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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. When was the publishing of the first installment of the Oxford English Dictionary?
(a) May 8th, 1883.
(b) January 29th, 1884.
(c) February 6th, 1882.
(d) December 12th, 1887.

2. How did the author describe Murray's work in Chapter 8, Annulated, Art, Brick-Tea, Buckwheat?
(a) Easier than the years before.
(b) Painstaking.
(c) Difficult.
(d) Relatively easy compared to Minor's.

3. According to the author, what sort of life did Minor live at Broadmoor?
(a) One of strangeness and many shocks.
(b) One of inconsistency, but with good food.
(c) One of luxury.
(d) One of perfect leisure and security.

4. What did Minor have shelves made for at Broadmoor?
(a) His books.
(b) His painting tools.
(c) His drawing tools.
(d) His wooden boat models.

5. Apart from Minor, who struggled to follow the directions they were given?
(a) Immigrants.
(b) Murray.
(c) Editors.
(d) Readers.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Huxley involved in professionally?

2. The author compared Murray's way of organizing his work on the Oxford English Dictionary to ______________.

3. Murray wanted as many ______ as he could get for the words to capture subtle variations in them.

4. Who created the fictitious meeting of Murray and Minor?

5. What word did Huxley coin?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 6, what do the author's previously established characteristics of Minor suggest about how he may have gotten along with the parole patients in Block 2?

2. What does the author give as the chief purpose behind Minor's self-mutilation? Was it achieved?

3. What effect did Murray and his workers' reliance on Minor's letters and help have on Minor?

4. What can one infer from the fact that Minor had many people who wrote letters to Broadmoor, inquiring about his health and well-being?

5. The author only briefly mentions Dr. Hall's absence from the dinner. Why is this significant in relation to his opinion of Minor?

6. How did Minor come to be able to return to the United States at the end of his life? What obstacles did he face along the way?

7. What was miraculous about Mrs. Merrett deciding to see Minor at Broadmoor?

8. Was it good that Minor began to view the asylum as his home?

9. Why do you think Murray so grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take to finish the Oxford English Dictionary after the first publication of the first book?

10. Do you think it is the author's opinion that electroshock therapy affected Minor?

(see the answer keys)

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