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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 8.3 | Chapter 8.4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following is a term used by philologists to indicate the "instinctive search, etymologically unsound, for short roots in long words"?
(a) Back-formation.
(b) Etymanalyzing.
(c) Deconstructing.
(d) Formative de-synthesizing.

2. What word in common honorifics did Edwin S. Gould protest against omitting in 1867?
(a) The.
(b) Right.
(c) Most.
(d) Very.

3. According to Mencken, the English opposition to American spelling transcends the academic and takes on the character of what?
(a) The political.
(b) The religious.
(c) The ethical.
(d) The patriotic.

4. Which of the following did the African slaves NOT introduce to American English?
(a) Gumbo.
(b) Goober.
(c) Banjo.
(d) Voodoo.

5. What purpose does Miss Wittmann say is served by the shortening of word forms?
(a) Color.
(b) Convenience.
(c) None.
(d) Creativity.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which is the first factor that Mencken identifies as an immediate impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?

2. Which Founding Father is said to have sought to establish a new American alphabet?

3. According to Mencken, which title is subject to the greatest divergence in usage?

4. Who "tries" a legal case in England?

5. Which of the early presidents does Mencken identify as archetypal of the new American?

(see the answer key)

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