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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Which is true of Pygmalion at the time Shaw wrote his Preface?
(a) It is extremely successful on stage, and he hopes to make a movie of it.
(b) It is extremely successful in Europe, and he hopes to make it so in America.
(c) It is extremely successful in America, but not in Europe.
(d) It is extremely successful on stage and screen all over North America and Europe.

3. How old is the Flower Girl?
(a) She is only fourteen or fifteen.
(b) She is about eighteen or twenty.
(c) She is "sweet sixteen."
(d) She has just turned twenty-one.

4. Which of the following is among Liza's treasured possessions?
(a) A birdcage.
(b) A book of Shakespeare's plays.
(c) A picture of her deceased mother.
(d) A fashionable dress that she has never worn.

5. Who is Alexander Melville Bell?
(a) A playwright who was a rival of Shaw's.
(b) The inventor of the telephone.
(c) A London patriarch.
(d) A phonetics expert who invented a phonetic spelling called Visible Speech.

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

7. Which of the following describes the Gentleman (later identified as Pickering)?
(a) He is an elderly, military type.
(b) He is young and dashing.
(c) He is dressed in a uniform.
(d) He is snobbish and rude.

8. What surprises Mrs. Pearce?
(a) Liza has only one change of clothing to her name.
(b) Liza's clothing is torn and dirty.
(c) Liza has no underwear.
(d) Liza never wears pajamas; she sleeps in her underwear.

9. What does Shaw try to do for Sweet?
(a) Involve him in the theater.
(b) Get him a teaching position.
(c) Help him get an article published.
(d) Dedicate the play Pygmalion to him.

10. When Liza comes to see Higgins in Act 2, what does she ask him to do?
(a) Give her speech lessons.
(b) Help her open a flower shop.
(c) Return the money he took the night before.
(d) Make her into a duchess.

11. How does Liza feel about the bedroom she'll be staying in?
(a) She thinks it's too good and clean for the likes of her.
(b) She's amazed by its luxurious furnishings.
(c) She says it makes her feel like a duchess.
(d) She's not used to sleeping in a bed and it seems very strange to her.

12. How does the Flower Girl know Freddy's name?
(a) She doesn't; she calls all young men "Freddy" or "Charlie."
(b) They are secretly lovers.
(c) She heard the women call him by that name.
(d) She has seen him somewhere before.

13. At which university does Sweet teach?
(a) Harvard.
(b) Oxford.
(c) The Imperial Institute in London.
(d) Cambridge.

14. For how long will Liza stay with Higgins as his pupil?
(a) Six months.
(b) Three weeks.
(c) Three months.
(d) Six weeks.

15. What does Liza want to do after her bath?
(a) Start her lessons immediately.
(b) Have a serious talk with her father.
(c) Go out and show off her new clothes.
(d) Change back into her old clothes since she feels uncomfortable this way.

Short Answer Questions

1. Of what does Mrs. Pearce warn Higgins?

2. What is Freddy looking for at the beginning of Act 1?

3. Why doesn't Sweet's shorthand become popular?

4. How does Higgins make his money?

5. What should happen with the English alphabet, according to Shaw?

(see the answer keys)

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