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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 11.1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mencken say newspaper reporters no longer "slobber" over?
(a) Interviews.
(b) British idioms.
(c) Ceremonies.
(d) Tragedies.

2. How many classifications of Americanisms does Bartlett postulate in his 1859 dictionary?
(a) Nine.
(b) Three.
(c) Four.
(d) Forty-two.

3. Which 1914 English dictionary made many important concessions to American spellings?
(a) The Concise Oxford Dictionary.
(b) The London Pocket Dictionary.
(c) The Cambridge Fleet Edition.
(d) The New English Dictionary.

4. According to Dr. Louise Pound, what do Latin plurals tend to become in colloquial American?
(a) Adverbs.
(b) Infinitive verbs.
(c) Adjectival modifiers.
(d) Singular nouns.

5. Which nationality does Mencken claim is most eager to Americanize the names of their children?
(a) The Germans.
(b) The Jews.
(c) The Irish.
(d) The Italians.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many works does Mencken claim to have discovered covering the topic of American slang?

2. The prudish reluctance to name what sort of diseases hindered proper preventative information?

3. What was the Anglo-Saxon form of the modern-day word "my," according to Mencken in Chapter 9.4?

4. Who published a work in 1768 entitled "Scheme for a New Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling, with Remarks and Examples Concerning the Same, and an Enquiry into its Uses"?

5. What American writer does Mencken claim likely inspired envy in British writers?

(see the answer key)

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