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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many words were contained in "A Table Alphabeticall?"
(a) 100,000.
(b) 50,000.
(c) 22,278.
(d) 2,500.

2. What was the main form of communication in the late 1940s?
(a) The telephone.
(b) Special couriers.
(c) Letters.
(d) The telegraph.

3. What was the goal of James Murray when he wrote the first Oxford English Dictionary in 1879?
(a) To catalog the entire English language.
(b) To alphabetize all words.
(c) To provide the pronunciation of all words.
(d) To limit the work to only proper English.

4. How did people save money in sending telegraph messages?
(a) By creating their own code.
(b) By not using it.
(c) By bribing the operators.
(d) By compressing the message.

5. Who was the sixth editor of the Oxford English Dictionary?
(a) Thomas Edison.
(b) John Simpson.
(c) Mark Twain.
(d) Lord Byron.

Short Answer Questions

1. An alphabetical list did not take what element of the word into account at all, but mechanically placed it in a slot based on the order of the letters?

2. Why were there so many message errors with the early telegraph?

3. Why did Lovelace publish her mathematical arguments anonymously?

4. What culture was the first to use a written language?

5. What type of lists did Babbage create about livestock, fabric, letter combinations in various languages and other facts?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 252 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample