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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) George Phillip Krapp.
(b) Noah Webster.
(c) Charles Astor Bristed.
(d) W.W. Crane.

2. Which of the following does names, used for a settlement, Mencken not list as bespattering the land?
(a) Lafayette.
(b) Jefferson.
(c) Madison.
(d) Washington.

3. What sort of distinction frequently occurs between an adverb and its primary adjective?
(a) Pronunciation.
(b) Syntactical.
(c) Numerical.
(d) Lexical.

4. What does Mencken say, in colloquial American, has obliterated the verb?
(a) Illiteracy.
(b) The auxiliary.
(c) Over-regulation.
(d) Vulgar speech.

5. What does the movement towards the general vowel neutralization promise to do in the future, according to Mencken?
(a) Reduce the number of vowel sounds, but not the vowels themselves.
(b) Dispose of many vowels.
(c) Create new vowels.
(d) Clarify the pronunciation of vowels.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many works does Mencken claim to have discovered covering the topic of American slang?

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

3. Who does Mencken quote as saying, "There is no part of the world where nomenclature is so rich, poetical, humorous and picturesque as in the United States of America"?

4. In what sort of languages are double negatives "perfectly allowable"?

5. What was the common, popular American slang word used for Germans during the First World War, according to Mencken?

(see the answer keys)

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