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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. What was the first word of Minor's to be pasted onto a page for the printers?
(a) Art.
(b) Ace.
(c) Articulate.
(d) Aptitude.

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

3. Who created the fictitious meeting of Murray and Minor?
(a) Murray.
(b) The son of Murray.
(c) A journalist.
(d) Minor.

4. According to the author, in what year did Minor complete his first word list?
(a) 1882.
(b) 1889.
(c) 1883.
(d) 1887.

5. What did the act of sending the rules to Minor symbolize to him?
(a) Friendliness.
(b) Childhood memories.
(c) Courtship.
(d) Forgiveness.

Short Answer Questions

1. For each book, what did Minor write?

2. According to the author, the subgroups in the Oxford English Dictionary had to be ______ organized.

3. Apart from Minor, who struggled to follow the directions they were given?

4. Describe Minor's routine for writing his first book.

5. According to Minor, every word would possibly be a ______ now that he was beginning his work on the dictionary.

Short Essay Questions

1. It is suggested that Murray's letter to Minor was a token of forgiveness. Why?

2. What is controversial about the story of the meeting of Minor and Murray?

3. What was one of the greatest mistakes Murray made upon arriving at Broadmoor and speaking to the superintendent?

4. 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?

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

6. How did it become clear that Murray had very little idea of what psychological state Minor experienced?

7. Why could Minor more easily understand Murray's directions in comparison to others?

8. What does Murray's Scriptorium represent to present day scholars of the English language?

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

10. Describe how Minor may have felt when he entered the property at the Broadmoor Asylum.

(see the answer keys)

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