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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Chapter 7 addresses the _________________ examples of ways English is spoken throughout the world.
(a) Inaccurate
(b) Historic
(c) Humorous
(d) Transitional

2. In Chapter 4, the author traces the development of English in what country?
(a) United Kingdom
(b) France
(c) Spain
(d) Norway

3. Which words are appropriate for the common people to use?
(a) Danish
(b) French
(c) Anglo-Saxon
(d) Irish

4. What happens when a group of native speakers dies out?
(a) The language lives on in documents
(b) The language dies
(c) The language lives on in verbal communications
(d) A new language is formed

5. What is often cited as an equalizing force in English?
(a) Sentence structure
(b) The lack of grammatical gender
(c) Latin derivatives
(d) Tenses

6. According to the author, varieties of English are heavily influenced by what?
(a) financial reasons
(b) social reasons
(c) ancestral reasons
(d) geographic reasons

7. What is the difference between Cro-Magnon man and Neanderthal man?
(a) Walking speed
(b) Hair color
(c) The place of the larnyx in the throat
(d) Height

8. Who were two champions for the simplification of English spelling?
(a) Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster
(b) Ben Franklin and Guttenberg
(c) Ben Franklin and Noah Webster
(d) Ben Franklin and John Adams

9. What does English manage to avoid that are present in other languages?
(a) The complexities of address
(b) Jargon
(c) Tense shifts
(d) Acronyms

10. What brings some sort of uniformity to spelling and language?
(a) The printing press
(b) The Constitution
(c) Newspapers
(d) McGuffy's Reader

11. What do the Asian languages have less of than other languages?
(a) sound-symbol connection
(b) consonants
(c) vowels
(d) syllables

12. Who lost control of the United Kingdom under Roman occupation?
(a) The royal family
(b) Germanic tribes
(c) The Vikings
(d) Celtic tribes

13. The differences between languages bring up questions about what?
(a) Their origins and place within the human story
(b) Their ease of use
(c) Their purpose
(d) Their clarity

14. Who is Noam Chomsky?
(a) A French archaeologist
(b) A British psychologist
(c) An American linguist
(d) A Russian writer

15. The pronunciations of many words in America reflect what speakers think British speakers say and _______________________.
(a) tries to do the opposite
(b) ignores them
(c) rejects them outright
(d) attempts to imitate them

Short Answer Questions

1. Language has the ability to do what?

2. For years, concern for spelling has been neglected over imposing what?

3. In whose work can inconsistent spelling be found due to the event of #67?

4. Because of the event of #67, the works of which two authors are especially difficult to understand?

5. What historical occurrence is explored in Chapter 6?

(see the answer keys)

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