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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Preface to Pygmalion. A Professor of Phonetics.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What should happen with the spelling of the English language, according to Shaw?
(a) It should be emphasized more in school so that everyone can learn to spell correctly.
(b) Standardized spelling should disregarded as unnecessary; people should simply sound out words and apply the approximate phonetic spelling.
(c) It should be simplified to get rid of silent letters.
(d) It should be made as phonetic as Spanish.

2. Why doesHenry Sweet not become more prominent?
(a) He angera many people by publishing a libelous article.
(b) He is an ill-natured man.
(c) He scorns everyone who did not agree with him about the importance of phonetics.
(d) Nobody agrees with him that phonetics are important.

3. Who is Robert Bridges and what does he have in common with Higgins?
(a) A professor at Oxford who, like Higgins, had a fiery temper.
(b) A portrait painter who, like Higgins, loved phonetics.
(c) An expert in shorthand who, like Higgins, lived in England.
(d) A phonetician who, like Higgins, greatly admired Milton.

4. Which character in Pygmalion is based in part on Henry Sweet?
(a) Higgins.
(b) Neppomuck.
(c) Pickering.
(d) Doolittle.

5. What does an upside-down e represent?
(a) It is similar to a question mark.
(b) A vowel of indefinite sound.
(c) An uncommon vowel in English.
(d) It is a symbol of the uselessnesss of alphabets.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is one example Shaw gives of when people might want to change their accents?

2. At which university does Sweet teach?

3. To Shaw, what is the main advantage of Henry Sweet's "Current Shorthand"?

4. Why does Shaw's attempt to help Sweet fail?

5. What does Sweet think of the Pitman system?

(see the answer key)

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