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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What does Mencken say that a proper understanding of words and their meanings will enable their speaker to do, in Chapter 11.1?
2. Which organization produced a prospectus in 1913 that warned against extreme English conservatism in the spelling of foreign loan-words?
3. Which nationality does Mencken claim is most eager to Americanize the names of their children?
4. To how many in number does the comparative adjective relate?
5. Which double negative word is primarily found in Shakespeare?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
An interesting part of speech, according to the analysis Mencken provides, is that of the pronoun. Already a linguistic shortcut, it becomes the subject of even more reductionist changes. Analyze this tendency in an essay, which thoroughly explicates the modern American pronoun. What is the function of the pronoun? For what does it serve as a substitute? What are its relationships with other parts of speech? How do these various elements tend towards the elision of pronouns with other parts of speech? What is significant about this tendency to elide pronouns?
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
One of the hardest aspects of any language that is almost impossible to classify is the nuances of pronunciation. Write an essay analyzing the problems caused by the varieties and degrees of pronunciation. Have the difficulties it causes those who study the American language. What is the definition of pronunciation? How does Mencken treat of pronunciation? What are the ways in which it may change an auditor's understanding of a language? How is the American pronunciation divergent from the British? What particularities of the American pronunciation are significant in comprehension of the American language?
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This section contains 422 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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