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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. To what continent does Mencken attribute the acknowledgment of the differences between American and British English?
(a) Asia.
(b) South America.
(c) Europe.
(d) North America.

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

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

4. According to Benjamin Franklin, what was roughly the population of the colonies in 1751?
(a) 1,000,000
(b) 500,000
(c) 10,000,000
(d) 50,000,000

5. What is the longest list of spelling changes from English to American that Mencken gives in Chapter 8.1?
(a) The change of diphthongs into plain words.
(b) The -or/-our distinction.
(c) Miscellaneous differences.
(d) The omission of a redundant -e.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following did the African slaves NOT introduce to American English?

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

3. What is the name of the professor who advocates the assimilation and alteration of the spelling and accentuation of foreign words?

4. According to Mencken, the name of what game puzzles etymologists?

5. To what phrase did Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, and Robert Southey object as a base Americanism, as discussed in Chapter 2.3?

(see the answer key)

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