View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. England's power grew, and it felt embarrassed for not studying its language. Why did citizens want a proper dictionary?
(a) Many wanted a dictionary for helping immigrants.
(b) Many wanted to sell them in bookstores.
(c) Many wanted a dictionary for the English language in its entirety.
(d) Schools made more demands on scholars to make a new dictionary.

3. How does the author describe the words in the early English dictionaries in Chapter 4, Gathering Earth's Daughters?
(a) Strange and simple.
(b) Poorly defined and too little.
(c) Simple and odd.
(d) Odd and poorly defined.

4. How did Mr. Trench define the importance of the English language insofar as Christianity?
(a) It should be the least important language to true Christians.
(b) It was important to learn it for Christians.
(c) It functioned solely for Christians' usage only.
(d) It was an essential, imperial device for the worldwide growth of Christianity.

5. How many years later did the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary come out after the original?
(a) Thirty-eight years.
(b) Fifty years.
(c) Forty-five years.
(d) Thirty years.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote A Dictionary of the English Language?

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

3. What was the driving force behind Minor's spiral into "lust, madness, and perdition"?

4. What was the nickname of the Oxford English Dictionary?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. The author says that Minor became unworried by his "lascivious thoughts" while at Yale. What is a possible explanation for this?

2. What might the audience find unique about the killer's professional past?

3. Why does the author suggest Oxford finally conceded to the switch from Furnivall to Murray for the position of editor?

4. How did Minor's branding of a deserting Irish soldier become connected to his excessive guilt about his own perceived "wrongs"?

5. Given the information that the reader gleans from the nature of the Philological Society, as well as people speaking in the London Library, what characteristics of the London Library in Minor's day show it to be different from a public library of this day and age?

6. What effect could it have had on logophiles to learn that Samuel Johnson had imposed limits on the history of the definitions of words in his dictionary?

7. Why does the author suggest that Minor moved from his initial area of residence in London, St James Square, to Lambeth Marsh?

8. Some critics say that Samuel Johnson put too much of his personality into his work on his dictionary. How would it be possible to avoid this type of criticism?

9. What aspects of the Latin-English dictionaries provided impetus for the makers of the Oxford English Dictionary to make their own English dictionary?

10. What can be appreciated about the Oxford English Dictionary being called "The Big Dictionary"?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,158 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample