Đề luyện thi vào lớp 10 - Đề 1

We present the last of three parts of the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allan Poe. The story was originally adapted and recorded by the U.S. Department of State. I was visiting an old friend of mine, Roderick Usher, in his old stone house, his palace, where a feeling of death hung on the air. I saw how fear was pressing on his heart and mind. Now his only sister, the lady Madeline, had died and we had put her body in its resting place, in a room inside the cold walls of the palace, a damp, dark vault, a fearful place. As we looked down upon her face, I saw that there was a strong likeness between the two. “Indeed,” said Usher, “we were born on the same day, and the tie between us has always been strong.” We did not long look down at her, for fear and wonder filled our hearts. There was still a little color in her face and there seemed to be a smile on her lips. We closed the heavy iron door and returned to the rooms above, which were hardly less gloomy than the vault. And now a change came in the sickness of my friend’s mind. He went from room to room with a hurried step. His face was, if possible, whiter and more ghastly than before, and the light in his eyes had gone. The trembling in his voice seemed to show the greatest fear. At times he sat looking at nothing for hours, as if listening to some sound I could not hear. I felt his condition, slowly but certainly, gaining power over me; I felt that his wild ideas were becoming fixed in my own mind.

The Everyday Grammar team often receives questions about academic writing. Students around the world want to improve their academic writing so that they can gain admission – and succeed – in a college or a university. In this week's report, we are going to explore one pattern that is commonly used in academic writing. You will learn to recognize this pattern, and you will learn how you can use it in your own writing. In addition, you will learn about the times you might not want to use it. Common Structure: noun+that-clause The structure we are exploring is this: noun + a that clause. The structure is often used to evaluate, or judge, a topic or idea. A that-clause is a group of words beginning with the word that. A clause has both a subject and a predicate. The predicate shows what is said about the subject. The noun might come at the beginning or middle of the sentence. Consider the following examples: "The fact that the theory of evolution has been so contentious in public debates deserves some explanation." "This essay is written in the belief that modern historians need to radically change the way they think." In the first example, the that-clause follows the noun fact at the beginning of the sentence. In the second example, the that-clause follows the noun belief at the middle of the sentence. In both cases, the noun plays an important part in showing how a writer evaluates an idea. In other words, the noun helps show how the writer is taking a position and making a claim about something. Let's study these sentences in greater detail. #1 Showing Certainty Think back to the first example sentence we gave you, "The fact that the theory of evolution has been so contentious in public debates deserves some explanation." Academic writers often use the noun + a that clause structure to express certainty. In the sentence, the noun fact plays an important role. When the writer uses the word fact, he or she is showing certainty. It shows that the writer does not consider the point to be a subject of debate. The that-clause contains the idea that the writer is certain about – the theory of evolution has been a contentious topic.