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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. Who is Marshall?
(a) A fisherman.
(b) A tobacconist.
(c) A farmer.
(d) A soldier.

2. Who owns the property on which the first cylinder crashes?
(a) Lord William.
(b) Lord Hilton.
(c) Lord Harrington.
(d) Lord Vasser.

3. How many policemen are sent to the common after the heat ray?
(a) Twenty.
(b) Five.
(c) Three.
(d) Seven.

4. What is the curate doing when the narrator first meets him?
(a) Panicking.
(b) Making a fire.
(c) Trying to find food.
(d) Looking for money in the narrator's pockets.

5. Why does Ogilvy think it is impossible for the Martians to become established on Earth?
(a) There is no food for them on Earth.
(b) The Martians cannot see very well.
(c) There is not enough nitrogen in the air.
(d) The gravity is too strong.

Short Answer Questions

1. What element are the gas jets that first streamed toward Earth primarily made from?

2. What can survive the heat ray?

3. Where does the narrator decide to take his wife when his chimney is cracked?

4. In the days immediately following the first heat ray, the only people that know about it live in what town?

5. How many nights in a row are the gas jets spotted before they stop?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator say is the lesson of his story in the Epilogue?

2. What does the narrator's brother do for the women in the carriage? What does this reveal about his character?

3. Right after the Martians first use the heat-ray, what do people know about how the weapon works?

4. What new weapon do the Martians reveal in Surrey? What does this reveal about Martian technology?

5. How does the narrator's brother respond when he hears rumors that food supplies may soon arrive? What does this reveal about him?

6. Why does the author take his wife to his cousin's house? What is the state of the town at that point?

7. How does the narrator attempt to reassure himself and his wife when he returns home after the first heat-ray?

8. When the narrator first meets the artilleryman, what does the soldier say happened to his unit?

9. How does the narrator's brother initially feel about the narrator's safety, and why?

10. What does the Thunder Child do to the Martian tripods? How does this change the story?

(see the answer keys)

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