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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which reporter first brings colloquial Americanisms to the written word, according to Mencken in Chapter 9.2?
(a) Ring W. Lardner.
(b) Josh Billings.
(c) J.C. Neal.
(d) George Ade.

2. To what does Mencken ascribe the inflection of English adjectives?
(a) Comparison.
(b) Emphasis.
(c) Convention.
(d) Frivolity.

3. In what sort of languages are double negatives "perfectly allowable"?
(a) Teutonic.
(b) Romance.
(c) Semitic.
(d) Asiatic.

4. As what part of speech does vulgar American consider the word "self" within the spirit of the language?
(a) An adverb.
(b) An adjective.
(c) A noun.
(d) A verb.

5. From what newspaper does Mencken derive the story with which he opens Chapter 11.2?
(a) The Boston Herald.
(b) The New York Tribune.
(c) The Los Angeles Times.
(d) The Baltimore Sun.

6. How does Mencken characterize the vulgar American habitual use of the double negative?
(a) With "unconscious loathing."
(b) With "happy fecundity."
(c) With "periodic intensity."
(d) With "sturdy fidelity."

7. Which still-popular German given name survives today, with a slight change in spelling, as Mencken reports in Chapter 10.2?
(a) Franz.
(b) Karl.
(c) Wilhelm.
(d) Hans.

8. What was the original name of Brooklyn?
(a) Breuckelen.
(b) Breukwohl.
(c) Brook Lynne.
(d) Brookeville.

9. What military slang term refers to the sunburned necks of the Marines?
(a) Rawhide.
(b) Leatherneck.
(c) Toughneck.
(d) Roughneck.

10. Which phrase did Oliver Wendell Holmes use to describe the state of the person who makes use of slang?
(a) Bumbling idiocy.
(b) Creative genius.
(c) Mental atrophy.
(d) Intellectual alacrity.

11. Who was the author of the couplet that Mencken quotes: "For thou art a girl as much brighter than her / As he was a poet sublimer than me"?
(a) Percy Bysse Shelley.
(b) John Keats.
(c) Matthew Prior.
(d) Matthew Arnold.

12. From what language is "gob" reputed to be derived in Chapter 11.2?
(a) Chinese.
(b) Persian.
(c) Japanese.
(d) Spanish.

13. Which of the following does Wilcox not list as a negative treatment of the English language by grammarians?
(a) Multiplication of terms for a single conception.
(b) Excessive inflection.
(c) Excessive revision.
(d) Excessive classification.

14. Over how many post offices does Mencken state bear the adjective "New"?
(a) 600.
(b) 525.
(c) 350.
(d) 820.

15. In what part of the country did the Irish attain to a "truly impressive political power before the first native-born generation of them had grown up" as Mencken states in Chapter 10.1?
(a) The Midwest.
(b) The Western cities.
(c) The Southeast.
(d) The Eastern cities.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the movement towards the general vowel neutralization promise to do in the future, according to Mencken?

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

3. To what do English writers usually ascribe the American custom of numbering and lettering streets?

4. What religious affiliation, commonly held in both countries, has had a larger influence on names in America than in England?

5. How many works does Mencken claim to have discovered covering the topic of American slang?

(see the answer keys)

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