I call our world Flatland, not because we call it so, but to make its nature clearer to you, my happy readers, who are privileged to live in Space.
Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows — only hard and with luminous edges — and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas! a few years ago, I should have said, “my universe;” but now my mind has been opened to higher views of things.
In such a country, you will perceive at once that it is impossible that there should be anything of what you call a “solid” kind; but I dare say you will suppose that we could at least distinguish by sight the Triangles, Squares, and other figures moving about as I have described them. On the contrary, we could see nothing of the kind, not at least so as to distinguish one figure from another. Nothing was visible, nor could be visible, to us, except straight Lines; and the necessity of this I will speedily demonstrate.
Place a penny on the middle of one of your tables in Space; and leaning over it, look down upon it. It will appear a circle.
But now, drawing back to the edge of the table, gradually lower your eye (thus bringing yourself more and more into the condition of the inhabitants of Flatland), and you will find the penny becoming more and more oval to your view; and at last when you have placed your eye exactly on the edge of a table (so that you are, as it were, actually a Flatland citizen) the penny will then have ceased to appear oval at all, and will have become, so far as you can see, a straight line.

I never thought about that! If you lived in a place that was flat, like you were really small and lived between two sheets of paper, you would only see lines. And so if you think about it, we only see two dimentions at one time, even though our world has three dimentions (like height, width, and depth). We can sorta see in 3D because we can tell if something’s close or far away, but we can’t see someone from the front, and the back, and the top and bottom all at the same time! So could there be like a 4th dimention or a 5th dimention? Could someone in a 4th dimentional world see us from the top and bottom and even our insides all at once? See, it gets really confusing! I bet this is the kind of thing Dwayne would like. It sounds all like science fiction! But I guess it’s just math, really. Here’s a practice question about the book.

According to the above passage, who is the narrator in Flatland?

1. A Man
2. A Line
3. A 2D Shape
4. A 3D Shape
5. Impossible to Know

At first I might think that answer 1 is right, because it’s not like a shape could write a book. But you gotta remember that the narrator and the author are two different things, so even though only a man or a woman could write the book, the narrator could be a shape or an animal or anything!

If you re-read the passage, you notice a line right away that mostly explains this answer.

“Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about… and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen.”

He says right there that his “countrymen” are “Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures” all living in a “flat” land. So it can’t be a man or a 3D shape.

That means it’s either 2, 3 or 5. Later on, he talks about how things look like a line, but are really a shape. Like how he says that when you look at a penny with your eye right on the table its on, it looks like a line. So you might think the narrator is a shape. However, in that first line I quoted, it said, “Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares…” Lines were included! So that means some of his “countrymen” might be lines, and so he might be a line too. It’s impossible to know from just this passage. So, the answer is number 5.

Pretty loco, huh? This is the kinda book where it’s not like the words themselves are hard or anything. There’s not really anything I have to look up in the dictionary. But his ideas that he’s talking about are kinda weird and I’m not used to thinking that way, so I have to read it a few times to get what he’s really saying. But in the end, it’s fun to read things like this once you understand them. Now I can understand the things like 2D and 3D and maybe even 4D a little better. So if someone starts talking about it, I don’t feel completely lost (and by SOMEONE it’s probably going to be Dwayne)!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Helmer. When did my squirrel come home?

Nora. Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.

Helmer. Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?

Nora. Yes but, Torvald, this year we can really let ourselves go a little. This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economise.

Helmer. Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly.

Nora. Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we? Just a tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots of money.

Helmer. Yes, after the New Year; but then it will be a whole quarter before the salary is due.

Nora. Pooh! we can borrow till then.

Helmer. Nora! (Goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.) The same little featherhead! Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds to-day, and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a slate fell on my head and killed me, and–

Nora (putting her hands over his mouth). Oh! don’t say such horrid things.

Helmer. Still, suppose that happened,–what then?

Nora. If that were to happen, I don’t suppose I should care whether I owed money or not.

So, how do you know what the characters are like? On the GED, they might give you words to describe the characters. You need to look at the characters’ actions and see which words describe them best. Think of the characters like friends of yours. If they acted like they do in the play, what would you think of them? You might say, “Torvald, he’s a pain in the you-know-what.” Or, “Nora, she’s a flake.”

So, can you look at the choices on this GED-type question to see which one seems most like Nora?

Which of the following words best describes Nora?
A) emotional

B) hysterical

C) uncaring

D) greedy

What’s Nora like? That’s the idea. If you were a friend of Nora’s, sitting around gossiping about her, what would you say?  “Oh, Nora, she’s so —??” what? Greedy? Not really. I mean, she spends money, but she’s not really what I’d call greedy. That’s kind of a trick question. She’s not grasping after a lot of money, she just sorta likes to spend, you know. She’s more having fun than being greedy.

“Nora’s always so–”… uncaring? That’s definitely wrong. She gets real upset at the idea that Torvald might die, even though it’s just all made up. That’s not really uncaring.

“Nora’s always so–” … hysterical? No… at first she’s happy, then upset, but she’s not hysterical… I mean, she’s not screaming and crying or anything. Hysterical means like, super emotional, even crazy. If you didn’t know the word, you could just skip it to see if other answers maybe made sense.

“Nora’s always so–” … emotional? Well, that makes more sense. She’s not too practical, or concerned with budgeting. She’s more concerned with being happy, and upset by the idea of something happening to Torvald. She focuses on her emotions. I’d say the answer is A, emotional. Do you see why?

So that’s another good skill for the GED reading… figuring out what characters are like.
Good GED studying!

 For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com, or call 1-888-880-2164.

Here’s an example… Here’s a part of a play called “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen. It’s got two characters in it, Nora and Helmer, and Nora’s just come home.

Helmer. When did my squirrel come home?

Nora. Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.

Helmer. Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?

Nora. Yes but, Torvald, this year we can really let ourselves go a little. This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economise.

Helmer. Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly.

Nora. Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we? Just a tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots of money.

Helmer. Yes, after the New Year; but then it will be a whole quarter before the salary is due.

Nora. Pooh! we can borrow till then.

Helmer. Nora! (Goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.) The same little featherhead! Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds to-day, and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a slate fell on my head and killed me, and–

Nora (putting her hands over his mouth). Oh! don’t say such horrid things.

Helmer. Still, suppose that happened,–what then?

Nora. If that were to happen, I don’t suppose I should care whether I owed money or not.

So… what if you had to make a prediction about something Nora might do? Or Helmer? How do you know? The key is looking at what they’ve done in the part of the play they show you. So, you have to figure out which answer choice is most similar to… most like… what the character does in the play.

Want to try? Here’s a practice question:

If Nora burned the dinner for the third time that week, Helmer would most likely:

A) Say nothing about it and pretend it’s okay

B) Yell at Nora angrily

C) Scold Nora couched in loving terms

D) Laugh it off because it’s not important

So, what would Helmer do? How can you tell? Well, the first thing is to look for the situation in the reading that’s closest to the one in the question. In the question, Nora burns dinner for the third time, so she makes a mistake or does something that’s a problem. What kind of mistake or problem does Nora cause in the reading?

It seems to me like the closest thing is that she spends a lot of money. Helmer doesn’t seem too happy about that.

So, if I changed the question and said, “If Nora spent too much money, Helmer would most likely:” … then, what would the answer be?

You know the answer to that, it’s in the reading, right? He doesn’t just say nothing, and he doesn’t yell at her. He doesn’t laugh it off and say it’s not important. He scolds her by saying things like, “The same little featherhead!” and calling her “my little spendthrift.” Sort of mean but nice at the same time, if you know what I mean. I guess you could call it “loving,” sort of! Anyway, “scold Nora couched in loving terms” is closest to what he actually does do.

So, since that’s what you know about how he reacts… isn’t that the most likely way he’d react to a similar situation in the future? Like if Nora burned the dinner?

That’s the way the GED questions work, anyway! The answer is C. And that’s a good one to know on the GED test.

Good studying!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.