View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What example does the speaker use as a familial conversation in which one party understands the words but not the meaning?
(a) When his mother told him it pained her to think of him alone.
(b) When his brother told him he had been having a heart attack for six years.
(c) When his father told him his brother had become a yes man.
(d) When his grandmother told him she hopes he never loves anyone as much as she loves him.

2. What symbol represents "the low point" in the speaker's familial communication?
(a) A thumbs down emoji.
(b) An X.
(c) The sad face.
(d) The upside down arrow.

3. What does the speaker acknowledge about the should-have brackets in the final paragraph of the story?
(a) They are used more often between him and his father.
(b) They rarely exist in conversations between himself and his brother.
(c) Each family member's sense of the should-haves is different.
(d) They are used less frequently among his family members lately.

4. What does the severed web mean, approximately?
(a) I need you.
(b) I loathe you.
(c) I see you.
(d) I love you.

5. What does the father say in should have brackets to Jonathan about his dreams during the final conversation in the story?
(a) Jonathan's mother was crying while pulling weeds from his chest.
(b) Jonathan was the one pulling weeds from his chest.
(c) His father was really pulling weeds from his brother's chest.
(d) Jonathan was laughing as he pulled weeds from his chest.

6. What sentence is NOT used as an example of when the reversible colon is appropriate?
(a) My eyes water when I speak about my family::I don't like to speak about my family.
(b) I've never felt loved by anyone outside of my family::my persistent depression.
(c) I want a better life::my family.
(d) Sex::yes.

7. What discussion between the speaker's father and mother does he use to exemplify the corroboration mark?
(a) A talk about groceries.
(b) A talk about what to cook for dinner.
(c) A talk about what to watch on TV.
(d) A talk about their marital problems.

8. Which symbol represents the corroboration mark?
(a) The smiley face.
(b) The exclamation point.
(c) The snowflake.
(d) The heart.

9. What is the subject of the discussion the speaker uses to exemplify use of the low point?
(a) His inability to community with candor.
(b) His lack of a girlfriend.
(c) His lack of a good job.
(d) His depression.

10. What example does the speaker use of the should have brackets when his father asks him if he hears static in the phone?
(a) {I'm hanging up the phone}.
(b) {I'm crying into the phone}.
(c) {I cannot hear anything}.
(d) {I'm no longer listening}.

11. What were some things the speaker's father's doctor advised him against doing due to the emotional stress these things caused him?
(a) Watching Orioles games or thinking of the current administration.
(b) Driving during rush hour or answering the phone.
(c) Running or arguing with his wife.
(d) Cooking dinner or cleaning the house.

12. What were the speaker and his father recently doing, despite his father's doctor telling him not to?
(a) Pulling weeds.
(b) Running.
(c) Lifting weights.
(d) Stacking wood.

13. While weeding, what did the speaker's father say had happened to his brother?
(a) He had become distant.
(b) He had become very affectionate.
(c) He had become a yes man.
(d) He had become disagreeable.

14. What are some things the speaker might be doing when he imagines his family's versions of the should-haves?
(a) Reading a book or making dinner.
(b) Having sex or driving.
(c) Shopping or doing his taxes.
(d) Taking a walk or a shower.

15. When is the reversible colon used?
(a) To show that one side of a sentence is better than the other.
(b) To show that one side of a sentence does not need the other.
(c) To show that both sides of the sentence cancel each other out.
(d) To show that two sides of a sentence explain each other.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of his family members does the speaker say he loved more than he loved himself?

2. What does the narrator's father attribute to his successful marriage?

3. What phrase can the low point replace?

4. What does the original use of a lowpoint then to create?

5. Which member of the speaker's family do you attribute this sentence to: "I didn't die in the Holocaust, but all of my siblings did, so where does that leave me" (5)?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 771 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample