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

2. Which defender of Americanisms cited by Mencken in Chapter 1.3 states that "Language is made by the people"?
(a) Edgar Jepson.
(b) William Archer.
(c) George Ade.
(d) Richard Aldington.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What country's works dominated the reading habits of the American colonists in the latter 18th century?

3. What event does Mencken credit with strengthening the obfuscation of distinction between American and British English?

4. Which Founding Father is said to have sought to establish a new American alphabet?

5. Mencken claims that Noah Webster contains less of the scientific inquirer and more of what?

(see the answer key)

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