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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. Mencken claims that Noah Webster contains less of the scientific inquirer and more of what?
(a) The father.
(b) The philological traditionalist.
(c) The teacher.
(d) The erudite fool.

2. According to Chapter 2.6, what regional pronunciation is erroneously thought by some to have superior authority regarding English pronunciation?
(a) South-eastern.
(b) New York.
(c) Chicago.
(d) Boston.

3. What "great humorist" does Mencken cite in Chapter 1.3 as "celebrating 'the vigorous new vernacular of the occidental plains and mountains'"?
(a) William Dean Howells.
(b) Mark Twain.
(c) Samuel Elridge.
(d) John Fiske.

4. Which Founding Father coined the term "to belittle"?
(a) Alexander Hamilton.
(b) Benjamin Franklin.
(c) Thomas Jefferson.
(d) James Madison.

5. The prudish reluctance to name what sort of diseases hindered proper preventative information?
(a) Gastro-intestinal.
(b) Psychological.
(c) Venereal.
(d) Cancerous.

Short Answer Questions

1. What vowel sound was dominant in 18th century New England pronunciation, despite common protests to the contrary?

2. What class of Americans is most influenced by Briticisms, according to Mencken in Chapter 5.2?

3. What word did the editor of the Westminster Gazette substitute for the incomprehensible dash in the mangled Americanism of Rupert Brooke?

4. What does Mencken say newspaper reporters no longer "slobber" over?

5. Which of the following groups of immigrants does Mencken claim have a profound effect on not only the American vocabulary, but also its pronunciation and idiom?

(see the answer key)

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