Quiz - History of English

How old can the English language be traced back?

• 2,000 years ago

• 3,000 years ago

• 5,000 years ago

• 8,000 years ago

Which language family does English belong to?

• Indo-European

• Sino-Tibetan

• Afro-Asiatic

• Uralic

Who were the three Germanic tribes that invaded Britain in the 5th Century?

• Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths
• Huns, Vandals, Goths
• Celts, Romans, Normans
• Angles, Saxons, Jutes

What is one example of an Old English piece of writing?

• The Canterbury Tales
• Paradise Lost
• The Divine Comedy
• Beowulf

What was the language spoken in Britain before the Germanic tribes arrived?

• Old English

• Latin

• French

• Celtic

Who invaded England in 1066, bringing French influence?

• The Jutes

• The Angles

• The Normans

• The Saxons

What kind of people used to speak French during French Influence?

• The peasant/lower class.

• The English nobility.

• The Viking raiders from Scandinavia.
• The Norman and English aristocracy and ruling class.

What significant event in language change occurred towards the end of Middle English?

• The rise of the British Empire

• The invention of printing

• The introduction of Germanic words

• The Great Vowel Shift

What did the invention of printing bring to English?

• Increased reliance on oral traditions.
• Decline in the use of English dialects.
• Reduction in the number of written works.
• Standardization of the English language and increased literacy.

Which revolution created a need for new words in English?

• The Industrial Revolution

• The American Revolution

• The French Revolution

• The Digital Revolution