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Charles Dickens ~ A
Christmas Carol
A Study Guide with Consideration for Grammar
from John McIlvain
Bookmarks ~ Stave One ~ Stave Two ~ Stave Three ~ Stave Four
Grammar ~ Vocabulary
A Christmas Carol is an interesting book to teach at the Middle School level because most
students know the story, and Iailing that can rent a video. (I recommend the version with
George C. Scott because oI its accuracy; students who have seen an inaccurate video or the
Holiday musical version can become very conIused, especially iI it is used as a substitute Ior
the text.) I attribute the Iact that I have never had a non-Christian student or parent object to
'A Christmas Carol as part oI the curriculum to its remarkably secular depiction oI the
Christian holiday. The moral oI the story is universal. Knowledge oI the story does not make
reading the book easy because Dickens` prose is most likely to be the most sophisticated
prose the students have encountered. Reading the opening pages aloud in class and discussing
them in detail is recommended because oI their complexity and the distance between our
world and that oI Dickens. It is valuable to study some oI the sentences Dickens writes in
connection with the study oI grammar. Some oI the exercises I do in connection with this are
included as a separate page. The study questions do not include any questions Ior the Iinal
stave because no direction is needed in order Ior readers to participate in the general joy.
There are two sets oI questions Ior Stave Three because it is assigned over two nights. I have
also provided a list by stave oI many oI the rich vocabulary words Irom the story.
Bookmarks ~
Text oI A Christmas Carol - An excellent easy-to-read hyper-linked text with the John Leech
illustrations. The paragraphs are numbered. At the end oI each stave there are useIul notes
that explain such things as 'the change.

InIormation on Dickens and a Timeline Ior Christmas

The Carol aIter Edgar Allan Poe - Most amusing Dickens meets "The Raven"

Charles Dickens An Overview - (Victorian) Excellent inIormation Irom an excellent site (The
Victorian Web). This site also includes a list oI Victorian colloquialisms included in "A
Christmas Carol" compiled by Philip Allingham (http://65.107.211/dickens/pva/pva116.html)

CyberGuide A Christmas Carol - High School site with Study questions and projects

Dickens' Christmas Page (inIormative)

A Little Book about C.C. - A nice supplement including biographical material and
inIormation about England in 1843.

Christmas Carol - Educator's Guide (TNT Iilm) - UseIul material including thematic study
questions, study questions and good supplementary material. Designed to accompany the Iilm
(with Patrick Stewart) but pertinent to reading the story.
Stave One Questions ~
1. What is the simile in the second paragraph?
2. Why does the narrator make such a point oI Marley`s being dead?
3. Why doesn`t the weather aIIect Scrooge? (paragraph 7 paragraph numbers correspond to
hyperliked text noted above)
4. How is Scrooge`s nephew diIIerent Irom Scrooge?
5. What do the 'portly gentlemen who come in aIter Scrooge`s nephew leave want?
6. How does the knocker change?
7. Why does Scrooge like the darkness? (paragraph 85, just aIter the incident with the
knocker)
8. What has Marley`s ghost been doing since his death?
9. What is the warning that Marley gives Scrooge?
10. Why are the phantoms (three paragraphs Irom the end oI the stave) upset?
Stave Two Questions ~
1. What was the strangest thing about the way the spirit looked? (paragraph nineteen
sentence beginning 'but the strangest thing.)
2. What is Scrooge`s initial attitude toward the spirit?
3. What is diIIerent about Scrooge when he says 'Remember it? I could walk it with a
blindIold? (paragraph 44)
4. Who is Scrooge talking about when he says 'Poor boy! (paragraph 58 - aIter)
5. What does it tell us about Scrooge when Dickens observes'a rapidity oI transition very
Ioreign to his usual character.? (same paragraph)
6. When Fan comes to pick Scrooge up, we learn a reason why Scrooge may have turned out
the way he did. What is this reason?
7. What kind oI people are the Fezziwigs?
8. Who is Belle and why was she important to Scrooge?
9. Why does Scrooge say 'Remove me. (paragraph 144, Iive Irom the end oI the stave)
10. How does Scrooge try to "extinguish the light"? Does he succeed? What is the light a
symbol oI?
Stave Three Questions ~ First HalI ~ Second HalI
First HalI ~
1. How is what Scrooge is thinking as he lies in bed waiting to see iI the spirit appears
diIIerent Irom the previous chapter?
2. What does the spirit look like?

3. What is this ghost`s personality like?

4. How has Scrooge`s attitude toward his being escorted by a ghost changed? (paragraph 17)

5. What is the point oI the long description beginning The house Ironts looked black enough,
and the windows blacker (paragraph 21 ) and continuing on Ior several pages through
paragraph 24 which begins, 'But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and
chapel, and away they came, Ilocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their
gayest Iaces.
6. What are three signiIicant things we learn about the Cratchit`s (paragraphs 51-85)?
7. How is Scrooge aIIected by seeing the Iamily (paragraphs 71-76)?
Second HalI ~
1.What does the Spirit mean when he says But they Know me. See! about the miners
(paragraph 91)

2. What is the point oI going to the lighthouse (paragraphs 93-94)? to the ship (p95)

3. What is the great surprise to Scrooge in the next paragraph (96)?
4. What would Fred think would be a positive outcome oI his Christmas invitation to Scrooge
(p. paragraph 114 the sentence beginning, 'iI it only.)?5. What happens to Scrooge`s
mood as the party goes on? Why do you think this happens?
6. Describe the game called 'Yes and No Scrooge witnesses at his nephews Christmas party.
7. What does it mean to say the boy and the girl (Ignorance and Want the last paragraphs oI
the stave) are 'Man`s children (paragraph 144)?
Stave Four Questions ~
1. What does the spirit oI Christmas Iuture look like?

2. What is this spirit`s personality like?
3. How does Scrooge Ieel about this spirit (paragraph 8)?

4. What is the point oI the long discussion between Joe and Mrs. Dilber (paragraphs 43-78)?
Hint: they relate to Scrooge`s property.

5. What are some oI the words Dickens uses to create the mood oI the paragraphs that
Iollow? (79-83) What is this mood?

6. When Scrooge asks the phantom to let him "see some tenderness connected with a death,
(paragraph 104) what does the ghost show him?

7. What is the lesson Scrooge learns in this stave that he had not learned beIore? Why is this
stave needed when Scrooge`s attitude had already changed so much.
Vocabulary ~
Stave 1 Stave 2 Stave 3 Stave 4 Stave 5
Unhallowed
Entreaty
Impropriety
Multitude
Executor
TriIle
Resolute
Tremulous
Legatee
Implore
Lunatic
Rapture
Garret
Covetous
Replenish
Credentials
Congeal
Misanthropic
Solitary
Intimation
Ominous
Caustic
Plaque
Reclamation
Expend
Tumult
Recumbent
Jocund
Transition
Capacious
Tunic
Instantaneous
Loath
DeItly
Brigands
Lustrous
Latent
Condescension
Corroborate
Pillaged
Conducive
Laden
Decanter
Aspiration
Consolation
Glee
Subsequently
Withered
Seething
Demurely
Prematurely
Goblets
Demeanor
Conspicuous
Shabby
Exulted
Grog
Compulsion
Swarthy
Ubiquitous
Blithe
Abyss
Intricate
Bilious
Ensued
Dismal
Repute
Flaunting
Beseech
Inexorable
Disgorge
Repent
Relents
Replete
Reek
Scanty
Faltered
Foreshadow
Repulse
Slipshod
Revered
Essence
Intercede
Dwindle
Beetling
Avarice
Tarry
Strive
Gruel
Recompense
JiIIy
Hearty
Peals
Portly
Feign
Sealing wax
Jovial
Pang
Waistcoat
Illustrious
Extravagance
Loitered
Sidled
Endeavor
Amends
Giddy
Poulterer
Array
Borough
Dispelled
Grammar ~
4 A Humbug's Grammar ~ Exercises and Explanations based upon the
novel - covers all parts oI speech
4 Dickensian Grammar ~ Text or review Exercise ~ more grammar Irom
the novel
east Tern

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