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Literary Signs and Symbols 2 Trivia Quiz

If you are curious about all of those little squiggly marks above the numbers on your keyboard...this may be the quiz for you. The 2nd in a series of 3, it will tackle some of the most oft-used symbols in writing...have fun!

A multiple-choice quiz by thejazzkickazz. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
thejazzkickazz

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
84,662

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
1524

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

Last 3 plays: DizWiz (10/10), Reamar42 (5/10), lemonadecrush8 (10/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. In order to signify a short sound for a vowel, a small, curved symbol is placed above that vowel (like a small letter 'u'). But what is that symbol called?
Hint

Blunt

Breve

Laconica

Abruptus

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Often depicted as an upside down small letter 'e' and making the sound 'uh', it can represent all 5 vowels (and y) in phonetic spellings of words. What is this upside-down 'e' called?
Hint

Schwa

Ligature

Ephor

Chevron

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Question 3 of 10

3. If you know your pharmacist, you must know the symbol for a medical 'recipe'. What is this two letter symbol?

Answer: (Just two letters)

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Question 4 of 10

4. Which literary symbol that indicates insertion of a missing word has a name which is homophonous with an orange vegetable and a unit of weight for gems?

Answer: (Looking for the spelling for the symbol, not the vegetable or weight unit...careful!)

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Question 5 of 10

5. What is the 'heavy' name for a descending accent marker that can be found in words like p�re and Amp�re?
Hint

Sedate

Sober

Grave

Somber

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Question 6 of 10

6. One of my favorite diacritic marks is the 'diaeresis', which is identical in appearance to the...?
Hint

Circumflex

Fricative

Retroflex

Umlaut

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Question 7 of 10

7. In some languages such as French, you might see a letter 'C' with a small tail attached to the bottom, like so '�'. What is this symbol called?
Hint

Tilde

Cedilla

Acute

Macron

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Question 8 of 10

8. Did you know that there is a relatively new punctuation mark, combining a question mark and an exclamation point?! Now you do!? But do you know what it's called?!
Hint

Squelb

Questamation point

Interrobang

Exclaquery

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Question 9 of 10

9. Which very commonly used symbol is officially called the 'commercial at'?
Hint

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Which punctuation mark not only doesn't have its own name, having to settle for something resembling 'half' of another, it also consists of two other more common punctuation marks?

Answer: (Either use the symbol or type it out!)

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In order to signify a short sound for a vowel, a small, curved symbol is placed above that vowel (like a small letter 'u'). But what is that symbol called?

Answer: Breve

It may not be surprising to find that the word 'breve' comes from the Latin 'Brevis' for brief. Some of the names of these symbols actually make sense!

2. Often depicted as an upside down small letter 'e' and making the sound 'uh', it can represent all 5 vowels (and y) in phonetic spellings of words. What is this upside-down 'e' called?

Answer: Schwa

The word 'schwa' originally comes to us from Hebrew...but I can't find out what the word meant! Can you think of words that contain schwa sounds for each vowel, including 'y'? I'll give you an example for 'y' to start you out....syringe.

3. If you know your pharmacist, you must know the symbol for a medical 'recipe'. What is this two letter symbol?

Answer: Rx

Rx is a shortened form of the Latin word 'recipere' which means 'take, thou'. Rx has come to simply symbolize pharmacies and pharmacists in general in the modern era.

4. Which literary symbol that indicates insertion of a missing word has a name which is homophonous with an orange vegetable and a unit of weight for gems?

Answer: Caret

Interestingly, the three words: carrot, carat and caret (^), all have different origins. The word carrot is simply derived from the Greek word for carrot, karoton. Carat, a unit of weight for gems, is derived from the Greek 'keration' meaning carob bean and/or a small weight. Last but not least, caret is from the Latin 'carere' which means 'to lack' or 'to be without'. That's all interesting, but what would be really cool is if someone could use all three in a sentence that makes sense!

5. What is the 'heavy' name for a descending accent marker that can be found in words like p�re and Amp�re?

Answer: Grave

I'd like to take this opportunity to insert (via a caret?) a non-sequitur here, namely one of my favorite Dickens' quotes from 'A Christmas Carol'...which includes the word 'grave'. "There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!" Poor Marley! Oops...back to the quiz...

6. One of my favorite diacritic marks is the 'diaeresis', which is identical in appearance to the...?

Answer: Umlaut

What better way to show my appreciation of the umlaut/diaeresis than with this gaudy and self-indulgent display: �, �, �, �, �, �, �, �, �, �. One may attain certain fame and fortune by adding an umlaut to any vowel within their name, just look what it did for the Bront�s! From henceforth, call me Thej�zzkick�zz...

7. In some languages such as French, you might see a letter 'C' with a small tail attached to the bottom, like so '�'. What is this symbol called?

Answer: Cedilla

The cedilla is still used in modern French and Spanish to denote a soft 'c' sound, as in fa�ade. It may also be employed by English writers to denote pretentiousness!

8. Did you know that there is a relatively new punctuation mark, combining a question mark and an exclamation point?! Now you do!? But do you know what it's called?!

Answer: Interrobang

The name is derived from the word 'interrogative' (a question) and 'bang', a slang term for the exclamation point among typesetters.

9. Which very commonly used symbol is officially called the 'commercial at'?

Answer: @

But these days people just refer to it as the 'at' sign, perhaps thanks mostly to e-mail. I personally think a new name is necessary. Any cool suggestions? Incidentally, in Italian the 'at' sign is called 'chiocciolina' which means 'little snail'.

10. Which punctuation mark not only doesn't have its own name, having to settle for something resembling 'half' of another, it also consists of two other more common punctuation marks?

Answer: Semicolon

The poor semicolon (;)...not only does it lack its own unique name (it's only half a colon) it also consists simply of a period and a comma, one over the other! Sorry for the tricky one to end it off...hope you enjoyed the quiz!

Source: Author thejazzkickazz

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
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