Language, the most ________ of all human possessions, is possibly the most complex as well as the most interesting phenomenon in human life.

• ordinary

• basic

• commonplace

• difficult

As a language, English does not merely serve as a tool for people to communicate with each other, but also functions as a ________ for people to convey ideas and values to each other.

• vehicle

• automobile

• glue

• carriage

For a long time, knowledge of Latin was considered ________ for entry onto the medical and legal professions.

• dispensible

• common

• secondary

• essential

English gradually spread around England and became Old English, which today seems rather like an ________ foreign language.

• indigenous

• interesting

• exotic

• external

This process of adoption and ________ is not new and illustrates how Africans and Asians are influencing English as the Normans and Irish did in the past.

• absorption

• assimilation

• adaptation

• simplification

The ________ speech of east London is Cockney,

a dialect known for its rhyming slang.

• colloquial

• dialectal

• vernacular

• jargon

It is obvious, then, that both accent and dialect give the listener ________

about a speaker’s geographical and social background.

• clues

• more

• ideas

• attitudes

More importantly, the expansion of the British Empire required clear standards of language that would be ________ to all foreigners.

• understood

• interpreted

• instrumental

• intelligible

The prestige and authority of RP implied the inferiority of regional accents and vocabulary, and dialect speakers became socially ________ as rustic, provincial, poor and uneducated.

• scarred

• stigmatized

• traumatized

• credited

Along with this democratization of accents and dialects in education, there also occurred greater openness and ________ in post-war arts.

• falsification

• reality

• veracity

• authenticity