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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 9.10.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following groups of immigrants does Mencken claim have a profound effect on not only the American vocabulary, but also its pronunciation and idiom?
(a) Italian.
(b) Danish.
(c) Scottish.
(d) Irish.

2. In what location does Mencken say both the American and English orthographies flourish side by side?
(a) Hong Kong.
(b) Australia.
(c) Canada.
(d) New England.

3. Mencken describes the American language as having a "democratic enmity" to all what, in the beginning of Chapter 6.1?
(a) Authority.
(b) Regulation.
(c) Grammatical rules.
(d) Individualism.

4. According to Mencken at the beginning of Chapter 1.3, what do the novelists and newspapermen on either side of the Atlantic ocean delight in?
(a) Localisms.
(b) Intercommunication.
(c) Publishing.
(d) Travel.

5. What event does Mencken credit with strengthening the obfuscation of distinction between American and British English?
(a) The advent of the transatlantic telephone line.
(b) The First World War.
(c) The bombing of London.
(d) The French Revolution.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the English meaning of the Hawaiian word "lanai"?

2. According to Mencken, the English opposition to American spelling transcends the academic and takes on the character of what?

3. Who is the author of "Dissertations on the English Language"?

4. Who is the author of "Travels in North America," published in 1827?

5. What does John S. Farmer describe the Western vernacular as being?

(see the answer key)

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