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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many seconds in length is the video George has of her mother as a little girl?
(a) 36.
(b) 12.
(c) 24.
(d) 48.

2. The third time H visits George's home, George is caught unawares in which room in the house?
(a) Her loft bedroom.
(b) The bathroom.
(c) Her father's office.
(d) Her mother's study.

3. What had H done to a phone in retaliation when one of the young women in the school bathroom called her an "ethnic cow" (224)?
(a) She broke the phone against the front of the toilet.
(b) She threw the phone in the toilet.
(c) She threw the phone onto the roof.
(d) She called the young woman's mother.

4. What romantic gesture does H make toward George for the first time on her third visit to George's house?
(a) She puts her arm around George.
(b) She kisses George's forehead.
(c) She kisses George's mouth.
(d) She interlaces her fingers with George's.

5. What is the title of the record George recalls once laughing about with her mother and father?
(a) Buffalo Girl.
(b) Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree.
(c) Tell Laura I Love Her.
(d) One Little Robin in a Cherry Tree.

Short Answer Questions

1. By the time George tells Mrs. Rock about her surveillance theory, how many years have passed since George's mother's altercation with a politician?

2. In what grade are the young women who habitually record sounds in the bathroom at George's school?

3. George's eye keeps being drawn to a strip of what color in Francesco's painting?

4. The second time H visits George's house, they go together to what kind of establishment to talk?

5. What term had George's mother used to describe the chances of Francesco having been a female artist?

Short Essay Questions

1. What timeline does George provide on the first page of the section entitled Eyes and what is its significance?

2. What is the significance of George's shift away from considering a particular element of language to be very important?

3. What does the damage in George's house symbolize?

4. What is the significance of the record album entitled Tell Laura I Love Her?

5. Discuss a metaphor Smith uses to indicate George's concern that she may be unable to love.

6. Give an example of a piece of dialogue in How to Be Both that reflects the theme of connection.

7. What clues led George to think that her mother had been put under surveillance prior to her death?

8. What two contradictory terms does George use to describe the atmosphere of the Italian town called Ferrara that she had visited with her mother and brother Henry?

9. Describe the conversation George has with Mrs. Rock about her mother's criticism of a certain politician.

10. What kinds of conflicts have been revealed so far within the text? Give a brief example of at least two conflicts unfolding at the center of the text.

(see the answer keys)

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