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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. Who proposed a generally accepted nomenclature for currency in 1785?

2. According to Mencken, how do the English pronounce "been?"

3. What does John S. Farmer describe the Western vernacular as being?

4. According to the report of Beverley, what did a group of soldiers turn into after eating some Jimson Weed?

5. According to Mencken, how do the Americans consider the precise English use of the indefinite pronoun ("one")?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How is the advance of American spelling characterized in Chapter 8.3?

3. What were some of the reasons that many immigrants changed their names upon arriving in America?

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

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

6. What chief cause does Mencken ascribes the backwardness of American war slang to?

7. How does a word move from legitimate vocabulary to slang vocabulary, according to Mencken?

8. What does Mencken intimate by the assertion that the "inner spirit of English" has inclined steadily towards saying "I have go" for a thousand years?

9. In what ways is the noun principally abused in vulgar American?

10. Who does Grandgent say are under the influence of the British in terms of their pronunciation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A major part of the analysis of linguistic development provided by Mencken in The American Language is the relationship between language and the territory in which it changes. Construct a well-formed analytical essay that investigates this connection. What are the reasons behind it? What are the consequences of this connection in England and in America? How can territorial linguistic development be seen in the various regions of America? What is the common ground between change and territory upon which this connection is founded?

Essay Topic 2

Although American had changed drastically by the time Mencken wrote The American Language, in 1921, it has clearly changed drastically since then, as well. Examine, in an analytical essay, some of the more significant changes since then. What new words have come into popular usage? What then popular Americanisms have faded out almost altogether? Has the language changed as significantly since 1921 as it did between any other comparable span of time? If so, defend your answer with specific examples. Finally, what is the characteristic of the American language as revealed by comparing its present state with that it was characterized by Mencken as having when he wrote The American Language?

Essay Topic 3

There is a very notable and significant difference between the neologisms of the Americans and the British. Write an essay analyzing these differences, their sources, and what the neologisms reveal about the respective national characters. What is characteristic about the neologisms Mencken ascribes to Americans? What are the characteristics of those ascribed to the British? How are these different? How are they similar? How does each country come about fostering their neologisms? What do these methods and their sources reveal about the countries and their national characteristics, respectively?

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