单选 / 多选 / multiple choice (2025)

大家好，我想考证一个问题：

Multiple choice 很多字典解释都是「多项选择题」（多选）。但在国内（大陆），学生的「单选」「多选」是两种不同的题型。「单选」是只能选择一项的题目，「多选」是可以选择多个选项的题目。两种题型合称「选择题」。

根据我的经验，在英语国家，multiple choice并非我们概念中的「多选题」，而是「选择题」的统称。之所以说multiple，是因为题目本身提供了几种选择。也因此，后面的choice并没有加s。

我的理解对吗？英语国家实际讲我们所谓的「单选」时，是需要另行说明「only one option is correct」吗？

Interesting post, SuperXW!

So in learning a word in a foreign language, we don't just need to know how to say it in the target language but also what it means exactly in the target language. The meanings of what's supposed to be the same word may, as you've shown, turn out to mean the opposite on close examination.
In this case, some people may say that the words in the two languages mean the same and another may choose to say that they mean the opposite, and thenceforth errupt the endless debates and disputes that we often see on the forums...(Not on our forum, of course! )

SuperXW said:

我的理解对吗？英语国家实际讲我们所谓的「单选」时，是需要另行说明「only one option is correct」吗？

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Based on my university experience in an English-speaking country, when people say multiple choice, it is almost always understood be be 单选. If it is meant to be 多选, the instructions will tell you that one or more answers may be correct, etc.

MèngDié said:

Based on my university experience in an English-speaking country, when people say multiple choice, it is almost always understood be be 单选. If it is meant to be 多选, the instructions will tell you that one or more answers may be correct, etc.

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Amen to that.

Interesting observation!

blacksoy said:

Amen to that.

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I agree. I've actually never come across any English-language tests or exercises in which a multiple choice test was '多选' in the Chinese sense; whereas 多选 is a common phenomenon for mainland Chinese students.

Sidenote: I hear that the Turkish examination system also commonly incorporates 多选题 as part of its equivalent to the 高考.
So it seems that since 多选题 are inherently much trickier, they might be employed more frequently in countries in which standardised testing is used as the ultimate means of evaluating students and deciding university admissions. Just a hypothesis. : )

Moderator's Note: Please let me remind all that we can discuss as much as necessary the words or phrases in the title of the thread, but as soon as we go further than that and away from the linguistic aspect of the words and phrases in question, we run the risk of going off topic. ("Which type of test being more difficult", for example, is not a linguistic question ). So, please pay a little attention to this and continue enjoying the discussion.

SuperXW said:

Thanks all!
So in your experience, if a question does allow more than one answers, beside giving an additional instruction, is that possible for the tester to use "multiple choices" instead of "multiple choice"?

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Hi SuperXW, I don't think the word "choice" in "multiple choice" is intended to reflect how many answers you can give to the question, but just to show that the question involving choosing (out of multiple answers, usually 4). So, I don't think we use "multiple choices" in this context.

SuperXW said:

也因此，后面的choice并没有加s。

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There isn't an 's' behind 'choice' because the word is employed as an adjective. i.e. Multiple-choice questions, also affectionately known as MCQs.

BODYholic said:

There isn't an 's' behind 'choice' because the word is employed as an adjective. i.e. Multiple-choice questions, also affectionately known as MCQs.

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Thanks! I think it's also abbreviated to MC or M/C, if my memory serves.