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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. What name does the gun-safety instructor keep calling Sedaris?
(a) Mike.
(b) Lonnie.
(c) Randy.
(d) Tom.

2. Where is Sedaris in the opening of the essay "Unbuttoned"?
(a) Sea Section.
(b) A hospital in Paris.
(c) His father's old house.
(d) Springmoor.

3. In "Highfalutin," what feature that he and Amy share embarrasses Sedaris at lunch?
(a) Thinning hair.
(b) Sagging skin.
(c) Poor posture.
(d) Dental problems.

4. What family event are the Sedarises anticipating when Lou first falls and has to be hospitalized?
(a) Lou's 95th birthday.
(b) A family vacation to the seaside.
(c) Gretchen's retirement party.
(d) Lisa and Bob's fortieth wedding anniversary.

5. Where were Sedaris's friends living when the man drove a vehicle into their home?
(a) At a marina.
(b) In a national park.
(c) In a converted church.
(d) At an airport.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "A Speech to the Graduates," what reason does Sedaris offer for why the graduates should follow his advice?

2. In "Highfalutin," what does Sedaris ultimately decide his idea of perfect happiness is?

3. In "Themes and Variations," what is the Jewish man selling in the joke Sedaris is told by one of his drivers?

4. What does the Blue Mountain School District give its students to fight off an armed gunman?

5. In "Themes and Variations," what does Sedaris compare the main branch of the Chicago Public Library to?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "A Speech to the Graduates," what anecdote does Sedaris tell about the woman at the book-signing event, and what is this anecdote's rhetorical function?

2. What decision did Lou make about his will that upset Sedaris, and why was it so upsetting?

3. In "Unbuttoned," how does Sedaris contrast his feelings about his own medical procedure with his father's behavior?

4. In "Hurricane Season," how does the example of the neighbor's "shocking" outdoor shower undermine the point Sedaris has just made about renters?

5. In "A Speech to the Graduates," what does Sedaris say frustrates him about talking to parents whose children want to be writers?

6. In "Active Shooter," what is the rhetorical purpose of the anecdote about Lisa believing a story she read in The Onion?

7. In "Unbuttoned," what irony does Sedaris recognize when Gretchen asks him to write Lou's obituary?

8. In "Father Time," what does Sedaris tell Harrison and Austen about whom they should try to be more like, and why?

9. In "Highfalutin," what two things does Amy do while she and Sedaris are shopping that he finds funny but also mortifying?

10. In "Highfalutin," how does Sedaris say his adult experience in front of cameras reflects his role in the childhood game he played with Amy?

(see the answer keys)

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