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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 11.1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Mencken, what did the first generations born in the New World value as a virtue over enterprise and resourcefulness?
(a) Niceness.
(b) Temperance.
(c) Ingenuity.
(d) Courage.

2. What is the universal substitute for the word "ye" as described in Chapter 6.2?
(a) The.
(b) Thee.
(c) You.
(d) Thou.

3. Which of the following did the African slaves NOT introduce to American English?
(a) Gumbo.
(b) Goober.
(c) Banjo.
(d) Voodoo.

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

5. What letter, when preceding a consonant, greatly irritated Henry James like a "morose grinding of the back teeth?"
(a) R.
(b) G.
(c) T.
(d) E.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What use of storage was added to the American meaning of the word "barn?"

3. What name is the Italian "Giuseppe" transformed into?

4. Which 1914 English dictionary made many important concessions to American spellings?

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

(see the answer key)

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