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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?

3. What word best describes the English attitude towards the adoption of foreign loan-words, in contrast to the American attitude?

4. What word was "coatee" used as a diminutive for?

5. How is the "portmanteau-word" formed?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. For what reason did the early Americans wish to distinguish their language from that of the English?

3. What two factors are discussed in Chapter 9.5 as contributing to Mencken's distress in the "movement toward the identity in form" and why?

4. Under what situation does language undergo great changes and renew its vitality, according to Mencken in Chapter 9.1?

5. What is the most common incorrect usage of the adjective in vulgar American?

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

7. Describe H.L. Mencken's attitude towards the American tendencies in the formation of new words.

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

9. What is indicated by dominance of American terms derived from German that are related to eating and drinking?

10. Why does Mencken find the double negative an appreciable linguistic deviation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

An important distinction, which Mencken makes in discussing the nature of the American language, is between the proper speech of literate Americans and the common speech of what he calls the proletariat. Write an essay discussing this distinction and its ultimate significance. According to what Mencken has written, is there a genuine distinction between the two? Which of the two does Mencken appear to favor? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each, the proper and the improper, the formal and the informal? What arguments may be made in defense of each?

Essay Topic 2

At the root of the divergence of American from British was the spirit of the Revolution. Write an essay responding to the following questions: What was the nature of the revolutionary spirit? Why did it desire to distinguish itself from England? Why did this desire carry over to language? How was it practical and how impractical? What do these impracticalities reveal about the nature of the spirit? How did this spirit directly influence the American dialect? How did it indirectly influence it? For how long did this spirit continue to influence, directly or indirectly, the American language? What is significant about the relationship between this spirit and the language?

Essay Topic 3

An implicit premise throughout Mencken's work is that of the influence the overall national character and spirit has on the formation of a language. Write an essay discussing and analyzing the possibility and evidence of this connection. What are the national characters of Americans and Englishmen? How is this shown in their languages? What influence do these character traits have on linguistic formulations and habits of the people? What are some specific examples by which this influence can be seen? What is the ultimate significance of this connection?

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