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

2. What does the narrator say he has never had with any member of his family?
(a) A heated argument.
(b) An enjoyable conversation.
(c) A disappointing visit.
(d) A nice time.

3. What did the speaker's father say to his children after the argument with the stranger as he held his hand to his heart?
(a) Don't be a whimp like your old man.
(b) It's never, ever worth it.
(c) That guy was a jerk.
(d) I should have stood up to him.

4. What symbol denotes the extraexclamation point?
(a) Two exclamation points and two plus signs.
(b) An exclamation point with a plus sign.
(c) Two exclamation points.
(d) Four exclamations points.

5. Which punctuation mark does the speaker say is the "staple of familial punctuation"(1)?
(a) The silence mark.
(b) The insistent question mark.
(c) The confusion mark.
(d) The willed silence mark.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the speaker's grandmother say to him in his example of the unxclamation point?

2. What does the silence mark signify?

3. Which of the speaker's family members most uses the pedal point with him?

4. What symbol represents the unxclamation point?

5. What symbol denotes the extraunxclamation point?

Short Essay Questions

1. What symbol indicates the willed silence mark? What does it signify?

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

3. What symbol represents the extraexclamation points?

4. 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.

5. How did the exchange between the speaker's father and the stranger end? What conclusion did the father come to in regards to his handling of the situation?

6. Who is yelling at the speaker's father and why in the example he uses of the extraexclamation points?

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

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

9. What does the silence mark symbolize? How often does the speaker say it exists in his family's history?

10. What is the unxclamation point symbol? What does it denote and when was it used per the speaker's example?

(see the answer keys)

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