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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Upon whom does the speaker often "inflict willed silences" (2)?
(a) His brother.
(b) His mother.
(c) His grandmother.
(d) His father.

2. What did the speaker's grandmother say to him in his example of the unxclamation point?
(a) The grandmother told him she hoped he never loves anyone as much as she loves him.
(b) The grandmother told him she hoped he had a nice piano lesson.
(c) The grandmother told him she hoped someday he loves someone as much as she loves him.
(d) The grandmother told him she hoped he had his old grandchildren someday.

3. Which punctuation mark does the speaker say is the "staple of familial punctuation"(1)?
(a) The willed silence mark.
(b) The confusion mark.
(c) The silence mark.
(d) The insistent question mark.

4. What were the stranger and the narrator's father arguing over in the example he uses of the extra exclamation point?
(a) Politics.
(b) A parking space.
(c) A tip.
(d) A sport's game.

5. What symbol represents the unxclamation point?
(a) A sideways exclamation point.
(b) Two exclamation points, one up and one upside down.
(c) An upside down exclamation point.
(d) An exclamation point with a X over it.

6. What did the man continue to yell at the speaker's father in the example he uses of the extra exclamation point?
(a) Out of my way, jackass.
(b) Give it up, fucker.
(c) Go away, asshole.
(d) Get over it, loser.

7. How many heart attacks does the speaker say his family has "and counting" (1)?
(a) 65.
(b) 3.
(c) 18.
(d) 41.

8. What was the speaker's grandmother listening to in the car in the example he uses of the unxclamation point?
(a) A meditation tape.
(b) An audio version of Shoah.
(c) Barry Manilow.
(d) National Public Radio.

9. What were the speaker and his father discussing on the phone when the silence mark was used as per his example?
(a) His brother's upcoming wedding.
(b) His own grades in college.
(c) His father's recent job loss.
(d) His father's recent angioplasty.

10. The narrator says he has never had sex with whom?
(a) Someone who did not love him.
(b) Someone who loved him.
(c) Someone who knew his name.
(d) Someone from his hometown.

11. What does the silence mark signify?
(a) A moment of meditation.
(b) Absence of language.
(c) Quieting someone.
(d) Confusion.

12. What does the pedal point signify?
(a) A thought that dissolves into a suggestive silence.
(b) An interrupted thought.
(c) A thought that never ends.
(d) An incomplete thought.

13. What punctuation is used the double question mark as its symbol?
(a) The insistent question mark.
(b) The interrogating question mark.
(c) The irate question mark.
(d) The ignorant question mark.

14. What did the speaker's father say to his children after the argument with the stranger as he held his hand to his heart?
(a) That guy was a jerk.
(b) I should have stood up to him.
(c) It's never, ever worth it.
(d) Don't be a whimp like your old man.

15. What symbol denotes the extraexclamation point?
(a) Two exclamation points.
(b) Four exclamations points.
(c) An exclamation point with a plus sign.
(d) Two exclamation points and two plus signs.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the weather like when the narrator's grandmother was driving him somewhere in the example he uses of the unxclamation point?

2. Which of the speaker's family members most uses the pedal point with him?

3. What shape symbolizes the silence mark?

4. What does the willed silence mark signify?

5. What does the unxclamation indicate?

(see the answer keys)

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