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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. What does the narrator's father attribute to his successful marriage?
(a) Giving each other room to grow.
(b) Being a yes man.
(c) Being a little deaf sometimes.
(d) Open communication.

4. What symbol represents the "backup"?
(a) An upright arrow.
(b) A left arrow.
(c) A right arrow.
(d) An upside down arrow.

5. In the final conversation in the story, what is Jonathan's response to his father's {I love you}?
(a) {Let me be}.
(b) {I love you too, so much}.
(c) {Help}.
(d) {I'm crying into the phone}.

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

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

8. Why did the speaker's brother go to the university health center a few weeks ago?
(a) He was having chest pains.
(b) He suffered panic attacks.
(c) He was depressed.
(d) He had a high fever for several days.

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

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

11. 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) His father was really pulling weeds from his brother's chest.
(c) Jonathan's mother was crying while pulling weeds from his chest.
(d) Jonathan was laughing as he pulled weeds from his chest.

12. 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 will not have anyone to take care of you in old age.
(b) It pains me to think you may never understand how much I love you.
(c) It pains me to think you will never know a child's love.
(d) It pains me to think of me without any grandchildren to love.

13. 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) Running or arguing with his wife.
(c) Driving during rush hour or answering the phone.
(d) Cooking dinner or cleaning the house.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How many heart attacks had the speaker's father suffered when he told his son the secret to his successful marriage?

3. What are some things the speaker might be doing when he imagines his family's versions of the should-haves?

4. What does the speaker say familial communication always has to do with?

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

(see the answer keys)

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