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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following does Mencken not list as a once-slang word turned into one commonly accepted?
(a) Frugal.
(b) Proposition.
(c) Nice.
(d) Awful.

2. Whom does Mencken quote as saying, at the beginning of Chapter 10.4, "Such a locality as 'the <i>corner of Avenue H and Twenty-third street,</I> is about as distinctly American as Algonquin and Iroquois names like <i>Mississippi</i> and <i>Saratoga</i>"?
(a) Noah Webster.
(b) George Phillip Krapp.
(c) W.W. Crane.
(d) Charles Astor Bristed.

3. In what parts of language does Mencken say the "chief grammatical peculiarities" of spoken English are found?
(a) Nouns and participles.
(b) Adverbs and adjectives.
(c) Verbs and pronouns.
(d) Nouns and prepositions.

4. Which of the following is the analogate to which Mencken compares the slang words overused by the ignorant?
(a) Horses.
(b) Marriages.
(c) Coins.
(d) Cushions.

5. What was the original name of Brooklyn?
(a) Breukwohl.
(b) Brook Lynne.
(c) Breuckelen.
(d) Brookeville.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Mencken, the English opposition to American spelling transcends the academic and takes on the character of what?

2. Into what was the French surname "Beauchamp" translated in America?

3. What religious affiliation, commonly held in both countries, has had a larger influence on names in America than in England?

4. What does Mencken say, in colloquial American, has obliterated the verb?

5. Which of the following is not one of the minor differences Mencken lists in Chapter 8.7?

(see the answer keys)

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