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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. According to the report of Beverley, what did a group of soldiers turn into after eating some Jimson Weed?
(a) Corpses.
(b) Somnambulists.
(c) Fools.
(d) Zombies.

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

3. What does John S. Farmer describe the Western vernacular as being?
(a) Flippant and pointless.
(b) Irreverent and irrelevant.
(c) Dry and prolonged.
(d) Racy and pungent.

4. How many dialects dominate American English, according to Chapter 1.5?
(a) Two.
(b) Ten.
(c) Four.
(d) None.

5. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?
(a) Latin.
(b) Russian.
(c) American.
(d) Greek.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Mencken, what did the first generations born in the New World value as a virtue over enterprise and resourcefulness?

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

3. Whose clarity of prevision does Mencken praise in the opening of Chapter 1.1?

4. How many classifications of Americanisms does Gilbert M. Tucker provide in 1921?

5. How many classifications of Americanisms does Bartlett postulate in his 1859 dictionary?

(see the answer key)

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