The American Language | Short Question Answer Key

Short Answer Key

Chapter 1.1 | Chapter 1.2

1. Whose clarity of prevision does Mencken praise in the opening of Chapter 1.1?

Jefferson.

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

Noah Webster.

3. What is the principal reason Mencken states that the English language has not greatly diverged since the foundation of the United States of America?

Transatlantic communication.

4. What does Mencken state is neglected by those who are professional trained to investigate it?

The vulgate.

5. Mencken claims that Noah Webster contains less of the scientific inquirer and more of what?

The teacher.

6. What event does Mencken credit with strengthening the obfuscation of distinction between American and British English?

The First World War.

Chapter 1.3 | Chapter 1.4

1. 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?

Localisms.