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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. The Minor family came to the United States only a decade after what group of people?
(a) King Louis XII's missionaries.
(b) The Pilgrims.
(c) Native Americans.
(d) Spanish Conquistadors.

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

3. What two words does the author use to describe the Lambeth area, particularly in relation to the undrained marsh?
(a) Utterly hopeless.
(b) Sadly hopeless.
(c) Positively vile.
(d) Greatly disgusting.

4. How many years did it take to complete the Oxford English Dictionary?
(a) Seventy.
(b) Sixty.
(c) Twenty.
(d) Forty.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the author describe the man who chased George Merrett on the night of his death?

2. What would the definitive quotes show in the Oxford English Dictionary?

3. The Oxford Dictionary was comprised of _____________volumes.

4. What was the idea behind the Philological Society?

5. In what year did Dr. Minor arrive in London?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. In regards to Trench's speech, what did he view each word as having? What must be charted for each word?

3. What does the title of the book imply to prospective readers?

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

5. What aspects of his upbringing could have contributed to Minor's issues with the tempestuous and tempting country of Ceylon?

6. 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?

7. What seemed uncanny about the killer's cool, calm demeanor?

8. What is significant about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary's beginnings to have begun on Guy Fawkes Day in England?

9. Did the "Battle of the Wilderness" push Minor past his mental capacities to function normally in social settings or public? If so, how does the author make this clear?

10. Why might Minor's father have fallen so easily in love with Judith?

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