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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 2.3 | Chapter 2.4.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Mencken claims that Noah Webster contains less of the scientific inquirer and more of what?
(a) The father.
(b) The erudite fool.
(c) The teacher.
(d) The philological traditionalist.

3. From what language does the English word "moose" come?
(a) Algonquin.
(b) English.
(c) Cherokee.
(d) Italian.

4. What word in American is used for the English word "shoe?"
(a) Slipper.
(b) Boot.
(c) Footing.
(d) Sandal.

5. What event does Mencken credit with strengthening the obfuscation of distinction between American and British English?
(a) The French Revolution.
(b) The bombing of London.
(c) The First World War.
(d) The advent of the transatlantic telephone line.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whose clarity of prevision does Mencken praise in the opening of Chapter 1.1?

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

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

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

5. How many classifications of Americanisms does Bartlett postulate in his 1859 dictionary?

(see the answer key)

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