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History of English Language Quiz

The document consists of a series of questions and exercises related to the history and development of the English language, including true/false statements, matching exercises, and multiple-choice questions. It covers various topics such as significant historical figures, language evolution, and the impact of events like the Black Death. The document is structured for educational assessment, totaling 200 marks.

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Anna Słońska
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273 views10 pages

History of English Language Quiz

The document consists of a series of questions and exercises related to the history and development of the English language, including true/false statements, matching exercises, and multiple-choice questions. It covers various topics such as significant historical figures, language evolution, and the impact of events like the Black Death. The document is structured for educational assessment, totaling 200 marks.

Uploaded by

Anna Słońska
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?

a ___ The day Friday was named after an Anglo- Saxon goddess.
b ___ The Danelaw was the part of England controlled by the Romans.
c ___ The Black Death was an illness that killed almost a third of the people in England.
d ___ The word tomato came into English from Africa.
e ___ Shakespeare had the largest vocabulary of any English writer.
f ___ Samuel Johnson wrote the first dictionary of English words.
g ___ Slang is a very informal kind of language.
h ___ Noah Webster wrote successful books about Australian English.
i ___ Sheng is a very old African language.
j ___ The expression fast food comes from American English.
20 marks

2 Which of these people …? James Murray, Thomas Sheridan, Geoffrey Chaucer, King
James the First, William Caxton.
a ordered an important translation of the Bible into English? …………………
b started work on the Oxford English Dictionary? …………………
c wrote The Canterbury Tales? …………………
d first brought the printing machine to England? …………………
e gave talks on the correct pronunciation of English words? …………………
20 marks
3 Match a number from A with a letter from B to make complete sentences.
A
1 ___ When the Anglo-Saxons first settled in Britain …
2 ___ After an important battle with the Vikings …
3 ___ In the four centuries after the Battle of Hastings …
4 ___ After Charles the First was killed …
5 ___ In 1620, some people left England and sailed to America because …

B
a England was without a king for eleven years.
b thousands of French words came into the English language.
c they wanted to follow a different kind of Christianity.
d King Alfred agreed to separate England into two parts.
e many Celts moved west into Wales and Cornwall.
20 marks

4 Fill in the gaps using: shorten, e-mails, rules, meanings, breaking, communicate,
developed, technological, chat, informal.
The internet has been the biggest ………………… development in recent years. Users can
………………… by sending …………………, and they can discuss things in …………………rooms.
There are new words like blog, and new ………………… have been given to older words like surf.
People have ………………… a new ………………… way of writing when they use the Internet. Many
users ………………… a lot of words, using single letters or numbers. For example, cu l8r means See
you later. Even if they know how to write correctly, people enjoy ………………… the old
…………………and making new ones.
20 marks

5 Which variety of English do these words and expressions come from? Match a number
from A with a letter from B.
A
1 ___ fall (autumn)
2 ___ wealas (foreigner)
3 ___ say again (what did you say?)
4 ___ arvo (afternoon)
5 ___ bairn (child)

B
a Australian English
b Scots
c Anglo-Saxon
d American English
e Seaspeak

20 marks

Total marks

PLACES

Choose the best answer.


1 The Anglo-Saxon settlers came to Britain from _____.
a  Ireland
b  northern Europe
c  America
d  southern Europe
2 Augustine and his monks came to England from _____ to teach Christianity.
a  India
b  Ireland
c  Rome
d  Scandinavia
3 The Danelaw was the part of England controlled by _____.
a  King Alfred
b  the Vikings
c  the Romans
d  King William the Conqueror
4 King Harold was defeated by the _____ at the battle of Hastings in 1066.
a  Normans
b  Romans
c  Irish
d  Saxons
5 In the centuries after 1066, thousands
of _____ words were taken into English.
a  German
b  Norwegian
c  Spanish
d  French
6 The first person to work on the Oxford English Dictionary came from _____.
a  Wales
b  England
c  Ireland
d  Scotland
7 The first successful English settlers in America called their town _____.
a  Jamestown
b  Queenstown
c  Charlestown
d  Kingstown
8 At first, New York was called New _____.
a  England
b  Amsterdam
c  Germany
d  Paris
9 Millions of people from _____ were sent to America to work as slaves on large farms.
a  South Africa
b  Australia
c  West Africa
d  Scotland
10 Tucker is a slang word for food in _____.
a  America
b  Ireland
c  Canada
d  Australia
20 marks

PEOPLE

Choose the best answer.


11 _____ won an important battle against the Vikings.
a  King William the Conqueror
b  King Charles the First
c  King Alfred
d  Queen Elizabeth the First
12 Beowulf is a poem written in _____.
a  Middle English
b  Latin
c  Old English
d  Modern English
13 Chaucer wrote a poem about a group of people who travelled to _____.
a  Canterbury
b  London
c  Edinburgh
d  Dover
14 William Caxton brought _____ to England
in 1476.
a  an army
b  a new language
c  the Black Death
d  the printing machine
15 When Queen Elizabeth the First died,
her _____ became king of England.
a  brother
b  cousin
c  husband
d  son
16 The English translation of the Bible ordered by _____ was used in churches for hundreds of
years.
a  William Shakespeare
b  King John
c  King James the First
d  Samuel Johnson
17 After King _____ was killed, England was without a king for many years.
a  Alfred
b  William the Conqueror
c  James the Second
d  Charles the First
18 _____ worked on an important English dictionary for nine years.
a  William Shakespeare
b  Samuel Johnson
c  William Caxton
d  King James the First
19 Noah Webster wrote a dictionary of _____ English.
a  Canadian
b  American
c  Irish
d  Australian
20 Some people in Ireland and Scotland
speak _____.
a  Gaelic
b  Latin
c  Sanskrit
d  Old English
20 marks

FACTS

Choose the best answer.


21 About _____ million people have English as their first language.
a  40
b  4,000
c  4
d  400
22 Sanskrit is a very old language of _____.
a  India
b  Italy
c  China
d  Germany
23 The word Thursday was named after the Anglo-Saxon god of _____.
a  war
b  love
c  thunder
d  the sea
24 The Anglo-Saxons used the ending -ford for a place _____.
a  near a forest
b  for crossing a river
c  in the mountains
d  where people lived
25 The Wife of Bath, the Cook and the Monk are characters in a book by _____.
a  Geoffrey Chaucer
b  William Caxton
c  Samuel Johnson
d  William Shakespeare
26 The expressions tongue-tied and love is blind were made by _____.
a  Geoffrey Chaucer
b  William Langland
c  William Shakespeare
d  King James the First
27 A group of English settlers travelled
to _____ in the ship the Mayflower.
a  Australia
b  Denmark
c  France
d  America
28 Online is a word found in _____.
a  Middle English
b  Norman French
c  Old English
d  Modern English
29 In American English, the past participle of get is _____.
a  gotten
b  got
c  getted
d  gat
30 In Cockney rhyming slang, bread
means _____.
a  funny
b  money
c  time
d  butter
20 marks
VOCABULARY

Choose the best answer.


31 to express something in a different language
a  pronounce
b  invade
c  survive
d  translate
32 this is used to hurt or kill people
a  source
b  weapon
c  variety
d  plan
33 relaxed, not serious
a  informal
b  official
c  organized
d  important
34 to enter another country by force
a  translate
b  settle
c  invade
d  replace
35 a word that describes a person or thing (like old or red)
a  noun
b  adjective
c  pronoun
d  verb
36 to remain, stay alive
a  replace
b  invade
c  decide
d  survive
37 a hundred years
a  dialect
b  plan
c  century
d  class
38 to put words on paper using a machine
a  print
b  translate
c  replace
d  describe
39 normal, not unusual
a  particular
b  foreign
c  ordinary
d  famous
40 to make your home in a new country
a  settle
b  develop
c  control
d  replace
20 marks

EVENTS

Choose the best answer.


41 After the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain, many of the _____ went west into Wales and Cornwall.
a  French
b  Romans
c  Celts
d  Kurgans
42 King Alfred made an agreement with
the _____ to divide England in two.
a  Romans
b  French
c  Celts
d  Vikings
43 King Alfred decided to make _____ the language of learning and literature.
a  English
b  German
c  French
d  Latin
44 William the Conqueror was made king of England on _____ 1066.
a  New Year’s Day
b  Christmas Day
c  1 April
d  Easter Sunday
45 _____ had large stone castles built so that his soldiers could control England.
a  King Alfred
b  King William the Conqueror
c  King James the First
d  Queen Elizabeth the First
46 In 1337, the Hundred Years War
between _____ started.
a  England and Scotland
b  The Romans and the Celts
c  England and France
d  The Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons
47 The Black Death was _____.
a  an illness
b  a type of gun
c  a book
d  a war
48 In the 1750s, Thomas Sheridan gave talks about the _____ of English words.
a  history
b  spelling
c  meaning
d  pronunciation
49 After working on the Oxford English Dictionary for five years, James
Murray _____.
a  was halfway through
b  had reached the word ant
c  had finished
d  had reached the word nylon
50 The words jazz and cool were introduced by the _____.
a  East Europeans
b  Australians
c  Scots-Irish
d  African-Americans
20 marks

Total marks

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