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

2. What event does Mencken credit with strengthening the obfuscation of distinction between American and British English?
(a) The French Revolution.
(b) The First World War.
(c) The bombing of London.
(d) The advent of the transatlantic telephone line.

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

4. Which London newspaper lamented the "menace" that American movies offer to the purity of the English language?
(a) The <i>Times</i>.
(b) The <i>Illustrated London News</i>.
(c) The <i>Daily Herald</i>.
(d) The <i>Daily News</i>.

5. What Anglo-Saxon word does Mencken report the colonists refused to replace with an Old Norse word of similar meaning?
(a) Ill.
(b) Hale.
(c) Sick.
(d) Vapid.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Mencken state is neglected by those who are professional trained to investigate it?

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

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

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

5. What term did John Witherspoon coin, framing it within the context of vulgarity?

(see the answer key)

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