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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3.5 | Chapter 4.1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Mencken, what did the first generations born in the New World value as a virtue over enterprise and resourcefulness?
(a) Niceness.
(b) Courage.
(c) Temperance.
(d) Ingenuity.

2. What American writer does Mencken claim likely inspired envy in British writers?
(a) Poe.
(b) Irving.
(c) Griswold.
(d) Fowler.

3. Which European language has exerted the most influence on the American language?
(a) Italian.
(b) Spanish.
(c) German.
(d) French.

4. Which London newspaper lamented the "menace" that American movies offer to the purity of the English language?
(a) The <i>Times</i>.
(b) The <i>Daily News</i>.
(c) The <i>Illustrated London News</i>.
(d) The <i>Daily Herald</i>.

5. Which defender of Americanisms cited by Mencken in Chapter 1.3 states that "Language is made by the people"?
(a) Edgar Jepson.
(b) George Ade.
(c) Richard Aldington.
(d) William Archer.

Short Answer Questions

1. What term did John Witherspoon coin, framing it within the context of vulgarity?

2. To what phrase did Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, and Robert Southey object as a base Americanism, as discussed in Chapter 2.3?

3. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?

4. What word did Webster argue should have its vowel sound changed to "ee" instead of "eh"?

5. To what continent does Mencken attribute the acknowledgment of the differences between American and British English?

(see the answer key)

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