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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does Mencken state are the true makers of grammar in Chapter 9.1?
(a) The authors of fiction.
(b) The masses.
(c) The learned.
(d) The grammarians.

2. Who published a work in 1768 entitled "Scheme for a New Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling, with Remarks and Examples Concerning the Same, and an Enquiry into its Uses"?
(a) Noah Webster.
(b) Thomas Jefferson.
(c) Benjamin Franklin.
(d) Samuel Johnson.

3. To how many in number does the comparative adjective relate?
(a) Two.
(b) Four or less.
(c) Five or more.
(d) Three or more.

4. Which still-popular German given name survives today, with a slight change in spelling, as Mencken reports in Chapter 10.2?
(a) Wilhelm.
(b) Hans.
(c) Franz.
(d) Karl.

5. In what year did the National Education Association withdraw from the campaign for simplified spelling?
(a) 1914.
(b) 1907.
(c) 1921.
(d) 1899.

6. In what century did England replace the "i-sound" with the "oi-sound" in words such as "boy"?
(a) The seventeenth.
(b) The eighteenth.
(c) The sixteenth.
(d) The nineteenth.

7. According to Mencken, which of the following does "one American professor of English" predict will become a spelling form of the future?
(a) Cigar.
(b) Tyre.
(c) Socks.
(d) Fotograf.

8. Who is the author of "A Doll's House," who puts bad grammar into Nora Helmar's mouth?
(a) Ibsen.
(b) Chesterton.
(c) Mencken.
(d) Shaw.

9. What spelling change is made from English to American in words such as "connection"?
(a) Conection to connection.
(b) Conexion to connection.
(c) Connexion to connection.
(d) Connectin to connection.

10. In what year did Noah Webster die?
(a) 1912.
(b) 1799.
(c) 1898.
(d) 1843.

11. What is the English equivalent of the American Main Street?
(a) King's Street.
(b) High Street.
(c) Broad Street.
(d) Prime Street.

12. What name is the Italian "Giuseppe" transformed into?
(a) Joseph.
(b) Gregory.
(c) George.
(d) Jonathon.

13. What purpose does the double negative primarily serve?
(a) Confusion.
(b) Reinforcement.
(c) Syntactical compactness.
(d) Rhetorical circuitry.

14. Which adjectival prefix does Mencken state is confined to the more sophisticated classes?
(a) Ultra-.
(b) Super-.
(c) Pen-.
(d) Ante-.

15. In what sort of languages are double negatives "perfectly allowable"?
(a) Asiatic.
(b) Semitic.
(c) Romance.
(d) Teutonic.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what location does Mencken say both the American and English orthographies flourish side by side?

2. Over how many post offices does Mencken state bear the adjective "New"?

3. Which phrase did Oliver Wendell Holmes use to describe the state of the person who makes use of slang?

4. As what part of speech does vulgar American consider the word "self" within the spirit of the language?

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

(see the answer keys)

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