Page 1
1. Learning to speak effectively can enhance your career as a student and help you advance
your professional goals.
A) True
B) False
2. Oral and written communication skills are two of the three job skills employers seek most
in college graduates.
A) True
B) False
3. Preparing speeches calls upon one’s ability to reason and think critically.
A) True
B) False
4. The Internet is today’s global public forum or agora.
A) True
B) False
5. The practice of rhetoric, or oratory, emerged full force in Greece in the fifth century
B.C.E. A) True
B) False
6. The Greeks referred to advocating or legal speech as epideictic oratory.
A) True
B) False
7. According to Aristotle and other classical rhetoricians, memory is one of the five canons
of rhetoric.
A) True
B) False
8. Delivery refers to adapting speech information to the audience in order to make your
case. A) True
B) False
Page 2
9. The five canons of rhetoric are invention, adaptation, arrangement, timing, and delivery.
A) True
B) False
10. The audience’s response to a message is called feedback.
A) True
B) False
11. Unlike dyadic communication, public speaking usually occurs in formal settings.
A) True
B) False
12. What the Greeks called the agora exists today in the form of town halls.
A) True
B) False
13. The process of converting thoughts into words is termed decoding.
A) True
B) False
14. The receiver decodes, or interprets, the message.
A) True
B) False
15. Most modern-day public figures engage primarily in epideictic oratory.
A) True
B) False
16. A message can be expressed both verbally and nonverbally.
A) True
B) False
17. Another term for noise is interference.
A) True
B) False
Page 3
18. In the context of the communication process, noise refers specifically to sounds that
interrupt our ability to hear the sender’s message.
A) True
B) False
19. E-mail is one example of a communication channel.
A) True
B) False
20. Shared meaning is the mutual understanding of a message between speaker and
audience.
A) True
B) False
21. A political rally is one example of a context.
A) True
B) False
22. The circumstance that calls for a public response is known as the rhetorical situation.
A) True
B) False
23. Public speaking involves less opportunity for feedback than dyadic communication.
A) True
B) False
24. Public speaking is similar in many ways to engaging in an important conversation.
A) True
B) False
25. Effective speaking and effective writing both require a sense of who the audience is.
A) True
B) False
26. In general, speakers use more unfamiliar words and complex sentences than do writers.
A) True
B) False
Page 4
27. Cultural intelligence involves becoming more sympathetic to another culture.
A) True
B) False
28. Benefits of public speaking do not include
A) gaining real-life skills.
B) advancing professional goals.
C) improving dyadic communication skills.
D) enhancing your career as a student.
29. The Athenians demonstrated their oratorical talent in a public space called a(n)
A) public forum.
B) deliberative forum.
C) city-state.
D) agora.
30. The Greeks referred to advocating or legal speech as
A) epideictic oratory.
B) deliberative oratory.
C) forensic oratory.
D) stylistic oratory.
31. Which of the following is not one of the five canons of rhetoric?
A) invention
B) delivery
C) improvisation
D) arrangement
32. Invention refers to
A) developing information for your audience in order to make your case.
B) the way the speaker uses language to express the speech’s ideas.
C) practicing the speech until it can be artfully delivered.
D) the organization of your evidence and arguments.
Page 5
33. Dyadic communication occurs in
A) television news broadcasts.
B) speeches.
C) conversations.
D) small groups.
34. In this form of communication, the audience is usually not present with the speaker, and
feedback is delayed.
A) mass communication
B) small group communication
C) public speaking
D) dyadic communication
35. Factors that distinguish public speaking from other forms of communication include
A) opportunities for feedback.
B) level of preparation.
C) degree of formality.
D) All of the options are correct.
36. Which of the following is the most formal type of communication?
A) small group communication
B) dyadic communication
C) public speaking
D) conversation
37. Converting thoughts into words is called
A) encoding.
B) decoding.
C) receiving.
D) channeling.
38. The process of making meaning of a speaker’s words is called
A) encoding.
B) decoding.
C) feedback.
D) context.
Page 6
39. When a speaker tells a joke and an audience member raises her eyebrows, the audience
member is engaging in
A) civic engagement.
B) feedback.
C) conversation.
D) critical thinking.
40. The culture of the speaker and audience members is part of the
A) speaking context.
B) rhetorical situation.
C) canons of rhetoric.
D) public forum.
41. To learn public speaking, you can draw on skills that you already possess from
A) interviewing and arguing.
B) small group communication and conversation.
C) mass communication and composition.
D) conversation and composition.
42. How does spoken language differ from written communication?
A) Speakers use unfamiliar words and complex sentences.
B) Oral language is less interactive than written language.
C) Speakers make more references to themselves and to the audience.
D) Written communication is far more formal than spoken language.
Page 7
Answer Key
1. A
14. A
15. B
16. A
17. A