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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 4.4 | Chapter 4.5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What country's works dominated the reading habits of the American colonists in the latter 18th century?
(a) Germany.
(b) France.
(c) Denmark.
(d) England.

2. According to Chapter 2.6, what regional pronunciation is erroneously thought by some to have superior authority regarding English pronunciation?
(a) South-eastern.
(b) New York.
(c) Boston.
(d) Chicago.

3. What term did John Witherspoon coin, framing it within the context of vulgarity?
(a) Scientist.
(b) Anglophile.
(c) Americanism.
(d) Briticism.

4. What word was "coatee" used as a diminutive for?
(a) Beard.
(b) Coat.
(c) Hat.
(d) Shawl.

5. To what continent does Mencken attribute the acknowledgment of the differences between American and British English?
(a) Europe.
(b) South America.
(c) Asia.
(d) North America.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does the English "secondary school" correspond to in American?

3. According to Mencken, what did the first generations born in the New World value as a virtue over enterprise and resourcefulness?

4. What is the American substitute for the English word "tin"?

5. What language does Mencken quote Sidney Low as saying is not taught to English youth?

(see the answer key)

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