English Worldwide A Quiz

According to the Proto-Indo-European language tree, English is closer to ...

• French

• German

• Norwegian

• Swedish

The language that is now English was brought to Britain by...

• the Romans

• Anglos, Saxons and Jutes

• the Normans

• the Vikings

The main impact of the Norman invasion on the English language was on...

• grammar

• vocabulary

• spelling

• pronunciation

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) marked the beginning of ...

• Old English

• Modern English

• Middle English

English became a world language ...

• simply because English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation is more accessible than any other language

• when the UN declared English as the world’s Lingua Franca

• only after the revolution of communication technologies in the second half of the 20th century

• when English settled as a mother tongue outside England as a result of the Empire

The majority of countries that have English as an official language...

• belonged to the British Empire at one moment in their history

• are located in Europe

• are monolingual

• have no ties to England

The English spoken in Portugal belongs to ... of English.

• the inner circle

• the outer circle

• the expanding circle

English will probably keep its status as a global language because...

• of the number of non-native English speakers

• Britain remains the most powerful nation in the world

• the number of native speakers of English is on the rise

• it is the dominant language on the Internet

Although RP is considered the British standard accent it is only spoken by 3% of the population. It can be described as...

• an ethnic accent

• a social accent

• one of the oldest accents in the UK

• a regional accent

Which institution contributed the most to the popularity of RP?

• the BBC

• the British Council

• CNN

• Oxford University