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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 copies of "The Elements of Style" have been sold?
(a) Ten million copies.
(b) Four million copies.
(c) More than ten million copies.
(d) Eight million copies.

2. What examples does White include in a memo as entrances that would infuriate people if they were the same height as a taxi cab door?
(a) Bars, closets, and garages.
(b) Bars, subways, and garages.
(c) Bars, subways, and closets.
(d) Subways, closets, and garages.

3. When does White learn about the death of James Thurber?
(a) November, 1961.
(b) April, 1962.
(c) June, 1962.
(d) March, 1961.

4. What is the subject of the article that White's granddaughter, Martha, writes?
(a) Writing.
(b) Exercising.
(c) Fishing.
(d) Jogging.

5. In a letter to his brother, Stanley, what does White fear the surgeons will find in his abdomen during an operation?
(a) Shad roe.
(b) Fiddlehead ferns.
(c) Shrimp newburg.
(d) Ahi Carpaccio.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many letters of condolence does White receive after Katharine's passing?

2. Where in Florida do the Whites travel to in 1963?

3. When does a new printing for "Charlotte's Web" begin?

4. How many minor surgeries does Katharine undergo between 1966 and 1970?

5. In another office memo, for which James Thurber story does White offer his comments?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Katharine's legacy preserved?

2. How does White respond to a confused senior at Newton High School?

3. How does White describe the beginning days of the New Yorker to an author that is researching a book?

4. How does White revise his work to be included in the new edition of "The Elements of Style"?

5. What complications does White have with his vision in 1982, and how many years does he provide newsbreaks for the New Yorker before retiring?

6. What illnesses does Katharine battle between 1960 and 1965, and how does she adjust her work schedule?

7. What is White's problem with taxi cab doors in his 1950 memo to Harold Ross?

8. How does Hanna-Barbera acquire the rights to produce the animated motion picture version of "Charlotte's Web"?

9. How does White explain the process of writing a book to fourth-graders of Columbus, Ohio?

10. Why does White write to Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith?

(see the answer keys)

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