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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3.5 | Chapter 4.1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What "Anglomaniac affectation" did Noah Webster sneer at in 1789?
(a) The broad "a."
(b) The recalcitrance to neologisms.
(c) The literature of Fowler.
(d) Clinging to the silent "u" as in "honour."

2. According to Mencken, what did the first generations born in the New World value as a virtue over enterprise and resourcefulness?
(a) Niceness.
(b) Ingenuity.
(c) Temperance.
(d) Courage.

3. What use of storage was added to the American meaning of the word "barn?"
(a) Cattle.
(b) Crops.
(c) Chickens.
(d) Horses.

4. 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?
(a) Publishing.
(b) Travel.
(c) Localisms.
(d) Intercommunication.

5. Where was the broad "a" principally established prior to the Civil War?
(a) California.
(b) New England.
(c) The Midwest.
(d) The Southeast.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the report of Beverley, what did a group of soldiers turn into after eating some Jimson Weed?

2. What word in American is used for the English word "shoe?"

3. To what continent does Mencken attribute the acknowledgment of the differences between American and British English?

4. Which of the following did the African slaves NOT introduce to American English?

5. Which European language has exerted the most influence on the American language?

(see the answer key)

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