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

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

3. Which organization produced a prospectus in 1913 that warned against extreme English conservatism in the spelling of foreign loan-words?
(a) Simplified Spelling Board.
(b) British Literary Association.
(c) National Education Association.
(d) Society for Pure English.

4. Which of the following is not one of the minor differences Mencken lists in Chapter 8.7?
(a) Alarm.
(b) Fruit.
(c) Specialty.
(d) Aluminum.

5. According to Mencken, how do the English pronounce "been?"
(a) Bein.
(b) Bean.
(c) Bain.
(d) Bin.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is apparently the first literary critic to point out the "enormous gap between the literate and unliterate American"?

2. What word does Mencken find Dr. John Dewey using in place of the word "opium?"

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

4. What "great humorist" does Mencken cite in Chapter 1.3 as "celebrating 'the vigorous new vernacular of the occidental plains and mountains'"?

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

(see the answer key)

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