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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) Shipping.
(c) Post.
(d) Letters.

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

3. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?
(a) Latin.
(b) Greek.
(c) American.
(d) Russian.

4. 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 e.
(d) Flat a.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the principal reason Mencken states that the English language has not greatly diverged since the foundation of the United States of America?

2. To what continent does Mencken attribute the acknowledgment of the differences between American and British English?

3. Who is the author of "Travels in North America," published in 1827?

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

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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