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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where was the Archduke Ferdinand assassinated?
(a) Sarajevo.
(b) London.
(c) New York.
(d) Paris.

2. The Scots of the Lowlands first spoke a form of English brought by the Angles of Northumbria mixed with four ethnic groups that invaded during what period?
(a) The Inquisition.
(b) The Rensaissance.
(c) The Restoration.
(d) The Dark Ages.

3. How many quotations were in the original Dictionary of the English Language?
(a) 100,000.
(b) 120,000.
(c) 300,000.
(d) 114,000.

4. Who is quoted from his Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language in the Introduction?
(a) Anderson Williams.
(b) Daniel Webster.
(c) Dr. Samuel Johnson.
(d) William Cran.

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

6. When did James I lead a council of bishops and Puritan divines to create the King James Bible?
(a) 1601.
(b) 1604.
(c) 1630.
(d) 1616.

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

8. When did James I die?
(a) 1700.
(b) 1625.
(c) 1440.
(d) 1650.

9. What is the first of the five points of Calvinism?
(a) Total depravity.
(b) Love of God.
(c) Release of sin.
(d) Forgiveness.

10. The English language was formed through how many invasions?
(a) 2.
(b) 4.
(c) 3.
(d) 5.

11. Who initiated the English Reformation?
(a) Queen Elizabeth.
(b) King George II.
(c) King Leopold I.
(d) King Henry VIII.

12. Northern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands produced their own language tree that divided into what and German?
(a) Norse.
(b) English.
(c) Welsh.
(d) Celtic.

13. What style of music was the invention of the Scots-Irish?
(a) Blues.
(b) Jazz.
(c) Country.
(d) Hip-hop.

14. Tyndale translated the Bible from Greek in what year?
(a) 1650.
(b) 1559.
(c) 1525.
(d) 1603.

15. When was Jonathan Swift born?
(a) 1695.
(b) 1667.
(c) 1675.
(d) 1595.

Short Answer Questions

1. What television entertainer does Robert McCrum claim is the lineal descendant of Amos and Andy?

2. The establishment of what was an important moment for English as word choices had to be made for standard broadcasting?

3. The Renaissance added over how many words to the English language?

4. Robert McCrum was Editor-in-Chief of what publishing house from 1979-1996?

5. When was the original edition of The Story of English published?

(see the answer keys)

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