ENGLISH LANGUAGE QUIZ

English without frontiers

PART 1

FROM THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

1. In which language family do the ultimate origins of the English language lie?Indo-European

2. What is the most famous surviving work from the Old English period, the epic poem composed by an unknown poet, which is thought to have been substantially modified, probably by Christian clerics long after its composition?Beowulf

3. During the Middle English period which two languages were many words borrowed from?Latin and French

4. Who said this about the English language in 1582: “The English tongue is of small reach stretching no further than this island of ours, nay not there over all”?

Richard Mulcaster, Нeadmaster of the Merchant Taylors’ School, teacher of prosody to Edmund Spenser and one of the earliest of English Grammarians

5. What was the most significant English dictionary of the 17th century?

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language

6. Which of these, which took place mainly during the 15th century, is Modern English often dated from?

Great Vowel Shift

7. The English language is conventionally divided into three historical periods. In which of these periods did William Shakespeare write his plays?Modern English

8. How many people spoke English spoken in the 16th century? 4 – 5 million people

9. What place did English take among other European languages in the 16th century?It stood fifth among the European languages, with French, German, Italian and Spanish ahead of it in that order, and Russian following.

10. When did English force its way into the first place in the world?By the end of the eighteenth century

PART 2

ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE

260, 000, 000

157

100, 000, 000

75%

10, 000

3, 000

80%

427

86%

native speakers of English

countries use English in their air traffic control

people use American or British English everyday

of telexes, telegrams, letters and postcards in Englishnewspapers in English

of these publications are in India

of the world’s computer data is in English

million people speak English today as their everyday tongue

of the Internet is in English

PART 3

RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION

1. The idea of correct or proper way to speak English is 150 years old.

2. It first echoed round English churches.

3. RP is often called ‘BBC English’ or ‘Queen English’.

4. It symbolizes a person’s high position in society.

5. People using RP are thought to be more intelligent, more trustworthy and better looking.

FALSE – It’s100 years old.

FALSE – It first echoed around schools’ play-grounds of Eton, Harrow and Winchester.

TRUE FALSE – It used to.

TRUE

6. RP is used as widely today as it was 50 years ago.

7. The influence of this variety of English is growing.

8. It is the standard accent of the Royal Family, Parliament, the Church of England, the High Courts.

9. RP is used more by foreigners than native speakers.

10. About 30% of the British people speak RP in a pure form now.

FALSE

FALSE - Its influ-ence is declining now.

TRUE

TRUE

FALSE – It is spoken by less than 3 per cent of British people

PART 4

AMERICAN ENGLISH

Have you seen Carmen already?

I’ve got a new car.

Go to the end of the road and turn left.

We work here Monday to Friday.

It’s twenty past four.

Come and take a look.

My car’s got a flat.

Can I have a check?

When I go someplace.

Put the suitcases in the trunk.

She looks real cute.

He studies Math.

centre

travelling

aeroplane

pyjamas

buses

draughty

moustache

sceptical

Whatever. – I don’t care.

That guy acts postal. – He’s crazy.

That party was really fly! – It was cool!

Are you kidding? – Is this a joke?

The movie was lame. – It was boring and

stupid.

Man, that sucks! – It is really bad.

You’re so Obama! –You’re very cool and

intelligent!

PART 5

THE ERA OF DECOLONIZATION

1. Prime Minister Nero declared

this should be the state

language of India as an

independent country

2. the number of people in India

who speak English (mln)

3. the number of African

countries that have retained

English since the colonization

4. The name of English used in

Africa

5. The role of English in Africa

a. Creole

b. Hindi

c. Lingua

Franca

d. 16

e. 70

PART 6

THE PROSPECTS OF ENGLISH

1. It looks to be certain that English will remain the world language for the forseeable future, unless there’s some cataclysmic political change, for instance, supposing a nuclear winter came along and all, literally all Americans were turned into blocks of cindered ice, and there were no American speakers left, clearly the situation would change dramatically.

2. I think it’s a glorious language. I think it’s growing, it’s getting more expressive, it’s getting more global, getting more accepted around the world as a second language.

3. Supposing there is some kind of stability, political stability into the distant future, American English seems to be winning hands down, and will remain, American English, not British English, will remain as the major global form of English into the indefinite future.

4. The dominance of English will become less in future. Spanish (the world’s 4th language) is growing in importance, and as China is becoming more powerful, more people are learning Mandarin (it will soon be on the UK curriculum, for example.)

5. The position of English as the Internet language of e-business is going to weaken, because there is urgent necessity to create multi-lingual websites for successful; online trade.

6. We can say that over the centuries the consonant system of English has been relatively stable. There haven’t been a great number of changes, and I don’t suppose there will be.

7. English will be the most important language of learning, it will remain ‘the window of the world’ so far as science and learning are concerned.