FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!

Meet Tom Swifty Trivia Quiz

Do you like puns? So you'll like this peculiar kind of word play called Tom Swifty. Explanation given in the first question.

A multiple-choice quiz by zordy. Estimated time: 3 mins.

Author
zordy

Time
3 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
258,636

Updated
Feb 25 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
58429

Awards
Editor's Choice

Last 3 plays: genoveva (10/10), Guest 98 (8/10), Barbarini (10/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. A Tom Swifty -or Swiftie- is a sentence in which an adverb (but also a verb or a noun) relates both properly and punningly to a sentence of reported speech. An example: "I need a pencil sharpener" said Tom bluntly. Now, if you have enough sense of humor, you'll easily complete the following Tom Swifties choosing the correct adverb.

"This is mutiny!" said Tom...
Hint

emphatically

willingly

bountifully

eagerly

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. "I'd like some Chinese food", said Tom...
Hint

crudely

gravely

wantonly

boldly

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Not only an adverb can produce a Tom Swifty, but also a noun, as in the following example: "I am wearing a ring" said Tom with... Hint

abandon

enthusiasm

regret

pleasure

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. "I play tennis every Saturday" said Tom...
Hint

yearningly

weakly

daily

minutely

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Now let's do it with a verb. Choose the correct one to complete this: "May I sing in church Sunday?" Tom...
Hint

asked

inquired

investigated

wondered

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. "I have a split personality" said Tom...
Hint

talking in the mike

going to the john

being frank

boarding the bus

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. "I love newborn kittens" said Tom
Hint

cryptically

literally

boldly

darkly

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. "I'll read a fairy tale" said Tom ... .
Hint

perraulty

grimly

andersenly

collodily

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. "I've struck oil" said Tom ...
Hint

ruthlessly

reverently

crudely

candidly

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. "I dig it" said Tom ... Hint

presently

spritely

absentmindedly

gravely

(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

Select a User ID:

Choose a Password:

Your Email:

Most Recent Scores

Today : genoveva: 10/10
Dec 24 2024 : Guest 98: 8/10
Dec 24 2024 : Barbarini: 10/10
Dec 20 2024 : winston1: 7/10
Dec 20 2024 : tjs58: 10/10
Dec 15 2024 : frinkzappa: 10/10
Dec 15 2024 : Guest 122: 6/10
Dec 14 2024 : cms4613: 7/10
Dec 13 2024 : Guest 35: 9/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: bountifully

I won't explain the puns out of respect for the player. Instead I report the definition of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1st edition (1966) defines a "Tom Swifty" as:
"a play on words that follows an unvarying pattern and relies for its humor on a punning relationship between the way an adverb describes a speaker and at the same time refers significantly to the import of the speaker's statement."

2. "I'd like some Chinese food", said Tom...

Answer: wantonly

Tom Swifties are an evolution of the Wellerism. This is the definition given in the Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable :

Sam Weller in Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers" (1836-7) was prone to producing punning sentences such as: 'Out with it, as the father said to the child when he swallowed a farden [farthing]'. This type of verbal play, involving a metaphorical and a punningly literal sense, soon gained popularity under the name of wellerism, and a craze for devising such expressions rapidly sprang up on both sides of the Atlantic. A crude example familiar to children is: 'I see, said the blind man, when he couldn't see at all.'

3. Not only an adverb can produce a Tom Swifty, but also a noun, as in the following example: "I am wearing a ring" said Tom with...

Answer: abandon

Here we have a noun with a preposition transformed in another noun
(a band on = abandon)

4. "I play tennis every Saturday" said Tom...

Answer: weakly

Tom Swift is also a fictional character, or better two fictional characters: Tom Swift Sr. and Jr., protagonists in a series of books for young readers from the beginning of XXth Century to this day. But it seems that none of the Swifts, although very witty, made use of the eponymous pun.

5. Now let's do it with a verb. Choose the correct one to complete this: "May I sing in church Sunday?" Tom...

Answer: inquired

And here we have a nice case of homophony.

6. "I have a split personality" said Tom...

Answer: being frank

Only "being frank? actually makes sense. It's a bit like "the importance of being Earnest".

7. "I love newborn kittens" said Tom

Answer: literally

Cryptically would be appropriate in "I love to visit tombs". Boldly instead would make a pun after "I'd like to use another font". Darkly: "Who turned off the lights?"

8. "I'll read a fairy tale" said Tom ... .

Answer: grimly

Grimly being the only real adverb, I made up the others, forgive me, from other authors' names, including Collodi who wrote "Pinocchio" (there's a fairy in it).

9. "I've struck oil" said Tom ...

Answer: crudely

"I am a priest", said Tom reverently. "I've been reading Voltaire" said Tom candidly. "I need a slugger" said Tom ruthlessly.

10. "I dig it" said Tom ...

Answer: gravely

"I am gifted" said Tom presently. "I just had a lobotomy" said Tom absentmindedly. "I don't like 7Up" said Tom in a spritely manner. Hope you like it. Ciao

Source: Author zordy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.