A Christmas Carol Reading between the lines Quiz
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens · 7 multiple-choice questions with answers · about 6 min
Test your knowledge of A Christmas Carol with 7 reading between the lines questions with answers and explanations — why things happen and what the text implies. Ideal for revision once you have read the whole novella.
Why things happen and what the text implies. Drawn from the whole novella — contains spoilers.
Skills tested: Inference · Difficulty: Standard, Challenge
A Christmas Carol Reading between the lines questions
The answers and an explanation for each question appear as you play, and on the answer-key page of the printout.
- Marley's chain is hung with cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers and deeds. What does he say about how he came by it?
That he made it himself, link by link, in life · That it was fastened on him at the hour of death · That Scrooge's own ledgers added to its weight · That it will fall away once his penance ends
- Belle releases Scrooge from their engagement. What reason does she give?
A golden idol has taken her place in him · Her family has forbidden the match outright · She has promised herself to another man · He has grown too poor to support a wife
- When Scrooge asks whether Tiny Tim will live, how does the Spirit answer him?
With a vacant seat and an ownerless crutch · With a flat refusal to speak of the future · By showing him the boy's grave at once · By promising the child will outlive Scrooge
- What do the laundress, the charwoman and the undertaker's man bring to old Joe's shop?
Bed-curtains, blankets and the dead man's shirt · Mourning clothes ordered for a cheap funeral · Account books taken from the counting-house · The coal and candles from the office cupboard
- Scrooge asks to be shown anyone who feels emotion at the dead man's death. Who is shown to him?
The nephew who had pitied him every year · A clerk who weeps in the empty counting-house · A couple relieved that their debt has passed on · A beggar woman he once gave a coin to
- What does the Ghost of Christmas Past show Scrooge of Belle's later life?
A shop she keeps near Fezziwig's old yard · A lonely lodging and an early widowhood there · A houseful of children and a kind husband · A grave beside Fan's in the churchyard
- What does the Cratchits' Christmas dinner show about the family's means?
They eat at the baker's with the other lodgers · A small goose and a pudding feed them all · They go without any dinner that year · They dine on turkey sent by a neighbour
More A Christmas Carol practice: all A Christmas Carol quizzes · characters quiz · themes quiz · plot recall quiz · read A Christmas Carol free
Original questions written for Pagine. Quotations are from the public-domain text.
Frequently asked questions
Is this A Christmas Carol Reading between the lines quiz free?
Yes. All 7 questions are free with answers and explanations. Play online with instant feedback, or print it as a test with an answer key — no sign-up needed.
What does the A Christmas Carol Reading between the lines quiz cover?
7 reading between the lines questions drawn from every part of A Christmas Carol. Why things happen and what the text implies. It tests inference at standard, challenge level.
Does it contain spoilers?
Yes — it draws on the whole novella, including the ending.
Can I use it with a class?
Yes. Print it with the answer key for a reading check, homework or revision lesson, or share the link so students can take it online.
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