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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What recurring dreams did the speaker's father have?
(a) Playing on the Orioles.
(b) Running for president.
(c) Pulling weeds from his chest.
(d) Hiding from Nazis.

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

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

4. The speaker uses a conversation between himself and which relative as an example of the low point?
(a) His mother.
(b) His father.
(c) His grandmother.
(d) His brother.

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

6. What is the purpose of the backup?
(a) It is used to restart a conversation when you were too distracted to listen.
(b) It is used to erase what you said and rephrase.
(c) It is used to replay a sentence and discover what might have been missed.
(d) It is used to repeat what you said so the person to whom you are speaking can understand.

7. How may fights have the speaker's parent had in all of their marriage?
(a) Hundreds.
(b) 10.
(c) Dozens.
(d) 1.

8. What phrase can the low point replace?
(a) This is as good as it gets.
(b) Nowhere to go but up.
(c) What goes up must come down.
(d) It couldn't possible be worse.

9. What do the should have brackets denote?
(a) Words that were not spoken but should have been.
(b) Words someone thinks you should have said but did not.
(c) When you realize what you should have said after the fact.
(d) Words you know you were expected to say but could not.

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

11. How is this sentence spoken by the speaker's mother changed when the back up is used: "It pains me to think of you alone" (7).
(a) It pains me to think you may never understand how much I love you.
(b) It pains me to think of me without any grandchildren to love.
(c) It pains me to think you will not have anyone to take care of you in old age.
(d) It pains me to think you will never know a child's love.

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

13. What phrase is an example a sentence never uttered by the speaker or any member of the speaker's family?
(a) I don't know how to have a relationship with you, but I know I love you.
(b) My life is full of pain, and it's not your fault, but I'm so sad.
(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.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What example does the speaker use of the should have brackets when his father asks him if he hears static in the phone?

2. What did the speaker's brother learn after he ended up in intensive care several weeks ago?

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

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

5. What does the speaker say low points tend to do in his communication with family?

(see the answer keys)

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