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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does Liza tell Freddy she is going at the end of Act 1?
(a) To see Higgins.
(b) To jump in the river.
(c) Buckingham Palace.
(d) Home.

2. What city is the setting of Shaw's play?
(a) New York.
(b) London.
(c) Chicago.
(d) Paris.

3. To what does Higgins compare Liza?
(a) A squashed cabbage-leaf.
(b) The Queen of Sheba.
(c) A diamond in the rough.
(d) A flower in the mud.

4. What does Doolittle promise to do with the money?
(a) Buy something for his wife.
(b) Keep it for Liza.
(c) Spend it all immediately on a drinking spree.
(d) Save it and use it wisely.

5. What is Liza afraid will kill her?
(a) The draft from the window.
(b) A bath.
(c) Her father, if he finds out where she is.
(d) The electric lights.

6. When does Shaw first become interested in the subject of phonetics?
(a) Around 1890.
(b) Around 1910.
(c) In the 1870s.
(d) In the 1850s.

7. What is Higgins the author of?
(a) Higgins's Universal Alphabet.
(b) The play that everyone has seen that evening.
(c) Spoken Sanscrit.
(d) Famous books about Shakespeare and Milton.

8. What type of person does Shaw indicate is the hero of Pygmalion?
(a) A low-class person who cannot speak the language properly.
(b) An energetic enthusiast who supports language reform.
(c) A professor of English literatures specializing in Shakespeare and Milton.
(d) A multilinguist and expert in Latinate languages.

9. What is a problem with the English language, according to Shaw?
(a) It is difficult for foreigners to learn well.
(b) It doesn't have a beautiful sound when spoken.
(c) It is not spelled the way it should be pronounced.
(d) It is a vulgar language when compared to Latinate languages such as French.

10. What does the taxicab driver realize about Liza that humiliates her?
(a) She is really a prostitute.
(b) She lives in a slum.
(c) She's never ridden in a taxi before and has no idea how much it costs.
(d) She doesn't have any money and cannot pay for the taxi.

11. What does Higgins say about women?
(a) He thinks men are superior to women and should tell them what to do.
(b) He has a hard time controlling himself around beautiful women.
(c) He's happier without them and is a confirmed bachelor.
(d) He thinks all women are silly creatures, like animals.

12. How is Henry Higgins described?
(a) He is about forty years old, strong and energetic.
(b) He is young and handsome, but sloppy in his dress.
(c) He is thin and feeble, but has a strong scientific mind.
(d) He is elderly and distinguished, with the appearance of a scholar.

13. Based on what you read in the Preface, with which of the following statements do you think Shaw would agree?
(a) Great art should not seek to teach lessons, but to entertain.
(b) All great art must be didactic; that is, it should teach people something.
(c) Truly great art should not seek to be commercially successful.
(d) Great art cannot please everyone; there will always be some wiseacres who cannot appreciate it.

14. What does Higgins say when he finds that Liza is not married?
(a) Men will soon be dying for her.
(b) He will marry her himself.
(c) She will marry a duke.
(d) Nobody would want to marry the likes of her.

15. Which of the following first interests Higgins about Liza?
(a) Her Cockney accent.
(b) Her cleverness.
(c) Her exceptional beauty.
(d) Her ability to survive on the tough urban streets.

Short Answer Questions

1. What makes Liza happy at the end of the evening?

2. Who is in Higgins's laboratory with Higgins at the beginning of Act 2?

3. Which is true of Pygmalion at the time Shaw wrote his Preface?

4. What does Higgins tempt Liza with just as she is about to leave?

5. What should happen with the spelling of the English language, according to Shaw?

(see the answer keys)

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