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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which novelist defined English language fanatics as "Snoots"?
(a) David Foster Wallace.
(b) Mark Twain.
(c) Jonathan Swift.
(d) James Alexander Wallace.

2. In Chapter 2, The Mother Tongue, the authors claim that the horse and the what spread the English language and caused its divergence?
(a) Fire.
(b) Money.
(c) Wheel.
(d) Poetry.

3. Whose followers are known as Lollards, a somewhat rebellious movement, which preached anticlerical and biblically-centered reforms?
(a) James Calvin's.
(b) John Wycliffe's.
(c) Samuel Johnson's.
(d) Daniel Webster's.

4. Who wrote The American Language?
(a) H.L. Mencken.
(b) Dr. Samuel Johnson.
(c) William Cran.
(d) Daniel Webster.

5. The Renaissance added over how many words to the English language?
(a) 30,000.
(b) 5,000.
(c) 10,000.
(d) 20,000.

6. What is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island?
(a) Ulster.
(b) Essex.
(c) Northumbria.
(d) Jamestown.

7. RP was spoken by how much of the British population at the origination of BBC?
(a) 20%.
(b) 3%.
(c) 10%.
(d) 1%.

8. Approximately how many words are in the English language?
(a) 100,000.
(b) 500,000.
(c) 1,000,000.
(d) 200,000.

9. Johnson took on the established dictionaries of European language and decisively exceeded them through how many years of work?
(a) 9.
(b) 14.
(c) 10.
(d) 4.

10. Which of the early Germanic tribes lived in Northern Germany?
(a) Buchi.
(b) Frisii.
(c) Celti.
(d) Anglii.

11. The establishment of what was an important moment for English as word choices had to be made for standard broadcasting?
(a) CBS.
(b) BBC.
(c) PBS.
(d) NBC.

12. Which of the following words is attributed to Shakespeare's origination?
(a) Company.
(b) Death.
(c) Assassination.
(d) President.

13. What is another word for Old English?
(a) Celtic.
(b) Englisc.
(c) Germanic.
(d) Medieval English.

14. Who published the Dictionary of the English Language in 1755?
(a) James Joyce.
(b) Samuel Johnson.
(c) Daniel Webster.
(d) Daniel Johnson.

15. When was the original edition of The Story of English published?
(a) 1980.
(b) 1986.
(c) 1990.
(d) 1975.

Short Answer Questions

1. James VI of Scotland became James I of England in what year?

2. In what year did the English Reformation begin?

3. The people of what country have recently developed a fanatical desire to learn English, and English is vital in many developing countries, according to the author?

4. Who remain the most direct descendants of the Celts?

5. Old English has barely how many Celtic words?

(see the answer keys)

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