5. Keyboard

1.

ampersand

12.

apostrophe

2.

asterisk

13.

colon

3.

at

14.

comma

4.

dash

15.

curly brackets / parentheses

5.

exclamation mark

16.

full stop / period / point / dot

6.

hyphen

17.

semicolon

7.

number

18.

single / double quotation marks / inverted commas

8.

per cent

19.

square brackets / parentheses

9.

round brackets / parentheses

20.

back slash

10.

tilde

21.

forward slash

11.

angled brackets / parentheses



Your partner asks your opinion of a meal he / she has prepared for you. What do you say?

a.

Say it is delicious and praise his / her efforts.

b.

Tell the truth at all costs.

c.

Say it would probably have been cheaper to eat out.



If you have been watching a TV play or documentary together, what happens afterwards?

a.

You both voice your opinions even if you don't agree.

b.

You try to avoid a discussion since you already know his / her viewpoint.

c.

You seldom enjoy watching the same type of programme.



Your partner has a habit, such as smoking, which you hate.

a.

Tell him / her how happy it would make you if he / she could give it up.

b.

Threaten him / her with dire consequences if he / she continues.

c.

Flush his / her cigarettes down the toilet.



What are most of your disagreements about?

a.

Small matters easily resolved.

b.

Money.

c.

Basic misunderstandings.



Navigating new territory, your partner, who is driving, takes a wrong turn. What do you do?

a.

Get out the map and trace a new route.

b.

Pretend not to notice you are going the wrong way.

c.

Sit back smugly, and tell him / her what a fool he / she is.



On your birthday, your lover buys you something you don't like. What do you say?

a.

Thank him / her for the gift and comment on his / her general kindness.

b.

Tell him / her honestly the damaging truth.

c.

Say it's about time he / she knew what you wanted.

Score:

2 points for every (a), one point for (b), and no points for (c).

10-12:

Excellent. You appear to have a very warm and effective level of communication with your partner and the betting is that your relationship is a very happy and comfortable one.

7-9:

Reasonable. Yours is a fairly typical relationship; for the most part you understand and empathize with each other, but there are occasional lapses (probably in both sides) and these lead to slight misunderstandings.

4-6:

Less than satisfactory. You are not giving as much time to communicating effectively as you should. You should consider ways of improving it!

0-3:

Disastrous. Oh dear! It appears that your ability to communicate is not all it might be. Time to take action!