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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 8.3 | Chapter 8.4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What English word does the author of "Men and Manners" lament about the American re-signification?
(a) College.
(b) Missionary.
(c) Buttock.
(d) Clever.

2. According to Chapter 8.4, what is the first impulse behind American imitation of English orthography?
(a) Compromise for cheaper printing.
(b) Affectation.
(c) Anti-colonialism.
(d) Convenience.

3. What does Mencken list as dominant the English alternative for the word "mail"?
(a) Shipping.
(b) Postals.
(c) Post.
(d) Letters.

4. What word best describes the English attitude towards the adoption of foreign loan-words, in contrast to the American attitude?
(a) Conservative.
(b) Liberal.
(c) Tolerating.
(d) Accepting.

5. Which of the following groups of foreign immigrants does Mencken not attribute influence over American English in Chapter 6.4?
(a) Russian Jews.
(b) South-Pacific Asian Islanders.
(c) Slavic peoples.
(d) Italians.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the early presidents does Mencken identify as archetypal of the new American?

2. Who "tries" a legal case in England?

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

4. In what location does Mencken say both the American and English orthographies flourish side by side?

5. Which is the first factor that Mencken identifies as an immediate impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?

(see the answer key)

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