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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does the speaker's mother suggest he may be ashamed of when discussing his relationships with girls?
(a) His jewish heritage.
(b) The girl or his mother.
(c) His brother.
(d) His family health history.

3. Where was the narrator and his family during the only instance he recalls use of the extraexclamation point?
(a) His parent's house.
(b) The National Zoo parking lot.
(c) His apartment.
(d) The mall parking lot.

4. Who is the author of "A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease"?
(a) Jonathan Franzen.
(b) Jonathan Safran Foer.
(c) Jonathan Sears.
(d) Jonathan Swift.

5. What symbol represents the pedal point?
(a) The square with an X in it.
(b) The half moon.
(c) The blackened start.
(d) The wavy line.

Short Answer Questions

1. What were the speaker and his father discussing on the phone when the silence mark was used as per his example?

2. What did the speaker's father say to his children after the argument with the stranger as he held his hand to his heart?

3. What punctuation is used the double question mark as its symbol?

4. What does the silence mark signify?

5. What shape symbolizes the silence mark?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which member of the family uses the pedal point most with the speaker? Why?

2. What conversation does the speaker use to exemplify the silence mark? To whom is he speaking? What is the subject of their conversation?

3. What is the extraunxclamation points? What does the speaker think of them?

4. What symbol represents the pedal point? What does it mean? How is it different from an ellipses or dash?

5. What do readers learn of the grandmother's life in the first paragraph? Describe the context.

6. How does the speaker describe his relationships with women?

7. What is the insistent question mark? When is it used per the speaker's example?

8. What do we learn of the speaker's family health history in the first paragraph? Describe the context.

9. How does the speaker's father engage with the angry man in the example he uses of the extra exclamation points?

10. How often does the speaker say the extra exclamation points are used in his family? Based on your understanding if his family, is this surprising? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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