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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. What word did the editor of the Westminster Gazette substitute for the incomprehensible dash in the mangled Americanism of Rupert Brooke?
(a) Boots.
(b) Bottom.
(c) Jugs.
(d) Brains.

2. What notable author was the first Englishman to carry Americanisms successfully back to his home?
(a) Cleveland Coxe.
(b) Joseph Conrad.
(c) G.K. Chesterton.
(d) Charles Dickens.

3. What country's works dominated the reading habits of the American colonists in the latter 18th century?
(a) France.
(b) Denmark.
(c) England.
(d) Germany.

4. What word in common honorifics did Edwin S. Gould protest against omitting in 1867?
(a) The.
(b) Very.
(c) Right.
(d) Most.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which defender of Americanisms cited by Mencken in Chapter 1.3 states that "Language is made by the people"?

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

3. What is the English meaning of the phrase "to carry on"?

4. Which is the second factor that Mencken identifies as an impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?

5. According to Mencken, which title is subject to the greatest divergence in usage?

(see the answer key)

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