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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 9.2 | Chapter 9.3.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many pages in "The King's English" are dedicated to explaining the distinction between "will" and "shall"?
(a) 30.
(b) 0.
(c) 15.
(d) 20.

2. Which of the following is one of the three great causes of change in language according to Sayce, as reported in Chapter 9.3?
(a) Laziness.
(b) Cultural encounters.
(c) Lexicography.
(d) Phonetic innovations.

3. Mencken describes the American language as having a "democratic enmity" to all what, in the beginning of Chapter 6.1?
(a) Regulation.
(b) Authority.
(c) Individualism.
(d) Grammatical rules.

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

5. What word did Webster argue should have its vowel sound changed to "ee" instead of "eh"?
(a) Beef.
(b) Deaf.
(c) Beer.
(d) Heft.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the longest list of spelling changes from English to American that Mencken gives in Chapter 8.1?

2. In what century did Americans begin to rebel against the capitalization trends dominant in England?

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

4. Which of the following does Wilcox not list as a negative treatment of the English language by grammarians?

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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