View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Cooking dinner or cleaning the house.
(d) Driving during rush hour or answering the phone.

2. What did the speaker's brother learn after he ended up in intensive care several weeks ago?
(a) He had been having one long heart attack for six years.
(b) He had contracted Lyme disease.
(c) He had been experiencing panic attacks for six years.
(d) He had cancer.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. While weeding, what did the speaker's father say had happened to his brother?

3. What does the speaker call the severed web symbol?

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

5. What symbol represents "the low point" in the speaker's familial communication?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the speaker's brother learn after first experiencing chest pains and ultimately ending up in intensive care?

2. What does the speaker's father confess to him about his marriage after his 19th heart attack?

3. What does the severed web symbolize? What does the speaker call this?

4. What is something the speaker and his brother do not discuss? How do you know?

5. What are low points? What conversation between the speaker and his mother does he use to exemplify their use?

6. What is one example the speaker gives of the use of a reversible colon?

7. Describe the snowflake and when it might be used.

8. What does the speaker realize about himself after his father discusses how his brother was already a yes man?

9. Why did the speaker's father's doctor advise against pulling weeds? What other things did he advice against?

10. What are the final words that remain unspoken, as shown by the use of the should-have brackets, between father and son in the final conversation of the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 917 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample