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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many men authored A Dictionary of the English Language?
(a) Fourteen men.
(b) Nine men.
(c) Six men.
(d) Five men.

2. What was the name of Eastman Minor's second wife?
(a) Jenny.
(b) Judith.
(c) Elizabeth.
(d) Scarlett.

3. At what time where the three shots fired in the opening of the book?
(a) Midnight.
(b) 5 a.m.
(c) 2 a.m.
(d) 1 a.m.

4. What word is defined in the opening of the book?
(a) Word.
(b) Kill.
(c) Love.
(d) Murder.

5. Merrett's killer was from ______________.
(a) Portland, Maine.
(b) New Haven, Connecticut.
(c) Seattle, Washington.
(d) New York, New York.

6. How old was the man who killed Merrett?
(a) Thirty-one.
(b) Thirty-seven.
(c) Forty-two.
(d) Thirty-eight.

7. How many years from Trench's speech about a new dictionary did the project actually get off the ground?
(a) Eighteen years.
(b) Twenty-two years.
(c) Sixteen years.
(d) Twelve years.

8. When was Murray born?
(a) April, 1823.
(b) December, 1842.
(c) February, 1837.
(d) January, 1832.

9. What did Judith do professionally?
(a) She was a house wife.
(b) She was a cook for the Ceylon military.
(c) She was a schoolteacher.
(d) She was a missionary.

10. How did the author describe the attitude of the killer caught for Merrett's death upon the killer's capture?
(a) Excited and happy.
(b) Embarrassed and sad.
(c) Cool and collected.
(d) Bored and uninterested.

11. On what holiday did Dr. Minor arrive in London in the opening of Chapter 4, Gathering Earth's Daughters?
(a) Easter.
(b) Christmas.
(c) Fourth of July.
(d) Guy Fawkes Day.

12. Who heard the three shots fired in the beginning of the book?
(a) William Ward.
(b) Henry Burton.
(c) Henry Tarrant.
(d) Eliza Ward.

13. How did the author describe the man who chased George Merrett on the night of his death?
(a) He wore a black jacket and was carrying a gun,
(b) He wore a black mask and was carrying a gun.
(c) He wore a black mask and was carrying a blade.
(d) He wore a black cloak and was carrying a blade.

14. How did people contact the Philological Society in order to submit new words to the new dictionary?
(a) By letter.
(b) By telephone.
(c) In person at the library.
(d) By telegraph.

15. What was the name of Murray's first wife?
(a) Eliza Valant.
(b) Maggie Scott.
(c) Julia Filmoore.
(d) Lucy Javier.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the audience react to the fact that hundreds of amateurs would be needed to take on such a project for a new dictionary?

2. How many supplements of the Oxford English Dictionary came out after the original?

3. How have many described the language of the Oxford English Dictionary?

4. What central figure in the story happened across Murray's appeal to the English people in regards to the Oxford English Dictionary?

5. In what century did some Latin-English dictionaries began to appear?

(see the answer keys)

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