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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Whose "gaping maw" often spoils an "apt and ingenious neologism," according to Mencken in Chapter 11.1?
2. In what does the American pronoun not necessarily agree with its noun?
3. In what location does Mencken say both the American and English orthographies flourish side by side?
4. What name is the Italian "Giuseppe" transformed into?
5. What does Mencken say, in colloquial American, has obliterated the verb?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
At the root of the divergence of American from British was the spirit of the Revolution. Write an essay responding to the following questions: What was the nature of the revolutionary spirit? Why did it desire to distinguish itself from England? Why did this desire carry over to language? How was it practical and how impractical? What do these impracticalities reveal about the nature of the spirit? How did this spirit directly influence the American dialect? How did it indirectly influence it? For how long did this spirit continue to influence, directly or indirectly, the American language? What is significant about the relationship between this spirit and the language?
Essay Topic 2
Although American had changed drastically by the time Mencken wrote The American Language, in 1921, it has clearly changed drastically since then, as well. Examine, in an analytical essay, some of the more significant changes since then. What new words have come into popular usage? What then popular Americanisms have faded out almost altogether? Has the language changed as significantly since 1921 as it did between any other comparable span of time? If so, defend your answer with specific examples. Finally, what is the characteristic of the American language as revealed by comparing its present state with that it was characterized by Mencken as having when he wrote The American Language?
Essay Topic 3
Unlike nouns and adjectives, Mencken devotes considerable inquiry to the nature and alteration of verb forms in The American Language. Write an essay explaining the attention that Mencken pays to verbs. What role do they fulfill in communication? Why do its particular forms change more rapidly than other parts of speech? What does this rapid changing indicate about the relationship between language and circumstance/culture? How do verbs typically change? What is significant about the manner in which they typically change?
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This section contains 399 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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