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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the speaker's grandmother listening to in the car in the example he uses of the unxclamation point?
(a) A meditation tape.
(b) National Public Radio.
(c) An audio version of Shoah.
(d) Barry Manilow.

2. What does the speaker's mother suggest he may be ashamed of when discussing his relationships with girls?
(a) His jewish heritage.
(b) The girl or his mother.
(c) His brother.
(d) His family health history.

3. What does the unxclamation indicate?
(a) Annoyance.
(b) Disappointment.
(c) Shooshing someone.
(d) A whisper.

4. What symbol denotes the extraunxclamation point?
(a) Four exclamation points.
(b) Two exclamation points.
(c) Two upside down exclamation points.
(d) Two exclamation points, one up and one upside down.

5. What did the speaker's father say to his children after the argument with the stranger as he held his hand to his heart?
(a) I should have stood up to him.
(b) That guy was a jerk.
(c) It's never, ever worth it.
(d) Don't be a whimp like your old man.

6. What did the speaker's grandmother say to him in his example of the unxclamation point?
(a) The grandmother told him she hoped he never loves anyone as much as she loves him.
(b) The grandmother told him she hoped he had his old grandchildren someday.
(c) The grandmother told him she hoped he had a nice piano lesson.
(d) The grandmother told him she hoped someday he loves someone as much as she loves him.

7. What symbol represents the unxclamation point?
(a) A sideways exclamation point.
(b) An upside down exclamation point.
(c) Two exclamation points, one up and one upside down.
(d) An exclamation point with a X over it.

8. Who is the author of "A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease"?
(a) Jonathan Swift.
(b) Jonathan Franzen.
(c) Jonathan Sears.
(d) Jonathan Safran Foer.

9. Which punctuation mark does the speaker say is the "staple of familial punctuation"(1)?
(a) The silence mark.
(b) The insistent question mark.
(c) The confusion mark.
(d) The willed silence mark.

10. Where was the narrator and his family during the only instance he recalls use of the extraexclamation point?
(a) The National Zoo parking lot.
(b) The mall parking lot.
(c) His apartment.
(d) His parent's house.

11. What topic typically results in willed silence on the part of the speaker?
(a) His grades.
(b) His heart.
(c) His relationships with girls.
(d) His schooling.

12. How often does the narrator say his family uses the extraexclamation point?
(a) Once a week.
(b) Never.
(c) Almost daily.
(d) At every holiday.

13. The narrator says he has never had sex with whom?
(a) Someone from his hometown.
(b) Someone who knew his name.
(c) Someone who loved him.
(d) Someone who did not love him.

14. During what conversation with his father does the speaker say the silence mark most often appears?
(a) When discussing life in Europe before the war.
(b) When discussing his relationship with his wife.
(c) When discussing his work.
(d) When discussing family history of heart disease.

15. Upon whom does the speaker often "inflict willed silences" (2)?
(a) His father.
(b) His mother.
(c) His grandmother.
(d) His brother.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the speaker's family members most uses the pedal point with him?

2. What symbol represents the pedal point?

3. During what type of conversation with his grandmother does the speaker say the silence mark most often appears?

4. What were the stranger and the narrator's father arguing over in the example he uses of the extra exclamation point?

5. What did the man continue to yell at the speaker's father in the example he uses of the extra exclamation point?

(see the answer keys)

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