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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 10.1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who protested the adoption of the broad "a" in an 1857 work entitled "The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table"?
(a) Richard Meade Bache.
(b) Oliver Wendell Holmes.
(c) Noah Webster.
(d) Frank H. Vizetelly.

2. What notable author was the first Englishman to carry Americanisms successfully back to his home?
(a) Charles Dickens.
(b) G.K. Chesterton.
(c) Joseph Conrad.
(d) Cleveland Coxe.

3. To what phrase did Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, and Robert Southey object as a base Americanism, as discussed in Chapter 2.3?
(a) Free endorsement.
(b) To advocate.
(c) To indulge.
(d) To process.

4. Which is the second factor that Mencken identifies as an impediment to the growth of the American language in Chapter 3.1?
(a) Lack of a national literature.
(b) Political disharmony.
(c) Territorial expansiveness.
(d) Regional diversity.

5. Which Founding Father coined the term "to belittle"?
(a) Alexander Hamilton.
(b) Benjamin Franklin.
(c) James Madison.
(d) Thomas Jefferson.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Chapter 8.4, what is the first impulse behind American imitation of English orthography?

2. What is the English meaning of the Hawaiian word "lanai"?

3. What difference in pronunciation does Mencken state most sharply distinguishes the two dialects?

4. According to the tale spread by William Gifford, what language was supposed to be substituted for English during the Revolutionary War?

5. Which defender of Americanisms cited by Mencken in Chapter 1.3 states that "Language is made by the people"?

(see the answer key)

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