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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When does the Headless Horseman make his runs through the village?
(a) At midnight.
(b) At sunset.
(c) At daybreak.
(d) At night.

2. What is one force greater than the Devil that was to be feared?
(a) Woman.
(b) Animals.
(c) Brom Bones.
(d) Satan.

3. How does the author describe Brom Van Brunt?
(a) Curly dark hair and broad shoulders.
(b) Bald and medium build.
(c) Curly blonde hair and skinny shoulders.
(d) Straight hair and narrow shoulders.

4. What is Ichabod's favorite thing to do?
(a) Sing.
(b) Read.
(c) Dance.
(d) Eat.

5. What does the narrator believe about Sleepy Hollow's people and their customs?
(a) They are fun.
(b) Their customs evolve over time.
(c) They are full of modernization.
(d) They do not change.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Ichabod's greatest fear of encountering when walking home at night?

2. What does Ichabod take a long time doing before going to the Van Tassel event?

3. The men's conversation at the party move from one type of stories to what kind of stories?

4. What does the author refer to Van Tassel's home as?

5. What is Ichabod's real love?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is it important that the reader knows the action part of the tale takes place thirty years previous to the time of the telling of the story?

2. Why did some women in the community consider Ichabod a "good catch"?

3. What is the purpose of the narrator?

4. Why does the narrator call Van Tassel's estate a "castle"?

5. What is unusual about how the characters are introduced in this story versus other short stories and is it effective?

6. What was strange about how Ichabod distributed discipline in his school?

7. How does Irving contradict himself and tease the reader?

8. Why is Ichabod's one-room school compared to an eelpot?

9. How does the telling of the ghost stories set up the mood for the story's climax?

10. How do the descendants of Sleepy Hollow play into the story's atmosphere and mood?

(see the answer keys)

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