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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Which of the following was not used as a substitute for the once indecent term, for highly refined ears, "bull"?
(a) Cow-creature.
(b) Male-cow.
(c) Standing-cow.
(d) Gentleman-cow.

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

4. According to Mencken at the beginning of Chapter 1.3, what do the novelists and newspapermen on either side of the Atlantic ocean delight in?
(a) Localisms.
(b) Intercommunication.
(c) Publishing.
(d) Travel.

5. The prudish reluctance to name what sort of diseases hindered proper preventative information?
(a) Venereal.
(b) Gastro-intestinal.
(c) Psychological.
(d) Cancerous.

Short Answer Questions

1. What vowel sound was dominant in 18th century New England pronunciation, despite common protests to the contrary?

2. What is the American substitute for the English word "tin"?

3. What sound did Webster object to inserting in words such as "gradual" and "nature," before the "u"?

4. To what country does the English correspondent in Chapter 4.5 ascribe many American expletives?

5. What country's works dominated the reading habits of the American colonists in the latter 18th century?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the predominant attitude of philologists towards the study of American slang, at the time of Mencken's writing?

2. In what does Mencken evidently delight concerning the speech of American, in Chapter 1.5?

3. In general, how did Noah Webster influence American pronunciation?

4. What is the character of the argument presented by the Society for Pure English in the quoted caveat?

5. What is Mencken's evident attitude towards the vulgar American pronunciation of foreign loan-words?

6. How does the severity and conventional loyalty of grammarians influence those they attempt to educate?

7. What principally causes the difficulty of the English people understanding the American speech as explained in Chapter 1.3?

8. What is revealed by the attitudes of the English conservatives in Australia towards American spelling?

9. What is the difference between "rock" in English and in American, as explained in Chapter 2.4?

10. What characterizes the differences between American and English usage of lower-class idioms?

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