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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 English pronounce "been?"
(a) Bein.
(b) Bain.
(c) Bin.
(d) Bean.

2. Who "tries" a legal case in England?
(a) The judge.
(b) The solicitor.
(c) The barrister.
(d) The jury.

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

4. According to Mencken, democratic government is essentially government by whom?
(a) Businessmen.
(b) The working class.
(c) Amateurs.
(d) Politicians.

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

6. According to Mencken, which title is subject to the greatest divergence in usage?
(a) Professor.
(b) General.
(c) The Honorable.
(d) Doctor.

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

8. Which word do Americans use for "angry" that was once an English provincialism considered base?
(a) Furious.
(b) Mad.
(c) Irritated.
(d) Pissed.

9. 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) William Dean Howells.
(c) Mark Twain.
(d) Samuel Elridge.

10. What use of storage was added to the American meaning of the word "barn?"
(a) Crops.
(b) Cattle.
(c) Horses.
(d) Chickens.

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

12. Which Founding Father is said to have sought to establish a new American alphabet?
(a) Thomas Jefferson.
(b) Benjamin Franklin.
(c) John Hancock.
(d) George Washington.

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

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

15. What word in common honorifics did Edwin S. Gould protest against omitting in 1867?
(a) Right.
(b) Very.
(c) Most.
(d) The.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the principal reason Mencken states that the English language has not greatly diverged since the foundation of the United States of America?

2. What word did Webster argue should have its vowel sound changed to "ee" instead of "eh"?

3. 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?

4. According to Mencken, what did the first generations born in the New World value as a virtue over enterprise and resourcefulness?

5. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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