Getting Rid of Anybody Got Any Questions?

I assumed that silence was a signal of understanding. If people aren't saying anything, it's either that they're too scared or don't want to be embarrassed in front of their peers. So I usually get questions from all students and there's usually a range even within the same topics. Some are really basic questions such as can you tell me how long the assessment is? What do we do if we can't remember a quotation?" And others will be particularly specific and technical like "Can you give me a definition of this word"