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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Sayce say that language is composed of in 1879?
(a) Sounds.
(b) Letters.
(c) Words.
(d) Meanings.

2. Which country does Mencken state has a fondness for using surnames as given names?
(a) Canada.
(b) England.
(c) America.
(d) Mexico.

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

4. For which voiceless consonant is the voiced "d" substituting with growing regularity, according to Mearns?
(a) T.
(b) C.
(c) S.
(d) B.

5. In what part of the country did the Irish attain to a "truly impressive political power before the first native-born generation of them had grown up" as Mencken states in Chapter 10.1?
(a) The Midwest.
(b) The Southeast.
(c) The Eastern cities.
(d) The Western cities.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What spelling change is made from English to American in words such as "connection"?

3. Which term do English dictionaries all describe as an Americanism from the comparative list in Chapter 4.1, despite the English version being frequently used in America?

4. Which of the following groups of immigrants does Mencken claim have a profound effect on not only the American vocabulary, but also its pronunciation and idiom?

5. What event does Mencken credit with strengthening the obfuscation of distinction between American and British English?

(see the answer key)

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