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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 9.8 | Chapter 9.9.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which word do Americans use for "angry" that was once an English provincialism considered base?
(a) Irritated.
(b) Mad.
(c) Furious.
(d) Pissed.

2. What does Sayce say that language is composed of in 1879?
(a) Letters.
(b) Words.
(c) Meanings.
(d) Sounds.

3. 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) Scottish.
(b) Italian.
(c) Irish.
(d) Danish.

4. What difference in pronunciation does Mencken state most sharply distinguishes the two dialects?
(a) The normative "a."
(b) The normative "ch."
(c) The normative "-ary" suffix.
(d) The normative "o."

5. Which double negative word is primarily found in Shakespeare?
(a) Nor.
(b) Not.
(c) Never.
(d) No.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Mencken, how do the English pronounce "been?"

2. How do the English pronounce the first syllable in "lieutenant"?

3. What is the physical basis to which the nasal twang of Americans is ascribed?

4. In what language does Mencken state the double negative was once "quite respectable?"

5. What letter, when preceding a consonant, greatly irritated Henry James like a "morose grinding of the back teeth?"

(see the answer key)

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