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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 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) Scottish.
(c) Irish.
(d) Danish.

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

3. According to Mencken, the name of what game puzzles etymologists?
(a) Poker.
(b) Football.
(c) Whist.
(d) Badminton.

4. In what sort of languages are double negatives "perfectly allowable"?
(a) Romance.
(b) Asiatic.
(c) Teutonic.
(d) Semitic.

5. In what language does Mencken state the double negative was once "quite respectable?"
(a) French.
(b) Spanish.
(c) Anglo-Saxon.
(d) Russian.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Mencken characterize the vulgar American habitual use of the double negative?

2. In terms of politics, an American candidate "runs" for office. What does an English candidate do?

3. What is frequently omitted in phrases indicated desire or intent, as indicated in Chapter 9.9?

4. What purpose does the double negative primarily serve?

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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