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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3.1 | Chapter 3.2.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What term did John Witherspoon coin, framing it within the context of vulgarity?
(a) Scientist.
(b) Americanism.
(c) Briticism.
(d) Anglophile.

2. Who is the author of "Dissertations on the English Language"?
(a) H.L. Mencken.
(b) Noah Webster.
(c) Benjamin Franklin.
(d) Thomas Jefferson.

3. Who is the author of "Travels in North America," published in 1827?
(a) Charles Astor Bristed.
(b) Henry Alford.
(c) Basil Hall.
(d) Louis Untermeyer.

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) Localisms.
(b) Travel.
(c) Publishing.
(d) Intercommunication.

5. Which letter of the alphabet do Americans differ in pronunciation from other English-speaking countries?
(a) Z.
(b) W.
(c) X.
(d) J.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Benjamin Franklin, what was roughly the population of the colonies in 1751?

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

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

4. What American writer does Mencken claim likely inspired envy in British writers?

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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