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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 9.10.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which word do Americans use for "angry" that was once an English provincialism considered base?
(a) Mad.
(b) Furious.
(c) Pissed.
(d) Irritated.

2. Who is the author of "Travels in North America," published in 1827?
(a) Henry Alford.
(b) Charles Astor Bristed.
(c) Basil Hall.
(d) Louis Untermeyer.

3. Lounsbury is reported as saying that, "The history of language, when looked at from the purely grammatical point of view, is little else than the history of" what?
(a) Regulations.
(b) Corruptions.
(c) Innovations.
(d) Aberrations.

4. Whose clarity of prevision does Mencken praise in the opening of Chapter 1.1?
(a) Franklin.
(b) Jefferson.
(c) Waldo.
(d) Madison.

5. What does the English "secondary school" correspond to in American?
(a) Middle school.
(b) High school.
(c) College.
(d) Elementary school.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who does Mencken state are the true makers of grammar in Chapter 9.1?

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

4. In what year did Noah Webster die?

5. In what dialect of English is "slick" used synonymously with "sleek" according to Chapter 9.10?

(see the answer key)

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