these is the story's THEME?

A student is asked for the theme of a novel and writes only: "Loneliness." What has the student given instead of a theme?

Three of these are theme statements for a story about a soldier's homecoming. Which one is a MORAL instead?

A group is listing possible themes for a short story. Which item on their list is really a PLOT EVENT?

Which of these responses SUMMARIZES a story instead of stating its theme?

"Loyalty can ask more of a person than they meant to give" is a theme, but "Always stand by your friends" is not. Why not?

"The coach kept Dara's name on the roster for three seasons after she stopped coming to practice. Each fall the coach crossed it out, then wrote it in again." Which theme does this passage best support?

"Tomas told the story of the flood so often that his children could finish it for him. He never once mentioned the neighbor he had not gone back for." Which theme does the passage best support?

"The scholarship letter came in April. By June, Priya had memorized the bus schedule to a city she had never seen and had stopped answering her cousins' calls." Which theme is best supported?

"Mr. Okafor kept the shop open two hours past closing every night, sweeping a floor that was already clean. The apartment upstairs held one chair." Which theme does this passage best support?

"The town rebuilt the bridge in the same place, with the same name, out of stone this time. At the ceremony nobody said the word flood." Which theme does this best support?

A novel's theme is that a secret costs more to keep than to tell. Which later detail DEVELOPS that theme rather than restating it?

A story's theme is that pride can look exactly like courage from the outside. Which later detail advances that theme instead of repeating it?

A memoir's theme is that people defend the story they tell about themselves more fiercely than the truth. Which later detail develops that theme rather than restating it?

A novel's theme is that a place can keep hold of a person who has left it. Which later detail develops that theme rather than restating it?

A short story's theme is that fear travels faster than fact. One of these later details only repeats the theme in new words. Which one?

A fable ends with the moral "Do not count your chickens before they hatch." Which statement gives the theme behind it without turning it into a rule?

A story ends: "And the lamp burned in the window until morning, though the road stayed empty." Which statement best expresses the theme this ending carries?

A novel closes on a character's line: "I kept the key long after they changed the lock." Which universal statement does that line point to?

A teacher asks the class to turn the moral "Slow and steady wins the race" into a theme statement. Which response is still a rule rather than a theme?