MS Word Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: mail merge

Mail merge combines a standard document with a list of names and addresses to produce one personalised copy for each record. The standard document supplies the wording and the data source the variable parts.

Answer: C

Correct answer: reduces the font size slightly so the document fits on fewer pages

Shrink to Fit reduces the font size and line spacing by a small amount so that a document spilling a little onto an extra page fits on one fewer. Its typical use is a two-page letter whose last page carries only two or three lines. It changes the document itself rather than only the printed output, so the effect is undoable with Ctrl + Z but is not a print-only setting. It works only where the overflow is small. Word will report that it cannot shrink the document if the reduction needed would be too great. The command is not on the ribbon by default and must be added to the Quick Access Toolbar from the list of commands not in the ribbon. The alternatives are to adjust margins, reduce line spacing, or use the Scale to paper size option in the print settings - which, unlike Shrink to Fit, alters only the printed copy and leaves the document untouched.

Answer: D

Correct answer: type a biography

A word processor is for composing and formatting continuous text. Accounts and inventories call for a spreadsheet or a database, and searching a media centre for a catalogue system.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Margin that is added to the binding side of page when printing

The gutter is the extra space allowed for the binding, so that text is not swallowed in the fold. On single-sided printing it is added on the left; with mirror margins it alternates between left and right, which is why it is defined by the binding rather than by a side.

Answer: B

Correct answer: .docx

The default extension is .docx, introduced with Word 2007. The x marks it as XML-based: the file is in fact a compressed archive containing XML parts describing the text, formatting and embedded objects. That structure has real advantages over the older binary .doc. Files are smaller because the archive is compressed, damaged files are more often recoverable because the parts are separate, and the format is an open standard rather than a proprietary one. Related extensions follow the same pattern: .dotx for a template, .docm for a macro-enabled document, and .dotm for a macro-enabled template. The separation of macro-enabled formats is a security measure - a plain .docx cannot carry macros at all. .txt is plain text with no formatting, and .rtf is Rich Text Format, an older interchange format readable by almost any word processor.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Starts the spelling and grammar check

F7 starts the spelling and grammar check, working through the document from the cursor onwards and offering suggestions for each error found. Its companion is Shift + F7, which opens the Thesaurus for the selected word - the two are worth learning together. The other function keys have their own uses in Word: F1 opens help, F4 repeats the last action, F5 opens Go To, F12 opens Save As, and Shift + F5 returns to the last place edited, which works even after reopening the file. The spelling check is language-aware, so text marked as being in a different language is checked against that language’s dictionary - and text marked Do not check spelling or grammar is skipped entirely, which explains errors the checker appears to ignore. Words can be added to a custom dictionary so that names and technical terms stop being flagged.

Answer: B

Correct answer: formatting marks such as spaces, tabs and paragraph marks

Ctrl + Shift + 8 toggles the display of formatting marks - the non-printing characters that show where spaces, tabs, paragraph marks, line breaks, page breaks and section breaks fall. The same toggle is the ¶ button on the Home tab. It is the most useful diagnostic tool in Word. Layout problems that look mysterious usually become obvious once the marks are visible: extra spaces used instead of a tab, blank paragraphs used instead of a page break, a line break where a paragraph mark was intended, or a section break causing headers to change. The marks are worth recognising individually. A dot is a space, an arrow a tab, ¶ a paragraph mark, a bent arrow a line break, and a dotted line labelled Page Break or Section Break the corresponding break. They never print, whatever the setting, so the display can be left on while working.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Ctrl + Enter

Ctrl + Enter inserts a page break, forcing the text that follows onto a new page. It is worth distinguishing from the other break shortcuts. Shift + Enter inserts a line break, which starts a new line within the same paragraph - so paragraph spacing and list numbering are not applied. Ctrl + Shift + Enter inserts a column break in a multi-column layout. Using a page break rather than repeated Enter presses is the important habit: pressing Enter until the text moves over produces blank paragraphs that shift as soon as anything above is edited, whereas a page break holds. Section breaks, inserted from the Layout tab rather than by shortcut, are different again: they allow page orientation, margins, columns and headers to change part way through a document. All of these become visible when formatting marks are shown with Ctrl + Shift + 8.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Moves the cursor beginning of the line

Home goes to the start of the current line; Ctrl + Home goes to the start of the document. That pairing - the key alone for the line, with Ctrl for the whole document - also holds for End.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Moves the cursor one word right

Adding Ctrl to a left or right arrow changes the unit of movement from one character to one word, so Ctrl + Right jumps to the start of the next word.