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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 4.4 | Chapter 4.5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What American writer does Mencken claim likely inspired envy in British writers?
(a) Irving.
(b) Griswold.
(c) Fowler.
(d) Poe.

2. What vowel sound was dominant in 18th century New England pronunciation, despite common protests to the contrary?
(a) Broad a.
(b) Broad o.
(c) Flat a.
(d) Flat e.

3. What English word does the author of "Men and Manners" lament about the American re-signification?
(a) Buttock.
(b) College.
(c) Clever.
(d) Missionary.

4. Which is the second factor that Mencken identifies as an impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?
(a) Lack of a national literature.
(b) Political disharmony.
(c) Regional diversity.
(d) Territorial expansiveness.

5. Whose clarity of prevision does Mencken praise in the opening of Chapter 1.1?
(a) Waldo.
(b) Franklin.
(c) Jefferson.
(d) Madison.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. 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?

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

4. What Anglo-Saxon word does Mencken report the colonists refused to replace with an Old Norse word of similar meaning?

5. What use of storage was added to the American meaning of the word "barn?"

(see the answer key)

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