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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Mencken, how do the Americans consider the precise English use of the indefinite pronoun ("one")?
(a) Apathetically.
(b) Respectfully.
(c) Disdainfully.
(d) Ambiguously.

2. What notable author was the first Englishman to carry Americanisms successfully back to his home?
(a) Joseph Conrad.
(b) Cleveland Coxe.
(c) Charles Dickens.
(d) G.K. Chesterton.

3. What Anglo-Saxon word does Mencken report the colonists refused to replace with an Old Norse word of similar meaning?
(a) Hale.
(b) Sick.
(c) Vapid.
(d) Ill.

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

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

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

7. Who is the author of "Dissertations on the English Language"?
(a) Noah Webster.
(b) Thomas Jefferson.
(c) Benjamin Franklin.
(d) H.L. Mencken.

8. What "great humorist" does Mencken cite in Chapter 1.3 as "celebrating 'the vigorous new vernacular of the occidental plains and mountains'"?
(a) John Fiske.
(b) Mark Twain.
(c) William Dean Howells.
(d) Samuel Elridge.

9. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?
(a) Russian.
(b) Latin.
(c) Greek.
(d) American.

10. What does the English "secondary school" correspond to in American?
(a) College.
(b) Elementary school.
(c) Middle school.
(d) High school.

11. Whose clarity of prevision does Mencken praise in the opening of Chapter 1.1?
(a) Madison.
(b) Franklin.
(c) Waldo.
(d) Jefferson.

12. How many classifications of Americanisms does Bartlett postulate in his 1859 dictionary?
(a) Nine.
(b) Three.
(c) Forty-two.
(d) Four.

13. What sound did Webster object to inserting in words such as "gradual" and "nature," before the "u"?
(a) T.
(b) Y.
(c) Ch.
(d) Dh.

14. In terms of politics, an American candidate "runs" for office. What does an English candidate do?
(a) Sits.
(b) Stands.
(c) Sprints.
(d) Jumps.

15. What word did the editor of the Westminster Gazette substitute for the incomprehensible dash in the mangled Americanism of Rupert Brooke?
(a) Brains.
(b) Jugs.
(c) Boots.
(d) Bottom.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How many dialects dominate American English, according to Chapter 1.5?

3. Which Founding Father is said to have sought to establish a new American alphabet?

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

5. Which defender of Americanisms cited by Mencken in Chapter 1.3 states that "Language is made by the people"?

(see the answer keys)

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