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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Which of the following is often used in England to designate a thoroughfare?
2. What was the common, popular American slang word used for Germans during the First World War, according to Mencken?
3. According to Chapter 8.4, what is the first impulse behind American imitation of English orthography?
4. In what region of the United States are Spanish names corrupted, as Dutch names are in New York?
5. Who does Mencken state are the true makers of grammar in Chapter 9.1?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Of all the various ways in which the American and British dialects are divergent, perhaps the most obvious is the distinct spellings of words. Analyze the significance of this distinction and put forth an argument in support of one or the other spelling paradigm. How do the two dialects go about determining the spelling of a word? What are the principles that ought to be at work in the conventional acceptance of a word's spelling? Which of these principles is the most important? To which principles does each dialect adhere? What is the greater significance of this adherence?
Essay Topic 2
Much of Mencken's The American Language is devoted to the study of expansion of the American vocabulary. Write an essay examining the various sources and means by which new words enter the American dialect, as well as the impact they have. From where do new words come? What prompts the admission of new words into the vocabulary? What languages have had the most influence on the American vocabulary? What does the American dialect do with its new words? What are the effects that new words can and do have on the American dialect? Be sure to use specific examples.
Essay Topic 3
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?
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This section contains 402 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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