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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 "Anglomaniac affectation" did Noah Webster sneer at in 1789?
(a) The literature of Fowler.
(b) Clinging to the silent "u" as in "honour."
(c) The recalcitrance to neologisms.
(d) The broad "a."

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

3. According to Mencken, what did the first generations born in the New World value as a virtue over enterprise and resourcefulness?
(a) Niceness.
(b) Temperance.
(c) Ingenuity.
(d) Courage.

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

5. In what language did the American derivative "coyote" originate?
(a) Aztec.
(b) French.
(c) Spanish.
(d) Mayan.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What word does Mencken find Dr. John Dewey using in place of the word "opium?"

3. What is the American substitute for the English word "tin"?

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

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

(see the answer key)

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