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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 9.10.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the English meaning of the Hawaiian word "lanai"?
(a) Balcony.
(b) Garage.
(c) Porch.
(d) Bathroom.

2. Which is the second factor that Mencken identifies as an impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?
(a) Lack of a national literature.
(b) Regional diversity.
(c) Political disharmony.
(d) Territorial expansiveness.

3. What American writer does Mencken claim likely inspired envy in British writers?
(a) Fowler.
(b) Poe.
(c) Griswold.
(d) Irving.

4. What does John S. Farmer describe the Western vernacular as being?
(a) Dry and prolonged.
(b) Racy and pungent.
(c) Irreverent and irrelevant.
(d) Flippant and pointless.

5. To what country does the English correspondent in Chapter 4.5 ascribe many American expletives?
(a) Germany.
(b) Ireland.
(c) Sweden.
(d) France.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what sort of languages are double negatives "perfectly allowable"?

2. What notable author was the first Englishman to carry Americanisms successfully back to his home?

3. What "Anglomaniac affectation" did Noah Webster sneer at in 1789?

4. Which European language has exerted the most influence on the American language?

5. Which reporter first brings colloquial Americanisms to the written word, according to Mencken in Chapter 9.2?

(see the answer key)

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