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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What English word does the author of "Men and Manners" lament about the American re-signification?
(a) Clever.
(b) Buttock.
(c) College.
(d) Missionary.

3. According to the tale spread by William Gifford, what language was supposed to be substituted for English during the Revolutionary War?
(a) Latin.
(b) Spanish.
(c) Hebrew.
(d) French.

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

5. According to Benjamin Franklin, what was roughly the population of the colonies in 1751?
(a) 50,000,000
(b) 500,000
(c) 1,000,000
(d) 10,000,000

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

7. To what continent does Mencken attribute the acknowledgment of the differences between American and British English?
(a) Asia.
(b) North America.
(c) Europe.
(d) South America.

8. What is the principal reason Mencken states that the English language has not greatly diverged since the foundation of the United States of America?
(a) Transatlantic travel.
(b) Transatlantic communication.
(c) American neo-classical tastes.
(d) Solidarity of higher education.

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

10. 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?
(a) Danish.
(b) Scottish.
(c) Italian.
(d) Irish.

11. What country's works dominated the reading habits of the American colonists in the latter 18th century?
(a) Denmark.
(b) France.
(c) England.
(d) Germany.

12. What class of Americans is most influenced by Briticisms, according to Mencken in Chapter 5.2?
(a) The poor.
(b) The vulgar.
(c) The fashionable.
(d) The middle-class.

13. What vowel sound was dominant in 18th century New England pronunciation, despite common protests to the contrary?
(a) Flat e.
(b) Broad a.
(c) Flat a.
(d) Broad o.

14. 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?
(a) Hog-pen.
(b) Railroad.
(c) Rooster.
(d) Freight.

15. What word best describes the English attitude towards the adoption of foreign loan-words, in contrast to the American attitude?
(a) Tolerating.
(b) Liberal.
(c) Accepting.
(d) Conservative.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?

3. What does Sayce say that language is composed of in 1879?

4. To what phrase did Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, and Robert Southey object as a base Americanism, as discussed in Chapter 2.3?

5. Which of the early presidents does Mencken identify as archetypal of the new American?

(see the answer keys)

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