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

2. Why is Clara annoyed with her mother?
(a) She won't buy any flowers for Clara.
(b) She acts superior to the Flower Girl.
(c) She gives the Flower Girl too much money.
(d) She doesn't give the Flower Girl any money.

3. What does Higgins ask Mrs. Pearce to do with Liza's clothing?
(a) Throw it away.
(b) Wash it in boiling water to kill the mites.
(c) Sew it so that it doesn't look so raggedy.
(d) Burn it at once.

4. Why can't Liza read what Higgins writes?
(a) It is written in French, a language she doesn't know.
(b) He uses a phonetic alphabet.
(c) It is written in a cryptic code.
(d) She is uneducated and has never learned how to read.

5. Which is true of Pygmalion at the time Shaw wrote his Preface?
(a) It is extremely successful in Europe, and he hopes to make it so in America.
(b) It is extremely successful on stage, and he hopes to make a movie of it.
(c) It is extremely successful on stage and screen all over North America and Europe.
(d) It is extremely successful in America, but not in Europe.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following describes the Gentleman (later identified as Pickering)?

2. What does the Flower Girl call the Gentleman?

3. What are the Pitman and Gregg systems?

4. What does Liza want to do after her bath?

5. Which character in Pygmalion is based in part on Henry Sweet?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is the Gentleman in the first act, and what do he and the note-taker have in common?

2. What does Liza likely mean when she says "I'm a good girl, I am"? Why does she say this?

3. How does Higgins feel about women?

4. What does Higgins think of the Flower Girl's accent? What humorous hyperbole does he use in speaking to her?

5. What bet does Pickering make with Higgins? Why does Higgins accept?

6. Why are shorthand methods inadequate for ordinary use?

7. What does Higgins do for the Flower Girl? What prompts him to do so? What does this act suggest about Higgins?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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