Quiz created: 160925

Vocabulary Quiz 48

Instructions: Answer the multiple choice questions, guessing if necessary; then click on the "Process Questions" button at the end of the quiz to see your score in the adjacent message box. The program will not reveal which questions you got wrong, only how many points you have. Go back and change your answers until you get them all right. (The message box will rejoice at that point and the page will change color to show it is tickled pink.)

Points to note: (1) Questions with only one possible answer are one point each. (2) Questions with one or more possible answers (represented by check boxes) give a point for each correct answer, but also subtract a point for each wrong answer! (3) The program will not attempt to score your efforts at all if you have not tried at least half of the questions. (4) This quiz is for your own use only. No record of your progress is kept or reported to anyone.

1. “‘[Republican 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump is] an ignorant, amoral, dishonest and manipulative, misogynistic, philandering, hyper-LITIGIOUS, isolationist, protectionist, blow-hard,’ [major Republican contributor Michael] Vlock said.” (160522, San Diego Union-Tribune, p. A-17) Someone who is “litigious”
distorts the truth 
has a volatile temper 
is easily insulted and thin-skinned 
initiates frequent lawsuits 
is haughty and condescending 
makes money through shady schemes 
No Answer
2. “Bathrooms have ascended to prominence less because of their importance to the trans[-gender] lobby than because of their value to its opponents. For them the PUTATIVE infiltration of bathrooms by perverts and predators … is a nicely combustible emblem for wider social upheavals. The restroom door is their way into a broader fight that, especially after the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage, they had seemed fated to lose.” (160521, The Economist, p. 27) Something “putative,” usually disagreeable,
stinks 
is widely seen as probable 
is asserted without evidence 
is increasing in frequency or severity 
is not to be discussed in polite company 
No Answer
3. “Bathrooms have ascended to prominence less because of their importance to the trans[-gender] lobby than because of their value to its opponents. For them the putative infiltration of bathrooms by perverts and predators … is a nicely COMBUSTIBLE emblem for wider social upheavals. The restroom door is their way into a broader fight that, especially after the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage, they had seemed fated to lose.” (160521, The Economist, p. 27) Although the word is used metaphorically here, usually when something is “combustible,” it
easily catches fire 
is broken in a way that provokes emotional responses 
is very visible, like a huge billboard 
is subtle but emotionally compelling 
is fragile 
is deteriorating because of neglect 
No Answer
4. “… the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour [is] a fusty arm of the [Communist] party under which all unions are presently herded. Its affiliates and its 8,000 full-time staff transmit the party line and organize morale-raising SHINDIGS. It is common to find union leaders holding down jobs in company personnel departments. But the confederation has become less effective at averting strikes … .” (160521, The Economist, p. 33) The slang word “shindig” refers to
a raucous political rally 
a pay raise or bonus 
a paid holiday 
a certificate or minor title, such as “employee of the month” 
an outing with fellow workers, sometimes called a retreat 
a social event 
No Answer
5. “One of Trump’s earlier JEREMIADS came in February, when he told Fox News that [Federal Judge] Curiel was biased against him because of his controversial immigration comments and proposals.” (160603, San Diego Union Tribune) A “jeremiad” is
a publicity mistake 
a challenge to a duel 
a lie 
a request for pity 
a request for money 
the introduction of a new topic to a discussion 
a bitter lament 
No Answer
6. “Undercover operations, once seen as a last RESORT, are now used in about two of every three prosecutions involving people suspected of supporting the Islamic State, a sharp rise in the span of just two years.” (160608, New York Times) The word “resort” sometimes refers to a kind of holiday hotel. But in expressions like “hierarchy of resort” or “have resort to” or “last resort,” it refers to a person or thing that
one turns to for assistance 
most people would never think of making use of 
is not really appropriate for the task at hand 
has a very low probability of success 
is more costly than anticipated 
No Answer
7. “The new name, ‘tronc,’ short for ‘Tribute Online Content,’ is meant to reflect the company’s new digital-first strategy, but it was widely mocked online as clunky corporate GOBBLEDYGOOK.” (160617, The Week, p. 32) “Gobbledygook” refers to
meaningless phrases 
glue that doesn’t hold every well 
desperate measures 
a good idea that seems bad because of clumsy phrasing 
a public announcement designed to avoid revealing the actual state of things 
No Answer
8. “This BILDUNGSROMAN, set in the New York restaurant scene, takes place in the course of a year during which the protagonist grows from naïve provincial escapee to self-actualized expert in the industry.” (160620, The New Yorker, p. 74) A “bildungsroman” is a work
of non-fiction with especially strong detail about a particular place 
of fiction about the transformation of a main character, usually a young person growing up 
of fiction deliberately written so that the setting is more important than the characters 
of fiction in which, from the beginning, the reader knows that the main character is doomed 
of fiction in which the protagonist, after a literal or figurative journey, ends up deciding to return to the starting point 
No Answer
9. “Hillary Clinton has been in the public eye for decades … . Donald Trump … has been in the glare just as long, but as a bit player in the national PHANTGASMAGORIA.” (160620, The New Yorker, p. 21) “Phantasmagoria” refers to
the public image(s) of a prominent person 
hostile representation by mainstream media 
ghost lore 
ever-changing, dream-like imagery 
vacuous conversation 
No Answer

      Points out of 9:


Awesomeness
Score
Awesomeness Score: The following awesomeness score is a measure of how much guessing you did to get all items right. It is 100 if you got all questions right when you clicked the process button for the first time. It gets proportionately lower if it took more clicks, until it hits 0 if your clicks exceeded the number of questions.



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This consummately cool, pedagogically compelling, self-correcting,
multiple-choice quiz was produced automatically from
a simple text file of questions using D.K. Jordan's
dubiously original, but publicly accessible
Think Again Quiz Maker
of September 6, 2015.