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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3.5 | Chapter 4.1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which Founding Father is said to have sought to establish a new American alphabet?
(a) George Washington.
(b) John Hancock.
(c) Thomas Jefferson.
(d) Benjamin Franklin.

2. Who proposed a generally accepted nomenclature for currency in 1785?
(a) Gouverneur Morris.
(b) Richard Grant White.
(c) Thomas Jefferson.
(d) Noah Webster.

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

4. What word did Webster argue should have its vowel sound changed to "ee" instead of "eh"?
(a) Beer.
(b) Beef.
(c) Deaf.
(d) Heft.

5. Which European language has exerted the most influence on the American language?
(a) German.
(b) Italian.
(c) Spanish.
(d) French.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What use of storage was added to the American meaning of the word "barn?"

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

4. What "great humorist" does Mencken cite in Chapter 1.3 as "celebrating 'the vigorous new vernacular of the occidental plains and mountains'"?

5. Which London newspaper lamented the "menace" that American movies offer to the purity of the English language?

(see the answer key)

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