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This webpage is designed to determine how English words, including some translated words, are understood. Please answer questions based on what the English wordings sound like to you in the context given. Please do NOT answer based on what you believe the meanings should be. Please do not use any other reference materials, including dictionaries, to help you answer any of the surveys or tests.
If a test asks you to respond from your knowledge of "standard English," and you are not sure what standard English is, please read the paragraph at the bottom of this webpage.
Except for fill-in-the-blank surveys, if you complete a survey or test, you will be shown a page with responses so far, including yours. Tests which have one real answer will indicate that answer on the results page. If you bookmark a results page, you can visit it again to see results later in time.
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Click here to read Literary Style -- Part 4, then vote:
latest webpage update: July 4, 2005
Explanation of Standard English:
If a test refers to "standard English," this means any dialect of English which is considered by most English speakers and writers to be good quality, grammatical, natural English. Some dialect of Standard English is spoken by almost all native speakers of English, of different ages, educational levels, and religious backgrounds. There are special dialects (including jargon) of English spoken by people who are familiar with different disciplines and special literature, such as dialects for medical terminology, or legislative term, carpentry, and special religious dialects, including Bible English, used by some people familiar with the Bible. Most speakers of specialized dialects of English are also fluent speakers of some dialect of Standard English, but not all speakers of Standard English are fluent in specialized dialects. If you are asked in a test to respond from a dialect of standard English, please do NOT answer a question based on your knowledge of any specialized English dialect, whether medical, legislative, Biblical, etc. Other tests can be created to test word understandings of speakers of specialized dialects, but it is important, for scientific purposes, to keep special dialect answers out of responses which are designed to test understanding of speakers of standard dialects of English. If we mix different kinds of dialects in responses for tests which ask for responses from the viewpoint of standard English dialects, the scientific validity of our tests will be diminished. So please follow the instructions in questions carefully, if you are asked to respond based only on your knowledge of a standard dialect of English. It is possible for individuals to answer from the viewpoint of different dialects that they speak, although it takes special concentration to do so.
Please note that idioms and other figures of speech can very much be a part of dialects of Standard English. For instance, each of the following sentences are good, standard English:
John was pulling my leg.
You've hit the nail on the head.
It's raining cats and dogs.