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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 Henry Sweet?
(a) A sweet-tempered professor of language and literature.
(b) A phonetics expert whom Shaw admired.
(c) A high official who popularized the subject of phonetics.
(d) The editor of a monthly review.

2. What is the strange man (Higgins) doing behind the pillar?
(a) Taking notes.
(b) Hiding from the police.
(c) Spying on Liza.
(d) Waiting for a taxicab.

3. On what basis do some English people despise others?
(a) Whether they are foreign or native-born citizens.
(b) Their level of education.
(c) Their accents or dialects of English.
(d) Their socioeconomic class.

4. What is one of Shaw's purposes in writing this play?
(a) To encourage people to value all types of accents in English.
(b) To make people aware of the social inequalities in England.
(c) To entertain people and make them forget their worries for another day.
(d) To let people know of the existence of phoneticians and how important they are.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the Flower Girl know Freddy's name?

2. Why doesn't Sweet's shorthand become popular?

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

4. What is a problem with the English language, according to Shaw?

5. What does Higgins say when he finds that Liza is not married?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the English language need to be reformed, according to Shaw?

2. What does Higgins boast that he can do for the Flower Girl?

3. What are three methods of phonetic shorthand that Shaw mentions in Pygmalion, and what are they used for?

4. What does the Flower Girl do at the end of Act 1 that shows she has a sense of pride and dignity about her?

5. Why, according to Shaw, is it important that people be trained scientifically to lose their accents, rather than simply learning by imitation?

6. Who are Alexander Melville Bell, Alexander J. Ellis, Tito Pagliardini, and Henry Sweet, and why are they heroes to Shaw?

7. What should all great art be, according to Shaw? Do you agree? What does Shaw hope his play will teach?

8. Why does Liza's father come to see Higgins?

9. Who are some of the most important people in England, according to Shaw? Why do you think this is so, again, according to Shaw?

10. Why are shorthand methods inadequate for ordinary use?

(see the answer keys)

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