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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. Which term do English dictionaries all describe as an Americanism from the comparative list in Chapter 4.1, despite the English version being frequently used in America?
(a) Railroad.
(b) Rooster.
(c) Hog-pen.
(d) Freight.

2. What word in American is used for the English word "shoe?"
(a) Boot.
(b) Sandal.
(c) Slipper.
(d) Footing.

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

4. Which is the second factor that Mencken identifies as an impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?
(a) Political disharmony.
(b) Lack of a national literature.
(c) Territorial expansiveness.
(d) Regional diversity.

5. What sound did Webster object to inserting in words such as "gradual" and "nature," before the "u"?
(a) Ch.
(b) Y.
(c) T.
(d) Dh.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what phrase did Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, and Robert Southey object as a base Americanism, as discussed in Chapter 2.3?

2. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?

3. Who proposed a generally accepted nomenclature for currency in 1785?

4. Who is the author of "Travels in North America," published in 1827?

5. Which London newspaper lamented the "menace" that American movies offer to the purity of the English language?

(see the answer key)

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