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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What "Anglomaniac affectation" did Noah Webster sneer at in 1789?
(a) The recalcitrance to neologisms.
(b) The broad "a."
(c) Clinging to the silent "u" as in "honour."
(d) The literature of Fowler.

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

3. What is the English meaning of the phrase "to carry on"?
(a) To be on the job.
(b) To shoulder one's pack.
(c) To talk endlessly.
(d) To raise hell.

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

5. What is the second characteristic that Mencken attributes to American English in Chapter 1.5?
(a) Translatability to British English.
(b) Resistance to neologisms.
(c) Disregard of rule and precedent.
(d) Disunity of regional dialects.

6. What does Mencken list as dominant the English alternative for the word "mail"?
(a) Letters.
(b) Shipping.
(c) Postals.
(d) Post.

7. Which Founding Father coined the term "to belittle"?
(a) Alexander Hamilton.
(b) James Madison.
(c) Thomas Jefferson.
(d) Benjamin Franklin.

8. 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) Territorial expansiveness.
(c) Regional diversity.
(d) Lack of a national literature.

9. What is the American substitute for the English word "tin"?
(a) Can.
(b) Bucket.
(c) Cup.
(d) Dish.

10. What does Mencken say newspaper reporters no longer "slobber" over?
(a) Interviews.
(b) British idioms.
(c) Ceremonies.
(d) Tragedies.

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

12. What word was "coatee" used as a diminutive for?
(a) Coat.
(b) Shawl.
(c) Beard.
(d) Hat.

13. What is the English word for a collection of colleges?
(a) A Maltin.
(b) A Collegiate.
(c) A Cardinal.
(d) A University.

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

15. 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.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who "tries" a legal case in England?

2. Which is the first factor that Mencken identifies as an immediate impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?

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

4. What does Mencken state is neglected by those who are professional trained to investigate it?

5. Which of the following was not used as a substitute for the once indecent term, for highly refined ears, "bull"?

(see the answer keys)

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