Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" Comprehension Quiz

What do OTHER people believe about language?

• That it has declined but cannot be fixed

• That it has declined and can be fixed

• That it's all good, yo!

Orwell believes which of the following

• That language is hopeless

• That if we get rid of bad habits of thought, we can improve language

• That only writers and readers should care about the state of language

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What is the link between thought and language according to Orwell?

• He agrees with Amy Tan: Thoughts can be great but language can be bad

• Foolish thoughts lead to foolish language

• Get outta my head, bro.

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True or False: Orwell believes metaphors have lost their vividness and meaning due to overuse and ignorant use

• False

• True

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True or False: Orwell believes you should always use a big word to show your education

• False

• True

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True or False: Orwell believes that using extra phrases helps to clarify meaning

• False

• True

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True or False: Orwell believes that abstract language is used in politics to gloss over terrible and unjustifiable actions and choices

• True

• False

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Modern English is characterized by the crime of

• text messages

• Bowie High Slang

• too many figures of speech

• failing to choose words for their meaning and failing to choose lively images

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When he says, "the great enemy of clear language is insincerity," he means that

• our expressed language becomes weak and terrible when there is a gap between our intended aims and our expressed aims, hence political deception

• People use long phrases, abstract words, and old metaphors in order to cloud what they are really saying, and politicians do this on purpose

• All of the above

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Orwell concludes the essay with a number of rules, but one of them significantly declares that we should

• Do away with written language

• Speak only in metaphors

• Ban politicians

• break the rules IF the rules would lead us to saying "anything barbarous"

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