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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the speaker say familial communication always has to do with?
(a) A willingness to communicate.
(b) Failures to communicate.
(c) Honest communication.
(d) Forced communication.

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

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

4. What does the speaker call the severed web symbol?
(a) A Barely Tolerable Subsitute.
(b) A Hardly Acceptable Replacement.
(c) An Inadequately Worded Idiom.
(d) A Scarcely Salvageable Sentence.

5. Which of his family members does the speaker say he loved more than he loved himself?
(a) His brother.
(b) His grandmother.
(c) His mother.
(d) His father.

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

7. What phrase is an example a sentence never uttered by the speaker or any member of the speaker's family?
(a) My life is full of pain, and it's not your fault, but I'm so sad.
(b) I don't know how to have a relationship with you, but I know I love you.
(c) My heart is no good, and I'm afraid of dying, and I'm also afraid of saying I love you.
(d) I don't want you in my life, but that does not mean I don't care.

8. 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 crying into the phone}.
(b) {I cannot hear anything}.
(c) {I'm hanging up the phone}.
(d) {I'm no longer listening}.

9. What does the speaker say low points tend to do in his communication with family?
(a) Confuse the situation.
(b) Make things better.
(c) Not change anything.
(d) Make things worse.

10. How many heart attacks has the speaker's father suffered?
(a) 22.
(b) 8.
(c) 14.
(d) 41.

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

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

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

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

15. 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 watch on TV.
(c) A talk about what to cook for dinner.
(d) A talk about their marital problems.

Short Answer Questions

1. How early on in the marriage did the speaker's parents have their first fight?

2. What is the subject of the discussion the speaker uses to exemplify use of the low point?

3. What does the speaker acknowledge about the should-have brackets in the final paragraph of the story?

4. What is the purpose of the backup?

5. How may fights have the speaker's parent had in all of their marriage?

(see the answer keys)

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