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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 2.3 | Chapter 2.4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word does Mencken find Dr. John Dewey using in place of the word "opium?"
(a) Poppy.
(b) Dope.
(c) Crack.
(d) Skag.

2. Mencken claims that Noah Webster contains less of the scientific inquirer and more of what?
(a) The philological traditionalist.
(b) The father.
(c) The teacher.
(d) The erudite fool.

3. To what phrase did Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, and Robert Southey object as a base Americanism, as discussed in Chapter 2.3?
(a) To indulge.
(b) To process.
(c) To advocate.
(d) Free endorsement.

4. To what continent does Mencken attribute the acknowledgment of the differences between American and British English?
(a) Europe.
(b) South America.
(c) North America.
(d) Asia.

5. Which Founding Father is said to have sought to establish a new American alphabet?
(a) John Hancock.
(b) George Washington.
(c) Benjamin Franklin.
(d) Thomas Jefferson.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the tale spread by William Gifford, what language was supposed to be substituted for English during the Revolutionary War?

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

3. Which defender of Americanisms cited by Mencken in Chapter 1.3 states that "Language is made by the people"?

4. From what language does the English word "moose" come?

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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