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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 does Mencken list as dominant the English alternative for the word "mail"?
(a) Postals.
(b) Letters.
(c) Post.
(d) Shipping.

2. From what language does the English word "moose" come?
(a) Cherokee.
(b) Algonquin.
(c) Italian.
(d) English.

3. How many dialects dominate American English, according to Chapter 1.5?
(a) Ten.
(b) Four.
(c) Two.
(d) None.

4. What use of storage was added to the American meaning of the word "barn?"
(a) Horses.
(b) Cattle.
(c) Crops.
(d) Chickens.

5. To what country does the English correspondent in Chapter 4.5 ascribe many American expletives?
(a) Ireland.
(b) France.
(c) Germany.
(d) Sweden.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which London newspaper lamented the "menace" that American movies offer to the purity of the English language?

2. According to the report of Beverley, what did a group of soldiers turn into after eating some Jimson Weed?

3. Who proposed a generally accepted nomenclature for currency in 1785?

4. What does John S. Farmer describe the Western vernacular as being?

5. What sound did Webster object to inserting in words such as "gradual" and "nature," before the "u"?

(see the answer key)

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