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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Describe Minor's routine for writing his first book.

2. Murray wanted as many ______ as he could get for the words to capture subtle variations in them.

3. What was Huxley involved in professionally?

4. How long did it take Murray to travel to see Minor?

5. What wing in Broadmoor was kept for parole patients?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 6, what do the author's previously established characteristics of Minor suggest about how he may have gotten along with the parole patients in Block 2?

2. What was revealed about Minor's character in regards to his response to Murray's letter for help on the Oxford English Dictionary?

3. What can one infer from the fact that Minor had many people who wrote letters to Broadmoor, inquiring about his health and well-being?

4. Was it good that Minor began to view the asylum as his home?

5. What effect did Murray and his workers' reliance on Minor's letters and help have on Minor?

6. Describe how Minor may have felt when he entered the property at the Broadmoor Asylum.

7. Why do you think Murray so grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take to finish the Oxford English Dictionary after the first publication of the first book?

8. Why could Minor more easily understand Murray's directions in comparison to others?

9. What is relevant about the fact that Minor was a fan of Huxley, particularly his idea of agnosticism?

10. What showed the great essence of teamwork between Murray and Minor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is significant about the fact that the text has two protagonists, Minor and Murray, and that the author himself points out that this goes against the definition of the word in "Modern English Usage," which states that protagonist can only be used in the singular?

Essay Topic 2

What narrative devices does the author employ in painting a vivid picture of life in 19th and early 20th Century England?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Minor's and Murray's respective childhoods and what parallels the author draws between their formative years and their later exploits in life.

(see the answer keys)

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