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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 6.1 | Chapter 6.2.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. What is the universal substitute for the word "ye" as described in Chapter 6.2?
(a) Thou.
(b) You.
(c) Thee.
(d) The.

4. According to Mencken, the name of what game puzzles etymologists?
(a) Football.
(b) Badminton.
(c) Whist.
(d) Poker.

5. What sound did Webster object to inserting in words such as "gradual" and "nature," before the "u"?
(a) T.
(b) Dh.
(c) Y.
(d) Ch.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. The prudish reluctance to name what sort of diseases hindered proper preventative information?

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

4. Which Founding Father coined the term "to belittle"?

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

(see the answer key)

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